Analysis of Motivation Level of L2 Learners in Enhancing Speaking Skill

Abstract

The present study focuses on the second language (L2) learners’ motivation as a substantial factor for enhancing speaking skills at the graduate level. Motivation in L2 learning is a complex phenomenon that had gained the attention of researchers and theorists for many decades. Motivation to learn English as a second language have been described and categorized in several ways. However, the emerging trend of English language learning at a high rate calls forth to answer the question such as why learners are so ambitious to learn this language in the presence of a national language. Secondly, if they are learning the English language, what is the kind of motivation urging them to learn it. At the present scenario, the English language has become a compulsion in both academic and professional career of L2 learners; though, the L2 learners should be reinforced to speak in English inside and outside of the classroom. The hegemony of the English language cannot be refuted at any cost because it has been employed in the domains of power-administration, military, education, and commerce since the making of Pakistan. A random sample of hundred graduate students from University of Management and Technology and hundred from University of Education, Lahore were selected. The close-ended questionnaire was used and total numbers of items were 21. The data were analyzed quantitatively using the content analysis method which suggested that the majority of respondents agreed with the notion that learners motivate them to speak in the target language and they were well- known about the significance of English in Pakistan, despite the fact that English is used as a subject in the ESL context rather than as a language. At last, it can be ensured that the study might be utilized for both the L2 learners and in the same sociological conditions. The study ends with the suggestion that English language teaching curricula and teaching strategies should be designed keeping in view the type of motivation (instrumental motivation) which is driving the Pakistani learners.