The role of socio-economic factors in motivation to learn English as a foreign language: The case of Chile

Abstract

In the present study we surveyed the English language learning motivations of 740 secondary school students belonging to different social classes in the capital of Chile, Santiago. We applied multiple analyses of variance to analyse how motivational variables differ depending on students' social class. The results suggest that social class has an overall medium-size effect on motivational factors with self-efficacy beliefs being the most strongly related to socio-economic status. The most important differences in motivation, self-regulation and learner autonomy were found between upper-middle and high social class students on the one hand and low and lower middle class students on the other hand, which we explained with reference to the inequality created by the Chilean schooling system.