Perception of ‘English’ and Motivation in Learning English

Abstract

This study aims to present high school students’ perception of “English” through the impressions and images and the effect of these perceptions on their motivation in learning English. This qualitative study is based on the data about students’ metaphors and the focus group interview to determine their effect on the students’ motivation. The research group for metaphors consists of 128 high school students from four different grades. 79 metaphors were collected and grouped under 12 categories. In addition, two different focus group interviews are held with 7 students having negative and positive perspectives to determine the effect of these perceptions on students’ motivation in learning English. According to the analysis of the data from focus group interviews, students mostly perceive “English” as a target language to learn rather than a foreign language, spoken by a definite society or belonging to a culture. The results of metaphor study also indicate that the students regarding “English” positively tend to have a higher participation and motivation in comparison to the students having negative perceptions.