The Motivation of Russian Youth to Learn a Foreign Language

This article examines various components of the motivational component of choosing a foreign language by Russian young people. Mention is made of classifications of types of motives (motivation) of behavior (activity) from general psychology, distinguished on various grounds. Statistics from the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion are presented, as well as data from a survey among students at the St. Petersburg campus of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. Attempts are being made to analyze the student’s motivational behavior, based on data from a report by the National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations. External and internal motive-forming factors that are of a successive, economic-geographical, foreign policy and personal nature are considered. It is suggested that the changing political and economic course of the country entails changes in the professional and linguistic sphere.