22 Perspectives on learning English: Student attitudes and expectations in relation to motivation and the usefulness of learning English in low achieving secondary I EFL classrooms

The present study investigates the attitudes of low achieving students towards learning English, their motivation, and their perspective on the subject’s usefulness. In today’s controversial political discussions about including special needs’ students into regular classes, and the optimal timing of introduction, as well as the optimal number of foreign languages taught at school, this qualitative explorative study provides an insight into the experiences of a group of grade 8 students in their English learning. Furthermore, the study sheds light on the students' motivations for maintaining their engagement with French at grade 8, as well as their reasons for disengaging from the same. The study also examines the frequency and circumstances under which students use English outside the classroom setting, and their future expectations regarding the use of English. In the course of the study, seven classroom observations were conducted, of which three classes were selected for the interviews. A total of 22 students participated in the study. Utilising a systematic content analysis approach (Kuckartz 2018), the students' attitudes, their effort, and their motivational orientation were analysed and described. The analysis of the data collected suggests the presence of the entire spectrum of motivational types, ranging from amotivation to external motivation to instrumental to intrinsic motivation (see Ryan & Deci 2000, Le Pape Racine & Brühwiler 2017). The analysis also suggests that this spectrum is present in both monolingual and plurilingual students. A subsequent comparison of the two groups revealed that the plurilingual group exhibited slightly higher levels of motivation than the monolingual group.