블렌디드 러닝 환경에서 영어 학습 동기와 불안감: 초등학생과 중학생의 차이

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the factors of English learning motivation and anxiety for elementary and middle school students in an on-line and off-line blended learning environment. Furthermore, this study is to find out whether there are differences in motivation and anxiety between elementary and middle school students according to their English ability. For the survey, 23 elementary school students and 20 middle school students participated to investigate their English learning motivation, anxiety, and class satisfaction. Six factors (intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, communication anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, fear of pandemic and class satisfaction) were measured using a questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and frequency) and independent samples of t-tests. The study results are as follows: First, both elementary and middle school students showed stronger extrinsic motivation, and their communication anxiety was the highest among the measured anxiety factors. Students had external reasons for learning English such as getting good grades and better jobs. The students’ communication anxiety increased from elementary school to middle due to the emphasis on grammar and the frequent use of English language in English classes. Second, elementary students had higher levels of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation than their middle school counterparts. Middle school students showed lower motivation because of the pressure to get good grades and anticipation of taking college entrance exams. In addition, both elementary and middle school students did not feel much anxiety about learning English, but middle school students showed higher mean scores on anxiety factors. This is because the content and level of learning change as they enter the higher grades, which put more emphasis on learning English and therefore there is more pressure on the students. As for blended classes, elementary school students showed interest in activity-oriented classes, so they preferred offline classes to non-face-to-face online classes. However, due to the small number of participants, there was no statistically significant difference in motivation, anxiety and satisfaction. Third, there were differences in English learning motivation, anxiety, and blended class satisfaction according to the students’ English proficiency. The group with higher proficiency had higher intrinsic and extrinsic motivations than the lower-level group. Communication anxiety was lower in the higher proficiency group than in the lower group, with a statistically significant difference. The higher proficiency group was found to have lower anxiety because they were confident using English and could communicate their thoughts to some extent in English. Neither group preferred blended learning much because the prolonged pandemic has already reduced interest in English blended learning. Based on the results of this study, educational implications regarding the factors of English learning motivation and anxiety of elementary and middle school students, and how to teach students accordingly were discussed. The study also suggests a future study on what factors influence English learning in addition to learning motivation and anxiety.