Internationalization at home: Using learning motivation to predict students’ attitudes toward teaching in a foreign language

Fostering foreign language proficiency is an important goal of university teaching. We identified German university students’ (N = 1265) goal orientations developed during secondary school as predictors of attitudes toward receiving instruction in English at university. Mastery goal orientation was proposed to directly promote positive attitudes because foreign language instruction offers an opportunity to increase language proficiency. Conversely, performance goal orientation was expected to indirectly promote positive attitudes via current academic self-concept of ability. Structural equation modeling yielded results consistent with these predictions. Furthermore, when controlling for students’ retrospective self-concept, the effects of performance orientations on attitudes toward foreign language instruction disappeared, whereas the effect of mastery orientation remained significant. Results emphasize the importance of mastery orientation for attitudes toward learning opportunities.

► In this study we link university students’ language learning motivation at secondary school to their attitude towards teaching in a foreign language.
► A large sample (N = 1265) has been examined.
► Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.
► We find that mastery goal orientation in secondary school appears to play a crucial role for people's attitude towards new learning opportunities.