Korean adolescents' longitudinal change of intrinsic motivation in learning English and mathematics during secondary school years: Focusing on gender difference and school characteristics

The purpose of the study was to investigate adolescents' longitudinal development of intrinsic motivation in learning English and mathematics, focusing on gender differences and school characteristics. We used the five-year panel data of the Korea Education Longitudinal Study (KELS) from middle school 7th grade to high school 11th grade. English intrinsic motivation decreased during the middle school years but increased during high school years whereas math intrinsic motivation continually decreased across the whole of the years. Gender differences by subject existed in intrinsic motivations: girls' higher intrinsic motivation in English and boys' higher intrinsic motivation in math; boys' faster decrease in intrinsic motivations during middle school years; boys' slower increase in English intrinsic motivation during high school years. School characteristics only had an effect on intrinsic motivations for high school students: higher math intrinsic motivation of high schools in small-medium cities; higher intrinsic motivations of students on elite academic tracks.