Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education
Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research
Date of this Version
11-2010
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to construct and validate an instrument to measure motivation for vocabulary learning, opening the door to more studies on motivation for vocabulary learning in reading and listening. In the new 34-item questionnaire: Motivation for Vocabulary Learning Questionnaire (MVLQ), eleven subscales were examined within two motivational constructs, namely, self-efficacy and attitude. Participants in this study were 121 traditional undergraduate students from a Midwestern research university. Students responded to two self-report questionnaires: the Motivation for Vocabulary Learning Questionnaire (MVLQ), and the Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (MRQ) (Wigfield & Guthrie,1997). The results suggested that MVLQ had good reliability and validity. Self-efficacy for vocabulary learning in reading was higher than that in listening. No difference in motivation for vocabulary learning was found between reading for leisure and academic goals. English native speakers had higher motivation for vocabulary learning than English language learners. Significant differences were found for students from different majors (grouped into colleges), while no difference was found for students with different genders and average GPAs.
Comments
A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, Major: Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, Under the Supervision of Professor Guy Trainin. Lincoln, Nebraska: December, 2010. Copyright 2010 Qizhen Deng.