Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: Senior High Students' Perception of Factors Influencing Their Motivation in Learning English as a Foreign Language at School

Senior High Students’ Perception of Factors Influencing Their
Motivation in Leaning English as a Foreign Language at School
Ruth Bhawanti

Satya Wacana Christian University, Indonesia

Abstract
Motivation is one of the main determinants of second or foreign language (L2)
learning achievement. This study is intended to investigate the senior high students’
perceptionsof factors influencing their motivation in learning English as a foreign
language at school. The participants of this study are eight first grade senior high
school students (six female and two males)in Salatiga, Central Java. The data of this
study were collected through an unstructured interview. The result of this study is
summarized in two findings. First isinternal motivation which includes goal, need,
interest, attitude, lack of confidence, and mood. Second is external motivation which
includes teacher, classmate, and English as a compulsory subject. Based on the
findings, two suggestions are proposed: first deals with teaching strategies: giving an
attractive activity or games in explaining and giving a task. It is very useful to make
the class focus or pay attention to the material. Hence, they will be not busy with
themselves. Second is related to teacher’s characteristic: a nice, friendly, serious
teacher.The suggestions proposed can be used as a consideration and review of

English teacher.
Keywords: Motivation, Internal/intrinsic motivation, external/extrinsic motivation