EFL Students’ Demotivation and their Perceptions of Classroom Activities

Abstract

The importance of students’ demotivation, as a detrimental factor in language learning,was put intoconsiderationto many researchers who have studied in this field. The current study triestoinvestigate the relationship between these two notions (i.e., students’ demotivation and their perceptions of classroom activities). The aim of the study is to investigate how EFL learners demotivate and perceivethe classroom activities.The study adopts 250 participants EFL learners (89 males and 161 females) in Baghdad, a city in Iraq. The participants received the Demotivation Scale and Students’ Perceptions of Classroom Activities Questionnaire. Some results have been discovered at the end of this paper and it is discussed in details ib the body of the paper. Considering the fact that in classroom activity and participation is of high importance in today’s communication-based EFL classrooms, and also being mindful of the fact that demotivation can bring about negative consequences and outcomes, it can be concluded that we should look for ways to increase positive values in classroom activities and tasks in order to have more positively-motivated students. Moreover, studies can be done to investigate which type of activities and tasks lead to higher extents of demotivation.In sum, considering the fact that in classroom activity and participation is of high importance in today’s communication-based EFL classrooms, and also being mindful of the fact that demotivation can bring about negative consequences and outcomes, it can be concluded that we should look for ways to increase positive values in classroom activities and tasks in order to have more positively-motivated students.