Zahra Hashempour - Department of English Language, Genaveh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Genaveh, Iran

The importance of motivation in enhancing second/foreign language learning is undeniable. Therefore, this paper outlines a study that explores what type of motivation Iranian EFL students have toward learning English regarding their age, gender, and field of study. Although there are a lot of studies on motivation not only in Iran but also all over the world, the researcher couldn’t find any study that investigated the effect of these three variables (gender, age, and field of study) on motivation of EFL students toward learning English all together. Forty six students at Islamic Azad University of Genaveh from different fields of study (accounting, computer engineering (software), physical education, electrical engineering (telecommunication), mechanical engineering, and navigation) constituted the sample of the study. A 24-item questionnaire was administered to discover the type of motivation of Iranian EFL learners toward learning English. Descriptive statistics and principal component analysis were used to analyze the results of the data. The results indicated that field of study and age didn’t have any significant effect on the type of students’ motivation. Although the difference between genders group in terms of instrumental motivation was not significant but gender had significant effect in terms of intrinsic motivation. The results revealed that female students had more intrinsic motivation than male students.

intrinsic motivation, instrumental motivation, gender, field of study, Iranian undergraduate students