Elderly Korean Learners' Participation in English Learning Through Lifelong Education: Focusing on Motivation and Demotivation

Abstract

This study explores motivational and demotivational factors in English learning among elderly learners attending a lifelong education institute located in Seoul, South Korea. A total of 420 elderly learners with limited English learning experience responded to a questionnaire with 47 five-point Likert-type items. In order to investigate what factors encourage and discourage elderly learners in their participation in English learning, we conducted factor analysis, which indicated five motivational and three demotivational constructs. The motivational factor of self-actualization proved the most influential, while pressure from the Graduation Equivalency Examination was the most demotivating. It was found that the motivational factors demonstrated positive correlations with demotivational factors, and that the ideal L2 self showed the highest correlation with demotivational factors. Furthermore, the elderly learners' motivation did not exhibit significant change related to their years of learning experience from less than one year to more than three years.