Academic Achievement in a Mandatory EFL Program in the UAE: Limiting Conditions for Autonomous Motivation and Competence Perceptions?
Keywords:
motivationAbstract
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam is used by many higher education institutions around the world to assess test-takers’ proficiency in English. A number of institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also use the exam, with a given Band score required for direct entry to majors taught in English. However, despite the exam’s importance and despite being one of the most prosperous countries in the Middle East, scores on the IELTS exam for UAE-based test-takers have consistently been amongst the lowest globally. In order to better understand why, and guided by the academic achievement literature, the present study examines the relationship between grades and a small number of student characteristics at a higher education institute in the country. Two studies (N = 166 and N = 80) were conducted using the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (SRQ-A; Ryan & Connell, 1989), the Perceived Competence Scale (PCS; Williams & Deci, 1996), and PISA’s (Program for Student Assessment) Student Background Questionnaires (“OPEC: Technical report”, 2015) to measure students’ autonomous motives, competence, and wealth respectively. Results indicated that contrary to much of the relevant literature, participants’ autonomous motives and wealth were negatively associated with grades while the relationship between perceived competence and grades was weaker than expected. Explanations for these findings along with their implications are discussed.
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