Adult EFL Learners’ Drives to Improve Their English in Private Language Schools

Abstract

The present study investigated EFL adult learners' reasons behind learning English in a new setting with a mixed-design research methodology. The subjects of this study were forty adult English language learners, 20 males and 20 females, who were learning English as a foreign language in a private English language school in Istanbul. Necessary data regarding the participants’ reasons for learning English were collected through two instruments: questionnaires and interviews. The data analysis revealed that external factors such as finding a job and personal interests such as the desire to make friends urged and encouraged the participants to enrol in the private English language school to improve their English after a hard day of work or study. The study's findings concluded that both instrumental and integrative motivation played roles in the participants’ drives to study English.