In order to illustrate group attitudes to studying English and the sense of agency, the following calculations were done using Microsoft Excel:  

1. An average score for each item on the questionnaire was calculated for each class and for the whole group (appendix iii)
2. A mean for each of the 18 questionnaire subscales was worked out for each class and for the whole group (appendix iv) 
3. A two tail t-test was calculated to compare the two classes (figure 3 page 8)

High and low scoring subscales 

The high and low scoring subscales are shown in the tables below. The highest scoring subscales, desire and need are from part one of the questionnaire. The only subscales with a mean of 3 or above in part two of the questionnaire are result of effort, effort, metacognitive awareness and internal locus: responsibility. The two markedly lower subscales for parts one and two of the questionnaire are challenge and perceived ability respectably.  
 

High scoring subscales 

Desire 

The area which students rated the highest was desire. The mean score for the whole group for this subscale was 3.93.  

A high proportion of respondents stated that they wanted to be successful in English but they were not required to give a reason for this on the questionnaire. Looking at the data collected from the oral interview, the following reasons were given: 

To be able to deal with other people (1 respondent) 

To be as good as / better than friends in another college (1 respondent) 

In most cases, however, the interviewees could offer no particular reason for the statement. 

Need, Importance 

Need, importance was also identified as being a chief motivating factor for the subjects with a mean of 3.92. 

A high proportion of respondents claimed that English was extremely important for them and that the need was great. They were not required to give reasons for this on the questionnaire. The five students interviewed gave the following reasons for their need for English: 

1. In order to get a job / for work (4 respondents)
2. For myself (1 respondent)
3. English is an international / important language (3 respondents)
4. For travel – for emergencies (1 respondent)
5. To read newspapers (1 respondent)
6. To meet / talk to foreign people (2 respondents) 

Result of effort – learned helplessness 

Another high scoring area in part 2 of the questionnaire was result of effort with a mean of 3.32. Students appeared to believe that there was a correlation between hard work and results in a language.  

Students interviewed were asked “Would you be better at English if you tried harder?” Four of the students answered yes. The fifth answered no and was identified as having learned helplessness. 

Effort 

Another high scoring subscale on part 2 of the questionnaire was for effort with a mean of 3.05.  

It is interesting to note again at this stage that out of the two groups, just under half were failing the course and receiving low test and project grades. The questionnaire revealed that participants claimed that working hard would ensure success in English (result of effort subscale). The students claimed on the questionnaire that they were working hard in English. I asked the five interviewees whether they were working hard in English and got the following responses: 
  
 

Internal locus: responsibility 

The subscale of internal locus: responsibility had a mean of 3.01.  

I asked the students during the interviews “whose fault is it when you do badly?” and received the following responses: 
 
 

Metacognitive awareness 

This subscale produced a mean of 3.03.  

Respondents claimed to know the reason for success or failure. The questionnaire did not elicit the reasons for this but the interviews probed a little more. When asked “Before you get a test back, do you know what the results will be?” and “When you get things wrong, do you know why?”, the following responses were given: 

*Khaseibah 

*the names have been changed 

reason for doing badly. Ahlam seemed to know her area of weakness but Nada is in the habit of relying on a teacher to identify the mistakes. After some thought, however, she acknowledges that if she focuses, she can see what is wrong on her own.  

Low scoring subscales 

The lowest scoring subscales were challenge, optimal arousal and perceived ability, self-efficacy. 

Challenge, optimal arousal 

A low mean of 2.97 was calculated from the questionnaire data for Challenge, optimal arousal.  

To illustrate this further, here are some of the responses to the question “Do you think English is too easy or too difficult? Are the lessons challenging enough?”: 

It’s not difficult. 
I’m in the middle of the class. 
It follows the level. 
We have to work hard, easy in projects. 
It’s easy but the projects are more than our level.  
The classwork is not too easy. 
I have to think. 
  
  
If the student were happy about the level of the class, the final two questions on the questionnaire would prompt a low score which I feel is the chief reason for such a low score received. The five students interviewed were further questioned on this issue. Overall the interviewees responded that the level of the class was right for them in class – sometimes easy and that the projects were challenging. In other words, students were sufficiently challenged in their English classes and the low score isdue to an unreliable test for the subscale. 

One other possible contributing factor to the low scores received is the common belief among the students in this context that difficult/challenging = bad, and easy = good. Their experience with evaluating the optimal conditions for learning may not be sufficiently developed to see the value of a challenging exercise. Alternatively, not all students experience challenge as prerequisite for learning, but rather as an obstacle which encourages them to give up. 

Perceived ability, self efficacy 

The subscale which produced the lowest mean out of the entire study was perceived ability, self efficacy with a mean of 2.69. 

The students claimed that they were not good at English. Just under half were aware that they were likely to fail in the approaching finals, and this low score could be a reflection of that. When asked “are you good at English”, the following statements were collected: 

I’m not bad 
No because when I do a conversation and exam, the marks are not good 
Yes, I like to learn it 
I don’t know. It is a question for the teacher 
I think so yes. It would be better if I tried 

  
Comparison of the two groups 

A t-test was conducted to identify significant differences between the sub-scales. The results are shown in figure 3. 

General observations 

There was a significant difference in the means of the subscales between the two groups in 7 out of 18 cases. In 6 cases section 3, the less able students, scored higher. The table below shows the differences. 
 

The means calculated for section 3 are significantly higher than those for section 4 in 6 subscales at a level of significance of <0.05. These were: parents, group, effort, awareness of strategies, internal locus: responsibility and metacognitive strategies. 

There was one subscale which scored significantly higher with section 4. This was intrinsic motivation.