Motivation in Learning Oral Arabic among Students with Different Prior Experiences and Gender

This study investigated students’ motivation level in learning oral Arabic at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia. Motivation consists of three main components, namely value, expectancy and affect. This study was aimed at investigating motivation differences (1) between students with different prior experiences, namely students with prior experience (SWE) and students without prior experience (SNE), (2) between students of different genders, and (3) between students with interactions of different genders and different prior experiences. This study used a questionnaire that was adapted from The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) involving 182 students which were selected based on the disproportionate stratified random sampling. The study revealed that (1) SWE scores significantly higher than SNE in intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, task value and self-efficacy and significantly lower in test anxiety; (2) Females scored significantly higher than males in extrinsic motivation, task value, control of learning beliefs and self efficacy; and (3) there are no statistically significant differences in all components with the interaction of prior experience and gender. This study suggests that UiTM students have to be categorized according to their prior experiences. Otherwise, some additional Arabic classes need to be carried out for inexperienced students before registering for the actual Arabic classrooms. Learning activities also need to involve students of mixed gender in order to create a collaborative environment and also bridge the motivation gaps between them.