Investigating the Students’ Attitude towards Using Extracurricular Activities to Enhance their Motivation at the English Department at An-Najah University

In the quest for feasible solutions for the falling standard of the English majors at An-Najah National University, insufficient attention has been given to improving student motivation. Some measures have been taken to curb and reverse the tendency, such as introducing more courses and more exams. Such measures and assumptions ignore the basic psychological principles that assert that increasing the level of difficulty for students produces a corresponding degree of anxiety and despondency to the detriment of the learning process. Based on relevant studies and the responses to a learner-oriented questionnaire, this paper will explore strategies by which we can motivate students and instill in them a greater sense of autonomy and control over their own language learning abilities. The questionnaire was developed by the researcher, approved by three experts in the faculty of education at An-Najah University and administered among the third and fourth year English major students at the English department at An-Najah University. Data was collected and analyzed. The results revealed that the English Department at An- Najah University didn’t take into consideration the basic principle of motivation. As a solution to this problem the researcher suggests a number of things among which introducing variety of extracurricular activities which according to the students will help enhance their motivation and thus upgrade their standard in English.