The role of learners’ socioeconomic status and perception of technology use in their second language learning motivation and achievement

Abstract

As digital technology is becoming an increasingly critical component of education, learners’ socioeconomic status (SES) and technology use are becoming more important in their learning. In the context of English learning, the present study modeled how learners’ SES and their perception of technology use for language learning are linked to their motivation for learning English as a foreign language (EFL) and level of English achievement. To this end, 306 South Korean college students’ learner factors, motivation, and English achievement were measured. The results of the structural equation modeling analysis indicated that learners’ SES was positively associated with their perception of technology use and motivation and indirectly associated with their language learning achievement. Furthermore, we found that learners’ perception of technology use in language learning is associated with their motivation and achievement. In addition, among the several learner factors measured in this study, learners’ expectancy of being successful in language learning as part of achievement motivation emerged as the strongest predictor of their language learning achievement. An in-depth discussion of pedagogical and policy implications is also provided.

Keywords:

• Socioeconomic status (SES)
• motivation
• computer-assisted language learning (CALL)
• English as a foreign language (EFL)
• structural equation modeling (SEM)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jang Ho Lee

Jang Ho Lee received his DPhil in education from the University of Oxford. He is presently an associate professor in the Department of English Education at Chung-Ang University. His areas of interest are L2 vocabulary acquisition, teachers’ code-switching in English classrooms, and computer-assisted language learning. His work has been published in ELT Journal, Applied Linguistics, The Modern Language Journal, Language Teaching Research, TESOL Quarterly, Language Learning & Technology, System, Language Awareness, and so on.

Hansol Lee

Hansol Lee received his doctoral degree in Education from the University of California, Irvine, and is an associate professor of English at the Korea Military Academy. His research interests include language education, and his work has been published in Education Research Review, Child Development, Applied Measurement in Education, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, Applied Linguistics, Language Learning, The Modern Language Journal, Language Learning & Technology, ELT Journal, among others.