A Study of Learner’ Motivation Using the Social Cognitive Theory

Abstract

Motivation is vital when it comes to an effective language learning. The continuous significant motivation can not only achieve excellent academic performance, but also creates the habit of continuous learning even after higher education. However, many researches looked into motivation not through the lens of self-regulation. This study aims to examined motivation through self-regulation by utilizing Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) by Bandura (1977) and Zimmerman’s (2000) Three Phases of Self-Regulated Learning. Data was collected from 116 students of Japanese language course from a public university in Malaysia using a survey from SCT by Bandura (1977) and Three Phases of Self-Regulated Learning by Zimmerman (2000). The survey consisted of four parts; Part 1 – Demographic, Part 2 – Person, Part 3 – Environment and Part 4 – Behaviour. The finding shows that self-regulation has the highest mean which indicates that respondents putting effort in learning despite disliking the class. The research suggested that Japanese language instructors should take into consideration students’ self-regulating learning strategies when designing lessons.