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Tertiary Learners’ Motivational Intensity and Desire to Learn the French Language:
Evidence from a Non-Francophone Country
Nesrine Abdullah EL-Zine
Sana’a University
Yemen
Ammar Mohamed Aamer
Sampoerna University
Indonesia

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Abstract
Motivational intensity is fundamental for any language learner in order to succeed. This
research addressed motivational intensity in the context of French language learners in a nonfrancophone country, Yemen. It also investigated the level of desire to learn French among
university students. The present research answered the following questions: Do undergraduate
learners of the French language have a high or a low level of motivational intensity in theirlearning of French? How much do undergraduate learners of the French language desire tolearn French? Among the undergraduate learners of the French language, is there any genderdifference in the level of motivational intensity and their desire to learn French? A stratified
random sample of 69 students was sampled out of a population of 145 enrolled students fromdifferent levels in the Department of French Language and Literature at Sana’a University. The
survey was comprised of 11 questions that were selected and modified from Gardner’s
Attitude, Motivation Test Battery Questionnaire (1985a). The items for this survey addressed
two specific variables: motivational intensity and desire to learn French. The findings of thisresearch showed that Yemeni undergraduate learners of French have a high level ofmotivational intensity and a significant amount of desire for learning the French language andculture. The findings also implied that male learners have a slightly higher level of motivational
intensity and desire to learn French than their female counterparts.
Keywords: motivational intensity, learning French as a foreign language, gender difference

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The French language in Yemen has progressively become more prestigious and more popular,
especially among the younger generations. Nowadays, due to the consequences of war,
Yemenis are suffering because of the unstable and threatening conditions under which they
live daily. Most of the university graduates are seeking new opportunities for a better and safer
life outside of Yemen. Thus, these youth are increasingly encouraged to learn French anddiscover the French/Francophone culture, so French speaking countries such as France andCanada can become for them a destination for employment and study. The objective of thepresent research was to address the motivational intensity of the French language learners in
the context of a non-francophone country. The level of desire to learn French among university
students was also investigated. This research aimed to answer the following specific questions:
RQ1 Do undergraduate learners of the French language have a high or a low levelof motivational intensity in their learning of French?
RQ2 How strongly do undergraduate learners of the French language desire tolearn French?
RQ3 Among the undergraduate learners of the French language, is there any
gender difference in the level of motivational intensity and their desire to learn
French?
For the purpose of this research, Yemen was chosen for the data collection as a case study toaddress the research questions. This research contributes to the body of knowledge for thevariable of motivational intensity in learning French in a non-francophone country. In addition,
it is one of the very few studies that focuses on Yemeni learners of foreign languages in generaland Yemeni learners of the French language specifically.
The present article is organized into four sections. The first section presents the theoretical lens
on which the researchers based their analysis. The second section discusses the methodology
the researchers used in carrying out the research. In the third section, the statistical analysis of
the data is presented with discussion of the obtained results. Finally, the study findings areconcluded with suggested recommendations.
Literature Review
Research has identified motivation as one of the most substantial factors that has a great impact
on learners’ success and achievement. Nevertheless, motivation is closely related to anotherimportant concept which psychologists refer to as “motive”. Therefore, psychologists havealways included the notion of motive or goal in their multiple definitions of motivation. For
example, Parham (1988) defines motivation as “The internal source, cause, or explanation ofvoluntary behaviors – the forces and processes that initiate, maintain, direct, and influence thestrength of a behavior. Motives are the specific needs, desires, and wants that motivate” (p.
296). Likewise, Pintrich and Schunk (1996) see a powerful factor in the “goal” that is “impetus
for and direction to action” (p. 4). The field of learning a foreign/second language is no
exception in this regard. Gardner and Lambert (1972) were the first to highlight the crucial roleof motivation in language acquisition; their empirical research affirmed that the degree towhich learners successfully study a language is not related only to the learners’ language
capacity and intellectual aptitude but also to their motivation in learning the language and theirattitudes towards that language and to the people who speak it. Since then, researchers haveextensively investigated motivation and its different variables (e.g. Crookes & Schmidt, 1991;
Dörnyei, 2003; Gardner, 1985b, 2001, 2010; Liu & Zhang, 2013; Noels, 2005; Spolsky, 1989).
According to Gardner (1985b), a pioneer researcher in the field of second language learning

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motivation, the latter is a combination of three components: effort, which refers to motivational
intensity, desire to reach the goal of learning the language, and positive attitudes towards
learning the language as well as towards the people who speak that language. “The concept ofmotivation … is a multi-faceted construct in that it involves effort (motivational intensity),
cognition (desire) and affect (attitudes)” (Gardner, 1985b. cited in Nakata, 2006, p. 55). Two
components are addressed in the present study: motivational intensity and desire to learn.
Motivational intensity refers to the level of effort and persistence that learners apply
consistently during their language learning process. Otherwise, it is seen as the goal-directed
effort that learners expend to learn a foreign language and their persistence in learning (Ellis,
2004; Gardner, Tremblay & Masgoret, 1997). Motivational intensity has been identified as
fundamental for any language learner in order to succeed (Pintrich & Schunk, 2002). Ely(1986) stressed the importance of investigating the strength of the learner’s motivation or, inother words, his/her motivational intensity, “it also seems important to investigate the strengthof that motivation” (p. 28). Along the same line of thought, Dörnyei (1998) implied that
motivational intensity can explicitly translate the learner’s motivated behavior, “The proof of
motivation is in displaying it in action -hence the importance of the “desire” measure, which
directly taps into the individual’s wish to perform the action; and, even more directly, the“motivational intensity” measure that explicitly focuses on motivated behaviour” (p. 122).
Other research suggested that among the three components of motivation, desire and attitude
are two interrelated variables that can significantly impact learners’ motivational intensity.
However, the latter is pivotally responsible for language learning success (Gardner & Smythe,
1975; Masgoret & Gardner, 2003).
Regarding the difference in gender when it comes to language learning motivation, researchhas explored the role of gender variables for a better understanding of learners’ motivation inlearning a foreign/second language. Most of the research has confirmed the importance ofgender in this regard, especially that it has become an “interdisciplinary area of linguistic
inquiry" (Abdilah & Chowdhury, 2013, p. 134). Still, some research findings showed nodifference in language learning motivation with respect to gender (e.g. Akram & Ghani, 2013;
Al Othman & Shuqair, 2013; Bacon, 1992). However, most of the research reported theexistence of a significant difference in language learning motivation depending on the gendervariable. Some research found that male language learners are more motivated than female
learners (e.g. Abdilah & Chowdhury, 2013; Yeung, Lau, & Nie, 2011), whilst the majority of
the research affirmed that female language learners are more motivated than the male learners(e.g. Adach, 2015; AL-Khasawneh & A Omari, 2015; Al-Mahrooqi & Denman, 2014;
Azarnoosh & Birjandi, 2012; Bećirović, 2017; Csizér &Dörnyei, 2005; Heinzmann, 2009;
Narayanan, Nair, and Iyyappan, 2007; Netten, Riggs, & Hewlett, 1999; Xiong, 2010 Coskun,2014).
Methodology
Participants
For the purpose of this research, a stratified random sample of 69 participants/students was
surveyed out of a population of 145 enrolled students from different levels in the Department
of French Language and Literature at Sana’a University. There are four levels at the
Department of French Language and Literature for the bachelor’s degree (freshman,sophomore, junior, and senior). This sample represents 47.59% of the targeted population,
which is comparably a high percentage for similar studies. The participants were informed

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about the purpose of the study and that participation was voluntary. Students were alsoreassured of the anonymity of the results of the given survey.
Research Instrument
The researchers developed a quantitative assessment using a survey as a measurement tool.
The survey format consisted of two parts. The first part of the survey contained generaldemographic information of students with three subcategories: age, gender, and study level.
The second part of the survey addressed students’ motivational intensity and desire to learn
French, which consisted of eleven questions that were selected and modified from Gardner’s
Attitude, Motivation Test Battery Questionnaire [AMTB], 1985a). Among the elevenquestions, seven questions addressed the variable of motivational intensity, while four of thequestions focused on the students’ desire to learn French. The questions were translated to
Arabic by the researcher and distributed to five college professors for their feedback, tominimize the redundancy-translated questions. After the review, two questions were modified
and rephrased based on the comments received form the reviewers. In addition, a pilot study
was conducted with ten randomly selected students. As a result of the pilot study, two
instructional sentences were added to clarify for students how to answer some of the survey
questions. The answer to each question was coded on a scale from 1 to 5, depending on thenumber of choices under each question. The scale conversion helped in conducting thestatistical analysis for the collected data. For the purpose of this research, the IBM SPSS
statistics software was used to statistically analyze the data.
Results and Data Analysis
Based on the data collected from the questionnaire, Yemeni French language learners’
motivational intensity and their desire to learn French were both analyzed. The data analysis
also aimed to demonstrate whether gender impacted the Yemeni learners’ motivational
intensity and their desire to learn French, or it had no significant impact on the mentioned two
investigated variables. In the following sections, the analysis of the two survey parts, generaldemographics and motivational related questions are presented as follows:
Demographic Information
Table 1 & 2 present the distribution of the participants in this research with respect to their age
and study level. As it can be noticed, the percentage of female participants (62%) is higher thanmale participants (38%). The tables also indicate that most of the participants are in theirsecond, third and fourth years of study (31%, 23% & 33%), which is in line with the results forage (59% of participants are between 22-25 years old).
Table 1: Gender distribution of participants
Gender

Percentage

Number

Male

38

26

Female

62

43

Total

100

69

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Table 2: Distribution of participants in percentage with respect to age and study level
Age

Percentage

Study level

Percentage

18-21 years

29

First year13

22-25 years

59

Second year31

26-29 years

8

Third year23

30 and above

4

Fourth year

33

Total

100

Total

100

Motivational Intensity and Desire to Learn French
In this section, the motivational intensity and desire to learn French related questions are
discussed under two separate sub-subheadings and based on the summarized results in Table 3.
Table 3: Percentage for motivational intensity (questions 1-8) & desire
to learn French (questions 9-11)
Question #
Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q5

Q6

Q7

Answer
A.
B.
C.
Total
A.
B.
C.
Total
A.
B.
C.
Total
A.
B.
C.
Total
A.
B.
C.
Total
A.
B.
C.
Total
A.

Percentage
48
38
14
100
30
37
33
100
45
42
13
100
39
42
19
100
25
54
21
100
54
10
36
100
54

Male percentage
38
46
16
100
50
19
31
100
62
31
7
100
31
46
23
100
27
65
8
100
50
4
46
100
62

106

Female percentage
53
33
14
100
17
49
34
100
35
49
16
100
44
40
16
100
23
47
30
100
56
14
30
100
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Q8

Q9

Q10

Q11

B.
C.
Total
A.
B.
C.
Total
A.
B.
C.
Total
A.
B.
C.
Total
A.
B.
C.
Total

30
16
100
62
12
26
100
7
55
38
100
42
51
7
100
51
16
33
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23
15
100
62
12
26
100
6
58
36
100
38
54
8
100
42
8
50
100

35
16
100
63
12
25
100
7
53
40
100
44
35
21
100
56
21
23
100

Motivational Intensity (Questions 1-7). As the results in Table 3 show, for the statement in
Question 1, “I actively think about what I have learned in my French class…,” the highest
percentage for both male and female students was given to answer A, “Very frequently” (48%),
while the lowest percentage was given to answer C, “Once in a while” (14%). However, female
students scored a higher percentage (53%) than male students (38%) on answer A and a lower
percentage (14%) than male students (16%) on answer C. The results for the statement in
Question 2, “If French were not taught in university, I would…,” revealed that the majority ofthe participants (37%) would “not bother learning French” (Answer B), while answer C, “tryto obtain lessons in French somewhere else,” got the second highest percentage (33%). The
lowest percentage is given to answer A with (30%). Still, female learners had a higher
percentage for answer C (34%) than their male counterparts (31%).
For the Question 3 statement, “When I have a problem understanding something we arelearning in French class, I…,” a small percentage (13%) was given for answer C, “just forget
about it,” while answer A, “immediately ask the teacher for help,” recorded the highest
percentage among all the three answers with 45%. Nevertheless, results for the male leaners
on answer A marked a significantly higher percentage (62%) in comparison to the females(35%). The results for Question 4, “When it comes to French homework, I….” indicate that
42% of the participants agreed with answer B, “work very carefully, making sure I understandeverything.” However, the male students had the larger part of this result (46%) than theirfemale counterparts (40%). On the other hand, the lowest percentage (19%) for Question 4 wasgiven to answer C, “just skim over it,” with (16%) for the female learners and (23%) for the
male learners.
On the statement for Question 5, “If my teacher wanted someone to do an extra French activity,
I would…,” answer B, “definitely volunteer,” got the highest percentage (54%). Yet, male107

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student results (65%) indicate their higher level of motivation in comparison to the female
students (47%) in regard to volunteering to do any extra French activities.
The results for Question 6 are similar to those obtained for the previous question (Q5) inproving the participants with a high level of motivation in their learning of French. In fact, theresults revealed that the majority of the participants (54%) agreed on rewriting and correcting
the mistakes in their assignments when the teacher returns them back to the participants(answer A). Also, the least percentage was given to answer B (10%) where the student would
just throw the assignment in the desk and forget about it. Nevertheless, this time female
participants’ percentage (56%) for answer A was higher than the male participants’ percentage(50%).
As the results indicate for Question 7, “When I am in French class, I…,” the highest percentage
was accorded to answer A “would volunteer answering as much as they can” with (54%), rightafter it came answer B “would answer only the easier questions” with (30%) and the lowest
percentage was given to answer C would never say anything with (16%). Yet, for the highest
percentage answer (answer A), the male participants’ percentage (62%) was still significantly
higher than the percentage of the female participants (49%).
Desire to Learn French (Questions 8-11). The results indicate that the highest percentage ofparticipants (62%) agreed that “During French class” they would prefer to have a combinationof French and Arabic spoken (Question 8). However, it is noticeable that the proportion ofmales (62%) was very close to the females’ proportion for this answer (63%). Whereas, thelowest percentage (12%) was scored for answer B “to have as much Arabic as possible
spoken.” Here too, the proportions of female and male participants were very similar (12% formales and 12% for females). For Question 9, “If I had the opportunity to speak French outsideof my department,” the results, as with the previous question, reflected the participants’significant desire to learn French. Accordingly, the highest percentage (55%) was given to
answer B, where the participants would “speak French most of the time, using Arabic only ifreally necessary.” Same as the results for question 8, the proportions for male and female
participants were close. Yet, the percentage of male participants (58%) was higher than theirfemale counterparts (53%). On the other hand, the results revealed a very small percentage(7%) of participants would “never speak French.”
For Question 10 “If I had the opportunity to see a French play,” the findings show the enormous
willingness of Yemeni French learners to discover the French language and culture. In fact,
most of the participants shared their desire to go and see a French play with a percentage of
51% for answer B, “definitely go.” However, male participants had a higher percentage (54%)
than female participants with 35%. Still, a remarkably low percentage was accorded to answer
C (7%), where participants chose not to go to the play even if they could do it.
Similar to the responses for Question 10, the results for Question 11 also reveal how eager
Yemeni undergraduate students are to learn French. According to the results, (51%) of theparticipants chose answer A and agreed, “If I had the opportunity and knew enough French, I
would read French magazines and newspapers as often as I could.” For this answer, female
participants had the highest percentage (56%) whilst male participants recorded (42%) for thisanswer. Same as in the results for Q 1, 3 and 6, the justification of this gap between male andfemale participants’ percentages may be because of the males’ social and familial duties, which
can make it harder for male students to spend more time on reading.

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Discussion
From the obtained results, it can be noticed that the percentage of female participants in thisresearch is considerably higher than male participants. This large gap between male and female
participants is representative of the fact that the highest percentage of students enrolled in the
French Department has always been females. In this regard, it is worth underlining that thehigh percentage of female students enrolled in the Department of French Language incomparison to the male students reflects the traditional and cultural assumption in Yemeni
society, according to which the fields that are related to education, arts, and languages are
generally considered to be more suitable for females, while other fields such as engineering,business, and law are seen as more male-oriented. However, this perception of the male andfemale major of studies has changed over time and does not hold anymore as many female andmale students are enrolling in the different mentioned fields with no consideration of gender.
The results generally indicated that the majority of the participants (males and females) agreed
that when they are in their French class, they volunteer, answering as much as they can, andthey do their best to finalize all the tasks and improve their level in French. In addition, theresults confirmed that Yemeni undergraduate learners of French, generally, accord a significant
amount of effort in their learning process even when they are not in classes. Hence, the results
provided positive answers to the first two research questions inquired through the present
research. As for the third research question about the difference in gender when it comes to thelearners’ desire to learn the French language, some of the results confirmed that the female
students’ enthusiasm and motivation to learn French is significantly higher than their malecounterparts, such as the case for question 1, 2, 5 and 6 where female students appeared tothink more frequently about what they learn in their French classes and search for allopportunities to learn French even if they would have to enroll in classes out of the university’s
curriculum. Similarly, the results of some of some of the questions showed that the female
learners are more willing to spend extra time studying and reviewing for their lessons morethan the male learners. It is very possible that the justification for the gap in percentage between
male and female learners for some questions is due to social and familial responsibilities. In
fact, Yemeni female students at universities are, most of the time, dependent on their families.
Thus, usually female students can afford to have more time to study and review at home, while
male university students, besides their classes, are supposed to work in order to support
themselves and sometimes to support their families.
Some of the results can reflect the difficulties and challenges that Yemeni tertiary learners facein their studies because of the war. This is the case for question 2 where the majority of theparticipants affirmed that they would not be able to learn French if it was not offered by theuniversity. It is possible that their answer is influenced by the fact that all means of interaction
with the French language, people and culture are in the present time hardly, if ever, reachable
because of the war.
On the other hand, although most of the time the means for the learners to practice their Frenchoutside of the university’s setting is very difficult, if not impossible, due to previously
mentioned factors, the results revealed that Yemeni tertiary learners have a high amount ofdesire to use and learn French. Thus, the majority of the students are willing to read and speakin French and even to attend French theater plays if they can.
Overall, the aggregate percentage of the male learners implied that they have higher
motivational intensity and desire to learn the French language than female learners. This

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implication could be driven by the Yemeni males’ social and familial responsibilities, which
dramatically increased because of the burden of the war, which played a considerable role intheir motivation and desire to learn the French language so they can find better job
opportunities for living. In summary, Figure 1 highlights the highest representative andsignificant findings of the survey’s eleven questions as already presented in the sections above.
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Q1
(A)
% Total48% Male38% Female 53

Q2
(B)
37
19
49

Q3
(A)
45
62
35

Q4
(B)
42
46
40

Q5
(B)
54
65
47

Q6
(A)
54
50
56

Q7
(A)
54
62
49

Q8
(A)
62
62
63

Q9
(B)
55
58
53

Q10
(B)
51
54
35

Q11
(A)
51
42
56

Figure 1: summary findings of the survey’s eleven questions
Conclusion
In conclusion, motivational intensity in the context of French language learners in a nonfrancophone country was addressed in this research. The researchers investigated the level ofdesire to learn French among university students. In doing so, answers were provided to thefollowing questions: Do Yemeni undergraduate learners of the French language have a high or
a low level of motivational intensity in their learning of French? How much do Yemeni
undergraduate learners of the French language desire to learn French? Among the Yemeni
undergraduate learners of the French language, is there any gender difference in the level ofmotivational intensity and their desire to learn French? The findings reported in this study show
that, in general, Yemeni learners have a high level of motivational intensity and a significant
amount of desire for learning the French language and culture. With regard to gender differencein the level of motivational intensity and the desire to learn French among the Yemeni learnersof French language, the findings of the current study implied that there is a slight difference
between males and females in their motivational intensity and desire to learn French. Thus,
male learners are found to have a higher level of motivational intensity as well as more desire
to learn French than their female counterparts.
The presented research had some limitations that should be taken into consideration. On thenational level, the research was conducted in the French Language Department of Sana’a
University, which is only one of the five Yemeni universities that have French language
departments. The limitation of the surveyed sample was due to logistical issues and difficulties
in collecting data from the other universities because of the ongoing war. In a wider context,
the discussion in this research focused on one of the non-francophone countries, Yemen, which
could be one of the limitations. Hence, considering the previously mentioned limitations, thefollowing recommendations may be addressed for similar future research. It is recommended
to address the same questions using the same methodology in other non-francophone countries.

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It would be interesting to compare the motivational intensity of the French language learners
and the level of desire to learn French in other non-francophone countries among university
students in different cultures, or even of similar cultures in the same region.

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Corresponding author: Nesrine Abdullah EL-Zine
Contact email: nelzineut@gmail.com

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