First Advisor

Vodehnal, Susan

College

College for Professional Studies

Degree Name

Master of Education

School

School of Education and Counseling

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Comments

Education

Number of Pages

72 pages

Abstract

Factors that lead American foreign language students to discontinue the study of the target language past the minimum requirement. This research project expanded on a study by Shedivy (2004) who investigated motivational factors for continuation of foreign language acquisition after the two-year minimum requirement during high school. Seffert's (2007) study sought reasons why students did not continue beyond the two-year minimum. The phenomenological inquiry was supported by literature on historic-political factors, motivational considerations, and educational strategies influencing students' interest in second language acquisition. Subjects of this study were between the age of 18 and 40 and had discontinued foreign language classes after two years in high school. The interview was taped, transcribed, and differentiated by emerging themes. These themes were broken into six categories, representing factors leading to the discontinuation of foreign language education. The themes were: (a) general, (b) travel, (c) pragmatic application, (d) historic-political implication, (f) motivational factor, and (e) instructional methodology.

Date of Award

Spring 2007

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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