The Effects of Attitudes Toward Culture and Motivation on Military Cadets' English Achievement

문화에 대한 태도와 학습동기가 사관생도의 영어 성취도에 미치는 영향

Attitudes toward target language culture and motivation have been known as important factors in second or foreign language learning. In this study, cadets' attitudes toward the target language community and culture were investigated to find out any relationships with English achievement. Integrative or instrumental motivation in foreign military context was investigated to determine which motivation was more positively related to English proficiency. Cadets' responses were shown highly positive and internally consistent in most cases. Military cadets' attitudes toward American culture were statistically significant and could predict their English achievement. Even though integrative motivation was statistically significant, correlation with English achievement was low. However, instrumental motivation was not significant. This result implies that attitudes toward culture is an important factor in foreign language learning and integrative-instrumental motivation dichotomy might not be enough to explain specific context like cadets' English learning situation at Korea Army Academy at Youngcheon.