International Journal of Research in English Education

en Junior Secondary School Students’ Motivation for Learning Multiple Foreign Languages in Burundi: A Cross-sectional Study Junior Secondary School Students’ Motivation for Learning Multiple Foreign Languages in Burundi: A Cross-sectional Study تخصصي Special پژوهشي Research This study investigated the motivation of Burundi junior secondary school students learning simultaneously three foreign languages: French, English, and Kiswahili.  A 65-item questionnaire was employed to sample the views of 348 (grade 7 through 9) learners from state schools. Using Dörnyei’s (2009) L2 motivational self-system as the main theoretical framework, this study specifically explored temporal changes in L2 motivation of the participants over the three-year period across the three target languages. In doing so, the present study adopted a quantitative research design with a cross-sectional approach and the obtained data were analysed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics namely a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and stepwise multiple regression analyses. Statistical analyses were computed using SPSS - version 22. The results indicated that there were significant differences in most of the measured motivational scales across the three languages with ninth grade students scoring significantly lower than their peers from lower school grades. Moreover, the results revealed that L2 learning experience and ideal L2 self were the two variables that respectively predicted most the students’ intended effort to learn each language. One school grade-related difference was that international posture appeared as a significant factor among seventh grade students in relation to French learning and among ninth grade pupils regarding English learning. Another finding, which was unexpected, was that English (L3) appeared to be the most popular foreign language among these students. In the light of the results, pedagogical implications are discussed based on the socio-educational context of Burundi.   This study investigated the motivation of Burundi junior secondary school students learning simultaneously three foreign languages: French, English, and Kiswahili.  A 65-item questionnaire was employed to sample the views of 348 (grade 7 through 9) learners from state schools. Using Dörnyei’s (2009) L2 motivational self-system as the main theoretical framework, this study specifically explored temporal changes in L2 motivation of the participants over the three-year period across the three target languages. In doing so, the present study adopted a quantitative research design with a cross-sectional approach and the obtained data were analysed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics namely a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and stepwise multiple regression analyses. Statistical analyses were computed using SPSS - version 22. The results indicated that there were significant differences in most of the measured motivational scales across the three languages with ninth grade students scoring significantly lower than their peers from lower school grades. Moreover, the results revealed that L2 learning experience and ideal L2 self were the two variables that respectively predicted most the students’ intended effort to learn each language. One school grade-related difference was that international posture appeared as a significant factor among seventh grade students in relation to French learning and among ninth grade pupils regarding English learning. Another finding, which was unexpected, was that English (L3) appeared to be the most popular foreign language among these students. In the light of the results, pedagogical implications are discussed based on the socio-educational context of Burundi.   L2 motivation, L2 motivational self-system, school grade, simultaneous multiple language learning L2 motivation, L2 motivational self-system, school grade, simultaneous multiple language learning 30 46 http://ijreeonline.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1075-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Elvis Nizigama Elvis Nizigama nizigamaelvis@gmail.com 10031947532846002953 10031947532846002953 No English Department, Yazd University English Department, Yazd University Ali Mohammad Fazilatfar Ali Mohammad Fazilatfar afazilatfar@yahoo.com 10031947532846002954 10031947532846002954 Yes English Department, Yazd University English Department, Yazd University Ali Akbar Jabbari Ali Akbar Jabbari jabbari@yazd.ac.ir 10031947532846002955 10031947532846002955 No English Department, Yazd University English Department, Yazd University