Faculty of Humanities (ETDs)

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Browsing Faculty of Humanities (ETDs) by Author "Adão, Roberto"

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    Students’ motivation on learning Portuguese as a Foreign Language Course: A case study on the University of the Witwatersrand and University of Mpumalanga
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023-02) Adão, Roberto; Campos, Marta
    Motivation is one of the most significant and determining factors in language learning, therefore it is important to study the different ways in which motivation influences students in their foreign language studies. This dissertation investigates university students’ motivation for learning Portuguese as a foreign language course at two South African universities. This study aimed to identify the principal factors which motivate students to study Portuguese as a foreign language at two universities: along with determining the possible similarities and differences between the students’ sources of motivation for learning Portuguese at each respective university as a foreign language. The study took place at two universities namely, the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and the University of Mpumalanga. Both universities currently offer Portuguese as a language course within their respective Bachelor of Arts degrees. Through the application of a questionnaire and obtaining quantitative data from the student’s responses, in addition to the use of the Likert scale and descriptive statistics (mode, mean and standard deviation), students’ sources of motivation were possible to assess and interpret in a numerical form, as regards their learning of Portuguese with the objective of expanding their proficiency in the Portuguese language.