Differences in EFL Learners’ Motivation Across Socioeconomic Status Groups

Abstract

Socioeconomic status (SES), which includes income, occupation, and parental education, is often linked to students’ learning motivation. While many studies in Indonesia have investigated students’ motivation to learn English, only a small number have focused on how variations in SES, particularly parents’ occupations affect the motivation of EFL learners. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether SES influences motivation to learn English as a foreign language (EFL) among secondary school students in Indonesia. Data were collected from 104 students using questionnaires that measured SES and English learning motivation, and analyzed using a One-Way ANOVA in SPSS. Grounded in Gardner’s (1985) theory, the results showed no significant relationship between SES and motivation to learn English (r = 0.012, p = 0.905). This finding is consistent with the ANOVA results, which indicated no significant differences in motivation across the three SES groups (F = 1.441, p = 0.241). The high mean scores in the orientation domain (M = 5.61) and the integrativeness domain (M = 5.52) suggest that students have clear goals and strong enthusiasm for learning English. This study has limitations because SES was measured only through parents’ jobs, so it did not fully reflect students’ real economic conditions. The research was also conducted in a school where most students come from middle-to-upper economic backgrounds.