RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARENTAL SUPPORT AND LEARNERS’ ENGLISH LEARNING MOTIVATION: A CASE OF STUDENTS IN THE NORTHEAST OF THAILAND

Abstract

Based on self-determination theory, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between parental support and students’ English learning motivation on. The data were collected from 450 lower secondary school students in three provinces in the Northeast of Thailand.

 The findings showed that the students in this area possessed a high level of intrinsic motivation and a moderate level of extrinsic motivation. For parental support, the students reported perceiving a very high level of parental structure, a high level of parental warmth and a moderate level of parent control. When analyzing the relationship between the two factors, the data suggested positive relationship between students’ English learning motivation and parental structure and parental control.  Parental structure was found to have the strongest relationship with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It was also found to have a negative relationship with a motivation. Parental warmth was found to have the weakest relationship with students’ English learning motivation.