Perceived value of learning foreign languages: Insights from university students

In educational psychology, it has long been known motivation has an important influence on learning in many ways, and one explanatory component of motivation is the perceived value of the activity. It means the value that learners assign to the involvement in learning considering the expected benefits and challenges. In this context, the aim of this study is to gain an insight into university students' perceived value of learning foreign languages. The study was designed as mixed methods research. To collect quantitative data, the researcher developed a questionnaire and qualitative data was obtained through semi-structured interviews. The study group was composed of 406 students from various faculties at a public university in Turkey. The results indicated that learners' perceived value of learning foreign languages is at a high level, and they expect to get personal, social, and most importantly occupational benefits. These benefits vary according to demographic variables like gender, class (prep class or first grade) and faculty. It was also understood that a great majority of university students have a desire to reach advanced level (B2/C1) in English; however, nearly half of them believe that they can put adequate effort and embrace the psychological difficulties like anxiety and stress. In addition, it was found that they have a positive attitude towards multilingualism and learning another foreign language for similar reasons. At the end of the study, some implications were drawn for researchers, policy makers and language instructors.