English language learning demotivation among Pakistani university students: do resilience and personality matter?

A plethora of research highlights the pernicious effects of English language learning demotivation on students' language learning outcomes. Therefore, to prevent students' demotivation has been a challenging task for the English language teachers. To shed fresh insight into this problem, the prime purpose of the present study was to examine the possible constituents of Pakistani university students' language learning demotivation, and how they interact with the resilience and the two personality dimensions (i.e. conscientiousness and openness to experience).

The present quantitative research study administered a questionnaire consisting of four parts to 215 undergraduate students who were enrolled in the two public universities in Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan province of Pakistan. To analyze the data, both descriptive and inferential statistics were performed with the SPSS (version 24).

The results identified both external and internal salient demotivating factors. The external factors included classroom environment, classroom learning materials, characteristics of classes, whereas lack of language learning interest and experiences of failure were the internal factors. Additionally, the results of simple linear regressions and multiple linear regressions also revealed that resilience and the two personality dimensions influenced the English language learning demotivation.

The prevalence of demotivation in the language classrooms necessitates Pakistani university English language teachers to adopt motivational teaching strategies to elicit, enhance and sustain language learners' motivation. The present study also draws the attention of the university teachers to foster students' resilience, conscientiousness and openness to prevent their language learning demotivation. The findings also implicate the ministry of education of Pakistan to equip educational institutes with language learning facilities to lower the burgeoning issue of students' language learning demotivation.

The present study provides empirical evidence regarding the interaction of resilience and personality with demotivation in the Pakistani context and contributes to the sparse existing knowledge on this issue. Additionally, the present study also establishes the knowledge that despite experiencing demotivation, language learners can regain language learning motivation through their resilience as well as behavioral patterns (i.e. being conscientious and open).