Intercultural education for enhancing law students' motivation

Abstract EN

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the cultural dimension of foreign language education.

Today, teachers are expected to enhance intercultural competence in their teaching.

Hence, this article focuses on the importance of cultural perceptions regarding students' motivation in learning a foreign language.

In order to investigate this issue, a questionnaire was adapted from Gardner's (1985) model which emphasizes two factors: the cultural context and the educational setting.

The results showed that Master of Law students at the University of Oran 2 have positive perceptions towards L2 culture which has a great impact on their motivation.

At the same time, qualitative research was conducted to explore the views of English language teachers on the essential role of intercultural education in increasing student motivation.

The results were consistent with previous research studies confirming the importance of intercultural approach in EFL.

The results obtained from this study also provide information on the degree and type of motivation for law students which can be taken into consideration to demonstrate the significance of motivational attributes and other affective factors that either positively or negatively impact student's language performance and achievements.

The cultural component has remained difficult to accommodate in practice.

Therefore, we consider this paper as a starting point to provide us with interesting information about the type of students' motivation that can be taken into account when introducing improvements in ESP teaching methodologies.