Danial Adrang - Department of Language and Linguistics, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of de-motivation in vocabulary retention among intermediate Iranian EFL learners. Vocabulary knowledge and retention have proved to play significant roles in successful language learning and language learners cannot function and communicate well without having enough vocabulary knowledge. In this study, out of 67 participants, 40 intermediate (both male and female) were selected based on the Quick Placement Test (QPT). This study made an attempt to find the relationship between de-motivation and vocabulary retention of intermediate Iranian EFL learners. A reliable questionnaire (Gardner, 1985) was used to find the degree of de-motivation among EFL students and then classify them into two groups of low and high de-motivation. A 40-item vocabulary knowledge test was administered twice to find the vocabulary retention ability of the students. The test was administered after a one-month time interval to examine the relationship between de-motivation and students’ ability to remember the words tested before. The results of both independent sample t-tests and paired sample-tests showed that the students, who had lower level of de-motivation, had a better performance on the vocabulary retention test. The results of this study showed that one of the influential variables that are related to vocabulary retention of students is the psychological factor of motivation. De-motivation can impede the learners motive to learn a language and maintain negative attitudes towards the language in general, and vocabulary learning and retention in particular. The results are beneficial for all the stakeholders in the field of EFL education, especially instructors and learners.

Demotivation, Motivation, Vocabulary retention