Optimizing EFL learning: exploring the role of learner background factors and the nuances of their effects on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among university students in a mixed-methods study

In the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context in which our study was conducted, instructors can follow more similar classroom motivational techniques and strategies since neither type of motivation was influenced by the variables of different major, age and occupation. Though many studies have shown that EFL learners are more extrinsically motivated in comparison with ESL ones, our study revealed that participants were more intrinsically motivated. Thus, this study may be replicated in other educational contexts such as an ESL context. The study can also be repeated in some universities in which other educational systems such as coed education is used to see the possible similarities and differences. Motivation is the important stimulant to impel the learners to achieve their learning goals; thus, it should receive sufficient attention in various educational settings.