Motivation to Learn and Teach English in Puerto Rico's Public and Private Schools

This research project analyzes the attitudes and motivation that high school students from private and public schools in Puerto Rico, have towards the English language and instruction. It is also an analysis of English teachers from private and public school in Puerto Rico and their perceptions about motivation. The researcher also explores their perception of student motivation to learn English and the self-reported practices used to motivate students. The methodology used throughout this study is a mixed methods study following a parallel design. The researcher gathered data from the survey distributed to students entitled the mini Attitude Motivation Test Battery. The researcher also employed a structured interview protocol to interview teachers and students. This data gives insight into the attitudes towards language in Puerto Rico from both students' and teachers' perspectives. It also gives suggestions as to practices that can be implemented in order to motivate students to learn English and close the language gap between private and public schools.