1. K OREAN L ANGUAGE S TUDIES : M OTIVATION AND A TTRITION Julie Damron, BYU Justin Forsyth, UBC

2. I NTRODUCTION The attrition rate for Korean language classes at BYU from beginning (101) through intermediate (202) is high.

3. W HAT AND W HY ? What is the attrition rate among Korean classes at BYU? What motivates students to take Korean at the university level? Why do students drop out?

4. A R EVIEW OF THE L ITERATURE Why do students take a language? Heritage Significant other Education requirements Interest Sake of learning Career opportunities Increase cultural understanding

5. L ITERATURE R EVIEW ( CONTINUED ) Why do students drop out? Anxiety/stress Loss of interest Course too difficult or easy Dislike of classroom environment Unavailability of resources Lack of confidence Loss of native speaking friend

6. M ETHODOLOGY (P ART O NE )  Tracked 131 student enrollments from Korean 101 to 202 starting from 2005 to 2010. Who enrolled in 101? - 84 women, 47 men -33 freshman, 32 sophomores, 32 juniors, 29 seniors, 5 masters students

7. M ETHODOLOGY (P ART T WO ) Surveyed 129 students from Brigham Young University who took any Korean 101-202 class (92 responded) Students ranged from beginning to high-intermediate learners Majors included: economics, management, biology, business, and undeclared Surveys were sent and returned via email to students who had taken a Korean language course between 2005 and 2010

8. M ETHODOLOGY ( CONTINUED ) The survey asked 12 questions, with 5 of the questions utilizing a 5-point Likert scale 54.3% of students had no Korean parents, 28.3% had one Korean parent, 17. 4% had two Korean parents. None were adopted from Korea.

9. Student Attrition Rate from Class to Class from 2005-2010 Attrition from 101 - 102 Attrition from 102 - 201 Attrition from 201 - 202 *Overall attrition from 101 – 202 16 Students starting in Fall 2005 57%72%O%88% 20 Ss, Fall 2006 50%40%17%75% 20 Ss, Fall 2007 50%40%50%85% 26 Ss, Fall 2008 31%50%67%89% 21 Ss, Fall 2009 58%45%20%81% 28 Ss, Fall 2010 43%75% 97%

10. R ESULTS Overall attrition rate from first semester to the beginning of the fourth semester Korean classes averaged 85% (compared with Spanish, French and German at 12-24% at various institutions) Why?

11. M OTIVATION FOR T AKING 101 Biggest motivators 1 st It looked interesting (54 students listed as high) 2 nd It’s an important language (40) 3 rd Future career benefits (39) 4 th I have Korean heritage (38) Smallest motivators 1 st I have Korean heritage (46 students listed as low) 2 nd It fulfills an academic requirement (42) 3 rd I have a Korean friend/significant other (42)

12. I NITIAL M OTIVATORS

13. I NITIAL D ESIRED L EVEL OF P ROFICIENCY # of Respondents % of Total a. Like a native 129.38 b. Fluent 2821.88 c. somewhat conversational 3426.56 d. only basic words and phrases 5039.06 e. no expectations about proficiency43.13

14. R EASONS FOR Q UITTING K OREAN C LASSES Most influential reasons for quitting 1 st It didn’t fit my schedule (45 students listed as high) 2 nd It was too time consuming (21 students) 3 rd I wasn’t comfortable moving up (20 students) 4 th I fulfilled my requirement (19 students) Least influential reasons for quitting 1 st I no longer had a Korean friend/significant 2 nd I lost interest in Korean 3 rd It wasn’t challenging enough

15. W OULD - BE M OTIVATORS

16. Skill Level Number of Student Respondents 25 15 20 10 5 0 highmidlow P ERCEIVED S KILL IN L EARNING L ANGUAGES

17. S TRESS L EVELS FOR C LASS A CTIVITIES

18. C ONCLUSION In this study, students took Korean for these reasons: because they heard it was interesting, for future career benefits, and/or because they had Korean heritage.

19. C ONCLUSION ( CONTINUED ) Student expectations were reasonable Average attrition rate from 1 st class to 4 th class of 85% Timing was the biggest issue Anxiety did not appear to be a major factor

20. C ONCLUSION ( CONTINUED ) If the primary goal is to reduce attrition, potential effective changes can be Establishing a language learning lab Offering a greater variety of class times Giving less time-consuming assignments Addressing anxiety associated with evaluation

21. C ONCLUSION ( CONTINUED )