Résumé:
Although English is a global and the world’s lingua franca, we have noticed that students’
do not seem quite motivated to learn English at the Department of English Language at
Mohammed Seddik Seddik Ben Yahia University, Jijel. There are many factors that motivate
and others demotivate learners to learn English as a foreign language. This study is concerned
with learners’ motivation for learning English as a foreign language and their motivating and
demotivating incentives. In order to investigate this research problem and inform our research
questions we have conducted a survey questionnaire and an interview with first year English
Master students at Jijel University. According to the hypotheses set at the beginning which
are; almost all first year English Master students are motivated to learn English as a foreign
language, second first year English Master students are mostly motivated by instrumental
incentives, the third and the last one first year English Master students are demotivated by
some factors such as the learning atmosphere. The results showed that learners are motivated,
more specifically, they have an instrumental motivation. However students have also some
demotivating incentives such as the learning atmosphere, some teachers’ incompetence, and
the lack of job opportunities.
