The Influence of the Parents’ Socio-educational Level and Parental Encouragement on University Students’ Motivational Profile for Learning English

Abstract

Fluency in other languages has become essential for proper integration and communication with other communities, societies, and cultures. Hence, it is of major importance to understand the factors which impact on English language learning, including the influence of parents on their children's learning during the higher education years, last stage before labor market. To this effect, this descriptive survey study with a sample of 689 students from the University of Seville describes the influence of the parents’ socio-educational level and parental encouragement on the university motivational profile of future preschool and primary school teachers, doctors, and computer engineers to learn languages according to their academic goals for a successful socio-occupational integration. For this purpose, a descriptive data analysis of percentages, means, and standard deviations, Kruskall-Wallis tests and Pearson correlations have been carried out. The results show the prevalence of learning goals over the performance goals in their motivation, as well as a notable impact of the socio-educational level of parents on the parental support. In conclusion, parental encouragement, undergraduate degree programme, and the student's expected professional career are key factors in achieving a successful apprenticeship which facilitates their employability.