The Relationship between Cultural Identity, Intrinsic Motivation and Pronunciation Knowledge of Iranian EFL Learners

Abstract

Gardener’s (1985) socio-cultural model shows that culture is among the variables that can affect learning languages. In addition, a series of studies were prompted by Dörnyie (2005) to gauge the effect of motivation on language learning. This correlational study endeavored to find out any possible interaction between these variables, i.e., cultural identity, intrinsic motivation, and pronunciation knowledge of Iranian EFL learners at intermediate level. To this end, 9 items from Mathews’ Cultural Identity Questionnaire (2007) (as cited in Bazrafshan, 2015) along with intrinsic/extrinsic motivation questionnaire developed by Noels, Pelletier, Clement, and Vallerand (2000) were given to the 49 intermediate Iranian EFL learners who were selected among 74 learners studying at Mahan Language Institute in Birjand. The participants’ pronunciation knowledge was also measured through an interview. The results of the data analysis through Pearson correlation revealed that cultural identity shows no relationship with pronunciation knowledge of the participants, whereas more intrinsically motivated language learners gained higher scores on the pronunciation test. Pedagogical implications are discussed.