Abstract:

Globalization consists of different dimensions, such as economic, cultural, technological and political. Particularly, globalization of technology and employment are two essential factors in today’s network society. Researchers, students and scientists not only travel and work in different countries, but also build networks of cooperation through the Internet all around the world. Therefore, the use of a lingua franca is necessary. English has been playing this role for decades and is considered a powerful means of communication in nowadays society (AlQahtani, 2011). Particularly in Greece, English has long been an important part of education and research has revealed many reasons why Greek students are motivated to learn it. According to Sougari & Hovhannisyan (2013), Greek students relate their future career success to the knowledge of English and the attainment of a certificate. Other studies have also revealed that students’ acknowledgement that English is an international language plays an important role to their motivation (AlQahtani, 2011; Friedrich, 2000; Matsuda, 2003; McKenzie, 2010; Wang & Huang, 2013).

Due to globalization, the crisis of global capitalism that emerged throughout the world since 2008, affected the majority of the western countries. However, Greece faced the harshest impact and up to date is not able to overcome the problems that have been caused both in financial and social level. This situation has led to the implementation of austere economical measures and as a result society faces high rates of unemployment, emigration of a significant number of educated people and political dissatisfaction. Many companies have phased out and a great deal of employees decided to move abroad for a better standard of living (Harlan, 2015). At the same time, the socio-economic changes that have taken place pose new challenges to communities and affect both students’ mental health and viewpoint of their future (Brouzos, Vassilopoulos, Korfiati, & Baourda, 2015; Zmas, 2014).

Consequently, it is likely that the motivation of students to learn English has changed over the last decade and particularly being increased because of students’ desire to study and work abroad. This study aims to unravel the young learners’ attitude to learn English in the era of an economical crisis and especially to answer the following questions:
1.To what extent the economic crisis has changed Greek students’ motives to learn English?
2.To what extent are students aware of the phenomenon of globalization and its implications?
3.To what extent do students consider learning English as relevant to a better understanding of globalization?
4.What is their impression regarding the new pedagogical practices and technological innovations (e.g. Computer Supported Collaborative Learning) adopted by private language centers?

For the data gathering procedure, a questionnaire was created that explores students’ motivation. The participants were fifty one students in Greek secondary schools or universities who study English as a foreign language aged between 12 and 24 years old. The questions were divided into categories each matching to a separate research question.

The main results reflect that the economical crisis has little influence on students’ motives to learn English since students claim that - regardless the economic situation of the country - English has always played a dominant role for their future prospective.

Keywords:

English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English as an International Language (EIL), motivation, Greek economic crisis.