Investigating the Types of Motivation of TESL Students in A Higher Education Institute in Malaysia

The purpose of this study is to investigate the types of motivation of students from a Higher Education Institute, the School of Education and Social Sciences in learning English language. The research instrument was adapted from Gardner’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). The questionnaire has 28 items 14 items from intrinsic motivation and 14 items from extrinsic motivation. Students from a Higher Education Institute, Shah Alam, Malaysia participated in answering the questionnaire. The findings reveal that, the participating students do have high level of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, but if to compare between these two types, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, the Participating students’ intrinsic motivation are slightly higher than their level of extrinsic motivation. The researcher concludes that the participating students rely on intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic motivation.