Involvement of Armenian Parents in Their Children’s EFL Learning and Its Relationship with Learners’ Motivation and Achievement

Abstract

The importance of parental involvement in children’s educational life is well-documented and researched, but few research studies show how exactly Armenian parents are involved in their children’s language learning. The purpose of this study is to explore various dimensions of Armenian parents’ involvement and to examine its relationship with children’s motivation and achievement. Participants of this study are 333 Armenian language learners and their parents. Two adapted questionnaires are used to assess parental involvement and student’s motivation, and students’ achievement is assessed by their final test grades. Means across parental involvement dimensions were compared to explore the pattern of Armenian parental involvement, and regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between parental involvement and children’s motivation and achievement. Results showed that Armenian parents had high level of involvement in parental advising, followed by homework involvement, parent-teacher conferences and helping for tests. Regression analysis showed that no significant relationship was found between Armenian parent’s involvement and children’s motivation, that is to say Armenian students are very much motivated to learn English regardless the involvement of their parents. However, children’s achievement had significant relationship with parental involvement; in particularsome parental involvement dimensions showed negative effects on students’ achievement.