The Relationship between Middle School Students’ Involvement in Career Activities and Intrinsic Learning Motivation in Korea: The Moderating Role of Private Tutoring Experience

Abstract

After the enactment of a new Enforcement Decree of the Career Education Act in 2015, it has been a question curious whether middle school students’ participation in career activities would improve their intrinsic motivation. In addition, the question of whether private tutoring will change the impact of a career education on learning motivation was also raised. This study aimed to examine the relationship between career activity participation and learning motivation by considering the moderating role of private tutoring experience. To this end, secondary data analyses were used, with the data from a large-scale longitudinal survey conducted in Korea. Participants were 4,969 middle school students who experienced the free semester system. For the analyses, this study applied GLM(General Linear Model) including two independent variables and one moderator. The results of this study revealed that there was a positive relationship between career activity participation and the intrinsic learning motivation of middle school students in Korea. Although the moderating effect of private tutoring experience was not statistically significant, further analysis showed that career activity focusing on counseling might play a significant role in the student’s intrinsic motivation. Thus study' findings imply that innovation in career education has improved the student’s intrinsic motivation, but the effect of private tutoring remains.