A Psychological Analysis of Persian Language and Literature Students’ Attitude and Motivation towards their Major and Career Prospects

One of the important goals of higher education is to train future specialists to meet the needs of society. Students’ deliberate and conscious choice of university major can be effective in achieving this goal. Also, students’ positive attitude towards their major and career prospects can enhance their motivation. The goal of this mixed-methods (quantitative-qualitative) study is to examine Persian language and literature students’ various forms of motivation and their attitudes towards their university major and career prospects. For this purpose, 200 Persian language and literature students at three educational levels (bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral) answered a questionnaire of attitudes towards the major and career prospects, together with three qualitative questions, that examined their views on benefits and obstacles in the field of Persian language and literature and analyzed their satisfaction with teachers’ teaching styles. The results of the study in light of the dual continuum model of motivation showed that students’ attitudes toward their major and future prospects are generally average. There was, however, a significant difference in different educational levels in terms of students’ attitudes. In other words, undergraduate students expressed positive attitudes, compared to doctoral students. This appears to bring about passive motivation among students and hamper their academic progress. Necessary measures should be implemented to change students’ attitudes as their motivation may turn into active or passive demotivation. To overcome these challenges, some amendments should be introduced: introducing more practical courses, implementing novel and effective teaching methods, running specialized entrepreneurship workshops and enhancing students’ research skills.