Undergraduate Students' Perseverance in the Context of Foreign Language Studies: a Case of Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies

This study is an attempt to examine the factors influencing undergraduate students' perseverance during the ESP study course at the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies. The curriculum of the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies includes content-based ESP courses in the first and second years of undergraduate studies which are integrated in the whole study process. Foreign language skills are of special importance for obtaining versatile professional and scientific information. Academic staff of the university has recently observed that many students are not ready to accomplish complicated tasks but rather choose to be content with a lower grade without trying to put an effort to achieve the goal. Therefore, the aim of the study is to identify factors influencing students' perseverance in the context of foreign language studies. The study is based on the focus group discussions. The mini focus groups discussions were conducted with the 1st year undergraduate students from different faculties of LLU. During the discussions factors influencing students' perseverance were identified and ranked according to their importance. The analysis of the research results shows that students choose passive rather than active role in language studies in university. They lack the necessary perseverance in order to achieve better results in studies. The 1st year students sometimes do not have motivation to study professional terminology as they do not see the link between the language and its practical application. Another issue is that students often lack learning skills and motivation to make an effort.