Abstract

There are many studies that intrinsic learning motivation and social support play an important role in the study of children and adolescents. However, studies examining the effects of intrinsic learning motivation and social support by measuring the actual academic performance of elementary school students are rare. This study attempted to verify the effect of intrinsic learning motivation on Korean language performance and moderating effect of social support in 5th and 6th graders in elementary school. 122 elementary school students in local county-level areas participated in this study. The Korean language test was conducted about 5 months after intrinsic learning motivation and social support of families and teachers were measured. The results revealed that Korean language performance showed a significant positive correlation with intrinsic learning motivation and social support, and also showed a significant correlation between learning motivation and social support. In the regression analysis with control variables, it was found that intrinsic learning motivation had a significant effect on Korean language performance. The moderating effect of social support was analyzed by dividing it into family support and teacher support. The interaction effect of learning motivation and social support was significant only in teacher support, not in family support. In specific, when teacher support was high, Korean language performance was high regardless of the student's learning motivation level, but when teacher support was low, the student's learning motivation mattered in the performance. Based on the results of this study, implications and limitations were discussed.