علی درخشان - Associate Professor in Applied Linguistics, Department of English Language and Literature, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran.
محمد غفوری - MA in TEFL, Department of English and Literature, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
مریم فریبی - PhD Candidate in TEFL, Department of English and Literature, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Learning outcomes will highly increase if barriers are identified and removed appropriately. Since demotivating factors can affect the learning process negatively, regaining the lost interest of learners leads to higher levels of academic achievement. Demotivation has been referred to as low motivation instead of being an independent concept on its own on the one hand, and the demotivating factors related to PhD exam candidates have not been taken into consideration so far on the other hand. As a result, this research attempted to examine both the demotivating and remotivating factors in the Iranian milieu, for which ۱۰۰ MA and ۷۸ PhD exam candidates from various universities took part in our study. The participants filled out a validated demotivating questionnaire for data collection, and ۱۵ MA and ۲۰ PhD participants participated in a semi-structured interview, encompassing five open-ended questions. The multivariate analysis of ANOVA depicted a significant difference between the most demotivating factor (economic problems) and the least demotivating one (curriculum decisions). Moreover, the data provided by the participants were analyzed to reduce the effect of these factors. Identifying the demotivating factors and trying to neutralize their negative effects by considering the remotivating options enables the policymakers to help the students move towards academic satisfaction which in the long run leads to their psychological well-being.

motivation, Demotivating Factors, Remotivating Factors, MA Exam Candidates, PhD Exam Candidates, Positive Psychology