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The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study is to describe how community college students in Northeastern states describe the motivation to enroll in a non-required foreign language course. Self-determination theory was the theoretical framework for this study. One overarching research question guided the study: How do community college students describe the motivation to enroll in non-required foreign language courses? Four sub-questions clarified students' motivation by describing it in terms of: (a) introjected; (b) identified; (c) integrated; and (d) intrinsic regulations. This study used convenience sampling to select 40 students. All 40 completed an open-ended questionnaire, 11 completed interviews, and there were 2 focus groups comprised of 3 participants each. Braun and Clarke's 6-step thematic analysis was used to analyze the data both deductively and inductively. The nine resulting themes were grouped relative to the regulations of motivation in the research sub-questions. The findings indicated that integrated regulation (RQ1c) was the most influential regulation, but all regulations have some impact. The themes related to RQ1c were: (1) knowing a language could prove useful to the learner; (2) students have a specific way they plan to use the target language; and (3) there is inherent value in learning a foreign language. Practical implications suggested that community colleges could increase enrollment in non-required language courses by enhancing and emphasizing the utility of the languages offered for the students through community partnerships, connections to career paths, and travel opportunities. Future research should investigate different geographic regions to confirm the generalizability of the findings. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]