The aims of this present paper are to investigate the characteristics of motivation, to throw light upon its importance, to explore the motives that are responsible for maintaining the motivational level and to outline the theories of this field. The paper is based on a research of 217 primary school learners, all learning English at school as a foreign language. The pupils, who are between the ages of 8 and 14 and go to Táncsics Mihály Primary School, Cegléd, were asked to fill in a questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire were analysed and compared to the results of a nationwide study, which was carried out by Csizér Kata and Kormos Judit. The differences seem to be negligible regarding both the motivational scales and the intercultural contacts. The results show that Hungarian primary school pupils are highly motivated to learn English, however they have fairly limited opportunities to use it.