Effects Of Motivation And Effort On L2 Speaking Proficiency:A Study Of The Spoken English By Chinese College Students

The relationship between motivation,effort,and L2 proficiency has been a topic of considerable interest in second language acquisition research.However,the following issues still remained unsettled:the paths and the explanatory power for the effects of L2 speaking motivation and effort on L2 speaking proficiency,the role of both intended and actual L2 speaking effort on the relationship between L2 speaking motivation and speaking proficiency,and the relationship between L2 speaking motivational variables and their effects on intended and actual L2 speaking effort.The present study is designed to examine how L2 speaking effort affects L2 speaking proficiency and how L2 speaking motivation affects L2 speaking proficiency via speaking effort.The L2 motivational self system is the theoretical framework for the present study.Eight motivational variables were included:Ideal L2 speaking(L2S)self,Ought-to L2S self,Attitudes to learning L2S,L2S instrumentality-promotion,L2S instrumentality-prevention,Family influence on L2S,L2S self-confidence,Interest in L2S.In addition,two kinds of effort were included:Intended L2S effort and Actual L2S effort.The subjects were 365 second-year undergraduates of non-English majors in four universities located in two cities of Jiangsu Province,of whom 31 were randomly selected as interviewees based on cluster analysis.The instruments were a speaking motivation questionnaire,a TOEFL iBT speaking test,and interviews.The data were collected in September and October,2012.The relationships between L2 speaking motivation,effort(both intended and actual effort),and L2 speaking proficiency were first macroscopically examined through SEM analysis by using AMOS.Microscopical exploration was also done by means of Mixed ANOVA and interviews to further examine the relationship between these variables,and to find whether there was evidence to support the findings through SEM.Two models with accepted model fit indices were yielded:the relationship between L2 speaking motivation,Actual effort,and L2 speaking proficiency,and the relationship between L2 speaking motivation,Intended effort,and L2 speaking proficiency.Both the quantitative and qualitative microscopical exploration provided evidence for the SEM results.L2 speaking eflfort directly affected L2 speaking proficiency.Actual L2S effort had the largest explanatory power on L2 speaking proficiency among all the variables of motivation and effort;the explanatory power of Actual L2S effort on L2 speaking proficiency almost doubled that of Intended L2S effort.In addition,only Actual L2S effort had significant main effects on L2 speaking proficiency with large effect size,while Intended L2S effort and all the other independent variables did not have significant main effects.Speaking effort mediated the effects of all the speaking motivational variables on L2 speaking proficiency.Motivational variables only indirectly affected L2 speaking proficiency.Ideal L2S self had relatively larger explanatory power,Attitudes to learning L2S had relatively smaller explanatory power,while Ought-to L2S self only played a rather limited role in affecting L2 speaking proficiency.Other speaking motivational variables served as supporting variables of Ideal L2S self or Ought-to L2S self,and indirectly affected L2 speaking proficiency via the three essential variables within the L2 speaking motivational self system and effort,so they had the smallest explanatory power.Ideal L2S self and Ought-to L2S self had far greater effects on Intended L2S effort than on Actual L2S effort.The intercorrelations between L2S instrumentality-promotion,L2S self-confidence,and Interest in L2S indicate that learners' professional success,confidence in spoken English,and their personal interest in spoken English were highly associated with each other.The three supporting variables together shaped learners' Ideal L2S self,and affected L2 speaking proficiency via Ideal L2S self and effort.The intercorrelations between L2S instrumentality-promotion,and L2S instrumentality-prevention and Family influence on L2S indicate that learners5 professional success,their attitudes to tests,and their concepts of parental encouragement were linked with each other.The three supporting variables together shaped learners' Ought-to L2S self,and affected L2 speaking proficiency via Ought-to L2S self and effort.The study made a theoretical contribution to both L2 speaking research and L2 motivational self system by modeling the relationship between L2 speaking motivation,effort and L2 speaking proficiency.In order to explore the relationship between them,the study not only combined the macroscopical SEM analysis with the microscopical Mixed ANOVA approach,but it also combined quantitative study with qualitative analysis through interviews.Furthermore,it can help teachers adjust their teaching methods of L2 speaking based on the different roles of speaking motivational variables,intended and actual speaking effort,in order to promote EFL learners' L2 speaking proficiency.