Orientations Of College EFL Learners' Motivation For Writing And Their Relations To Students' Reported Writing Strategy Use

For a majority of English as a foreign language (EFL) students, English writing is an acknowledged difficulty regardless of their English proficiency. Some of the difficulties arise from both affective aspect (such as lack of motivation) and cognitive aspect (e.g., inappropriate use of writing strategy). Previous research on the relations between motivation and learning strategy have indicated that students'motivation does affect their use of strategy, and this research attempts to find similar links in EFL writing. Specifically, this study is to explore the potential existence of a self-determination continuum in motivation for writing, and focus on how motivation for writing is linked to actual writing processes (as reflected by writing strategies), rather than examining either in isolation.Two hundred and seventy English minor undergraduate students from seven universities completed two questionnaires on 1-5 Likert scale. A motivation questionnaire tapped student responses to three orientations related to motivation: amotivation, intrinsic, and extrinsic motivation. A writing strategy questionnaire gathered frequency information on strategies that students reported to use in actual writing process. Independent sample T-test and one-way ANOVA were conducted to determine the influence of two moderate variables, gender and English proficiency, on the strength of motivation and writing strategy use. Furthermore, student responses on both instruments were correlated to determine any possible relationship between the three motivational orientations and writing strategies. Responses to the motivation and writing strategy questionnaire were also correlated with students'English proficiency, as determined by their recent TEM4 scores.Results from T-tests found no significant difference in strength of motivation and strategy use in terms of gender and English proficiency. While correlation analysis suggested that students reporting greater motivational intensity also reported higher frequency of strategies that facilitate writing, with some evidence of a self-determination continuum evident in the response patterns. As hypothesized, students'English proficiency correlated negatively with amotivation. However, correlations with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were not as high as expected. And correlation between English proficiency and writing strategy use did not point to any significant relationship. The results of this study provide some empirical support for the application of a self-determination framework as a valid tool for assessing learner motivation and its potential relationships with strategy use, and learner autonomy.