The Effect Of Ideal L2 Self On High School Students' Autonomy In English Learning

Motivation has been one of the most important topics in second language acquisition research.Over the past decade,with the re-examination of the integrative motive and the re-theorization of motivation in relation to self,D?rnyei's L2 Motivational Self System(L2MSS)has gained attention in L2 motivation research.Being a central constituent of this model,the Ideal L2 Self(IL2S)has been tested to be a strong predictor of motivational effect.Since motivation and learner autonomy has been theoretically argued to be inter-related,it will be valuable to explain the motivational effect on learner autonomy from the perspective of the IL2 S.To probe into the effect of the IL2 S on high school students' autonomy in English learning,the present study tries to explore the questions as follows:1)What is the correlation between the IL2 S and high school students' autonomy in English learning?2)What aspects of the IL2 S of high school students affect their autonomy in English learning?For the purpose of answering the research questions,a qualitative research method is employed in combination with a quantitative research method.A questionnaire is first distributed among 127 students of grade 2 from the same high school,and the collected data are submitted to SPSS 18.0 for analysis so as to reveal the correlation between the participants' IL2 S and their autonomy in English learning.Then 6 of the participants are invited for a semi-structured interview for a further exploration of the aspects of the IL2 S affecting their autonomy in English learning.After a careful analysis of all the collected data,the major results are as follows:1)High school students' IL2 S is relatively highly and positively correlated with their autonomy in English learning,which reveals that high school students' IL2 S facilitates their autonomy in English learning.Specifically,the IL2 S of high schoolthan the correlation with their English autonomous learning belief;Although high school students embrace the most IL2 S vision related to media use,this type of vision has the least relation to their English autonomous learning belief and behaviors;And although high school students hold the least IL2 S vision related to communication with English,this type of vision has the strongest relation to their English autonomous learning belief and behaviors.2)A perceived plausible IL2 S helps activate high school students' autonomy in English learning;A well-elaborated IL2 S helps strengthen its motivational intensity on high school students' autonomy in English learning;And a frequently-envisioned IL2 S helps sustain its motivational power on high school students' autonomy in English learning.