A Study On Cognitive And Emotional Constructs Of Second Language Learners’ Motivation In A Blended Learning Environment

Second language(L2)learning experience is a crucial component of L2 Motivational Self System(L2MSS),but it has rarely been examined as a unity of cognition and emotion within blended learning environments(the synthesis of both offline instruction and online self-directed learning).To achieve this,perezhivanie(a Sociocultural Theory concept)is used to describe L2 learners’ blended learning experience to locate dramatic events(unit of analysis of perezhivanie)resulting from the conflicts between learners’ cognition and emotions.Based on that,a mixed research method is employed in this study in order to track and investigate the motivation of college English learners under the blended learning environment.The study aims to explain the motivational characteristics of college English learners as well as to identify the components of the L2 learning experience that influence learners’ motivation in a blended learning environment.Additionally,this study seeks to identify the mechanism by which L2 learning experiences can influence motivation.As a result,this study addresses the following three research questions:(1)How motivated are college English learners in a blended learning environment?(2)In a blended learning environment,which components of learners’ L2 cognitive and emotional learning experience have a significant impact on their motivation? How do learners experience each component differently?(3)In a blended learning environment,what is the mechanism by which the L2 cognitive and emotional learning experience of learners influences their motivation to learn the L2?For the above questions,this study developed a questionnaire through in-depth interviews and distributed it to 475 second-year college English learners to investigate the motivational characteristics of L2 learners and identifying the components of the L2 learning experience that affected learners’ motivation in a blended learning environment.Additionally,7 students were selected as focus participants to take part in narrative,interview,and reflective diary surveys,through which the qualitative data was collected to uncover the mechanism by which L2 learning experience influenced motivation.The result demonstrates that college English learners have a strong motivation for learning an L2.This motivation is primarily due to the desire to improve their English proficiency and the desire to obtain a certificate.As a consequence of their lack of relevant L2 learning experience,college English learners are not yet able to develop a deep ideal L2 self.We also find that,out of five factors contributing to L2 learning experiences,“personal overall experience” has the greatest impact on motivation to learn English,followed by “L2 learning resources and activities”,“interaction with peers and teacher”,“L2 curriculum and rules” and “L2 teaching strategies”.The result confirms that blended learning environments are more effective at stimulating individuals’ motivation than traditional classrooms and highlights the importance of a student’s cognition and emotion in the process of transforming the current learning environment into internal psychological structures through the construction of social meanings.As a final note,this study finds that rather than the dramatic events themselves,learners’ perceptions,interpretations,and emotions about the event have an impact on their motivation.As a result,the study highlights the nonlinear effect of learners’ positive/negative “cognition-emotion-action” interactions in L2 motivation experiences.This study focuses on learners’ cognitive and emotional experiences in L2 blended learning motivation by adopting the concept of perezhivanie,which provides a new theoretical perspective for existing motivation research and offers several pedagogical implications for foreign language instruction in blended learning environments.