A Study On Motivational Regulation Of Chinese EFL College Students

Although motivational regulation has been regarded as an important aspect of self-regulated learning and is thought to have an impact on academic learning and achievement, it is still a relatively little investigated aspect of self-regulated learning. There has been no study so far that has been devoted to examining how motivational regulation bears on foreign language learning. We know little about whether and how foreign language learners regulate their motivation, to say nothing of the role of motivational regulation in foreign language learning. The present study was designed to examine motivational regulation of Chinese EFL college students, focusing on exploring the strategies that Chinese college students use to regulate their motivation and the impact of motivational regulation on their EFL learning process and achievement.To investigate the motivational regulation of Chinese EFL college students, we formulated the following research questions: 1) What types of strategies do Chinese college students use to regulate their motivation in English learning? 2) What are the overall patterns in using the motivational regulation strategies among Chinese EFL college students? 3) What are the differences in using motivational regulation strategies in terms of the students'gender and specialty? 4) Are there any differences in using motivational regulation strategies between students with different English proficiencies? If yes, what are the differences? 5) What are the relations between motivational beliefs and motivational regulation? 6) What are the relations between motivational regulation and language learning strategies? 7) What are the relations between motivational regulation and English achievement?The present study is composed of a survey study and a case study. The survey study was aimed at discovering the overall patterns of motivational regulation among Chinese EFL college students as well as the impact of motivational regulation on EFL learning process and achievement. To this end, a questionnaire on self-regulated language learning was designed. Five hundred and fifty-three non-English major college students from 8 tertiary institutions in six provinces and municipalities responded to the questionnaire. The case study was to further analyze how high English achievers differ from low achievers in motivational regulation. Six college students selected from a tertiary institution in Zhejiang Province participated in the case study conducted through interviews and diaries. The present study has yielded the following important findings.1) Chinese EFL college students used a variety of strategies to regulate their motivation. Eight types of motivational regulation strategies were identified through an exploratory factor analysis, that is, interest enhancement, performance self-talk, mastery self-talk, self-reward, negative-based incentive, task value enhancement, volitional control, and self-efficacy enhancement. The students used all the eight motivational regulation strategies with medium to high frequency, but they used certain strategies more frequently than others. Female students used seven of the eight motivational regulation strategies more frequently than male students with the exception of interest enhancement. There were no differences in using motivational regulation strategies between students specialized in science and arts. Significant differences in using motivational regulation strategies were found between the three groups of students with different English proficiencies. The higher the students'English proficiency, the more frequent the students'use of motivational regulation strategies was. The findings from the case study also revealed that high English achievers could better regulate their motivation than low achievers.2) With regard to the relations between English learning goal orientations, English self-efficacy and motivational regulation strategies, the results from correlation analyses indicated that mastery goal orientation, performance-approach goal orientation and self-efficacy were significantly and positively related to each of the eight motivational regulation strategies, and performance-avoidance goal orientation was significantly and positively related to performance self-talk, self-reward, negative-based incentive, mastery self-talk, and self-efficacy enhancement, but there was no significant relation between performance-avoidance goal orientation and interest enhancement, task-value enhancement, and volitional control. The multiple regression analyses using the three types of English learning goal orientations and English self-efficacy to predict the eight motivational regulation strategies revealed that students'English learning goal orientations and English self-efficacy, as a group, accounted for a significant portion of the variance in all the eight motivational regulation strategies. However, different English learning goal orientations and English self-efficacy varied in their ability to explain students'motivational regulation. Mastery goal orientation significantly predicted students'use of all the eight types of motivational regulation strategies; performance-approach goal orientation could predict three of the eight motivational regulation strategies, that is, performance self-talk, self-reward, and negative-based incentive;performance-avoidance goal orientation was an individual predictor for six of the eight motivational regulation strategies with the exception of interest enhancement and task value enhancement; self-efficacy was a significant individual predictor for four of the eight motivational regulation strategies, that is, interest enhancement, mastery self-talk, self-efficacy enhancement, and volitional control.3) With respect to the relations between motivational regulation strategies and language learning strategies, the results from correlation analyses indicated moderate to strong relations between students'motivational regulation and their use of language learning strategies, suggesting that students who used the motivational regulation strategies more frequently tended to use the language learning strategies more frequently as well. Multiple regression analyses using the eight motivational regulation strategies to predict language learning strategies showed that the eight motivational regulation strategies explained a significant portion of the variance in all the three types of language learning strategies. Results also revealed that the eight motivational regulation strategies varied in their ability to predict the use of language learning strategies. Interest enhancement and self-reward could predict all the three types of language learning strategies. Task value enhancement was a significant positive predictor for metacognitive strategy and practice strategy. Mastery self-talk was a significant predictor only for metacognitive strategy. Self-efficacy enhancement only could significantly predict the use of practice strategy, but is a negative predictor. Performance self-talk, negative-based incentive and volitional control did not individually account for a significant portion of the variance in any of the language learning strategies.4) The study also provides evidence that students who regulated their motivation would achieve better grades than students who failed to self-regulate their motivation. The correlation analyses of the relations between motivational regulation strategies and English achievement showed that seven of the eight motivational regulation strategies were significantly and positively related to English achievement with the exception of negative-based incentive. The relation between negative-based incentive and English achievement was positive but not significant. The results of multiple regression analyses using the eight motivational regulation strategies to predict English achievement indicated that, as a group, motivational regulation strategies accounted for a significant portion of the variance in English achievement. Separately, negative-based incentive was the strongest individual predictor for English achievement, but a negative one. Performance self-talk, self-reward and task value enhancement were also significant positive predictors for English achievement. Interest enhancement, mastery self-talk, self-efficacy enhancement, and volitional control could not individually predict English achievement.Although there are limitations to the study, the findings of the present study have important theoretical and practical implications. The present study has made an initial attempt to explore the motivational regulation of EFL learners. It provides more insight into the nature and effectiveness of motivational regulation in academic learning, makes an important contribution to foreign language learning research by introducing motivational regulation into SLA, and sheds some light on the understanding of the individual differences in EFL learning. The findings also suggest that foreign language teachers should help students self-regulate their motivation to promote language learning. Meanwhile, language teachers and educators should take an integrative view of learner training to help students become truly self-regulated learners. Learner training should involve not only language learning strategy training but also the training to foster adaptive goal orientations, to nurture self-efficacy in students'learning process, and to help students self-regulate their motivation.