A Study On College Students’ L2 Motivational Self System

Motivation, generally considered as one of the most influential factors in language learning, has been an important subject for researchers in the field of second language acquisition for the past few decades. As Dornyei (2001) stated, motivation explains why people select a particular activity, how long they are willing to persist in it and what effort they invest in. Indeed, motivation has a decisive impact on the whole process and outcome of the English language learning. Although substantial researches on language learning motivation have already been explored by Chinese and foreign scholars, most of them have employed Gardner’s social-educational model. As motivation is a complex concept, it is necessary to study motivation from various perspectives. Therefore, L2 motivational self system, a latest motivational theory proposed by Dornyei, was used as the theoretical framework of the current study.This study was designed to investigate the L2 motivational self system among college students. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed in this study. A 38-item six point Likert scale questionnaire was administered to 190 college students (95 English major students and 95 non-English major students).171 questionnaires were found to be valid and processed by SPSS 16.0. Descriptive analysis, pearson correlation analysis, regression analysis and independent samples t-test were used to analyze the data in this study. In qualitative part, four students were chosen as interviewees and the contents of the interview serve as the supplement for the quantitative research.This study attempts to explore the following research questions:(1) What is the general situation of college students’English motivational self system? (2) Compared with integrativeness, does ideal-L2-self have more prominent correlation relationship with learners’ English learning motivation? (3) Among the three components of L2MSS, which is the best predictor of students’English learning motivation? (4) Are there any significant differences in ideal-L2-self, ought-to-L2-self between the English major students and non-English major students?The major findings are as follows:Firstly, Most college students have strong English ideal self and positive English learning experience, with English major students’ mean scores are higher than that of non-English major students. Conversely, the scores of their ought-to L2 self are very low. Secondly, the ideal L2 self and integrativeness were significantly correlated with each other and compared with integrativeness, ideal-L2-self have more prominent correlation relationship with learners’English learning motivation. Thirdly, both ideal L2 self and English learning experience are positively correlated to English learning motivation. The best predictor of college students’ L2 learning motivation is second language learning experience; ideal L2 self follows and ought-to L2 self has no obvious correlation to English learners’ learning motivation. Finally, there is a significant difference in ideal L2 self between English major students and non-English major students, however, there are no significant differences in’ ought-to L2 self between these two groups.