A Study On Senior Three Students' EFL Learning Motivation In A High School From The Perspective Of L2MSS

Motivation plays an important role in second language(L2)and foreign language(FL)learning,directly affecting the success or failure of learning foreign language and L2 all the time.In the past few decades,the scholars never stopped studying on second language learning motivation.D?rnyei's L2 Motivational Self System(L2MSS)(2005)is a new and powerful theory and the relevant researches are steadily on the increase.Therefore,to analyse and answer the following research questions,this article explores the English learning motivation of 396 Senior Three(grade-12)students in a high school in the application of the theory.1)What is the general situation of Senior Three students' L2 MSS in Chinese context?2)Are there any differences among the three components of L2 MSS between male and female students in the whole sample?3)Which component is the best predictor of the participants' English achievements? Are there any significant differences on genders?Both quantitative and qualitative methods were adopted in this study.The questionnaire used by Taguchi et al.in China was administered.The participants are Senior Three students from one of the high schools in Guangdong province.All the data gathered were entered into SPSS 20.0 to conduct analysis.Descriptive statistical analysis was used to solve the first question;an independent sample t-test was adopted to examine the gender differences on L2MSS;and a multiple linear regression was applied to explore which component predicts students' achievements best and the gender differences were examined.6 male students and 6 female students participated in the semi-structure interview for supplement.Results showed that:1)Among the three components of L2 MSS,the ideal L2 self is the highest,followed by L2 learning experience,and the lowest is the ought-to L2 self in Senior Three students.2)Female students possess significantly higher levels of ideal L2 self and L2 learning experience than those of male students,but their ought-to L2 selves are opposite.3)Among them,ideal L2 self has the most prominent predictive effect on participants' English achievements,followed by L2 learning experience and ought-to L2 self ranks the last.The ought-to L2 self has more influence on male students' English achievements than that of female students.These detailed findings will be discussed in this study.The author provides some helpful implications of practical teaching for English teachers to effectively enhance students' motivation from the three components of the L2 Motivational Self System.