Motivational Orientations of Secondary School EFL Learners toward Language Learning

Abstract

This study aimed to examine to what extent Turkish EFL learners’ L2 motivational dispositions which are ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self and language learning experiences predict their intended effort for language learning. The study was designed from a quantitative perspective in which the participants were given a composite instrument. The study was conducted at a state run secondary school in Turkey and the participants were 254 students including 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders. The results indicated that secondary level Turkish EFL students have high scores on all of the L2 motivation variables. However, the statistical analyses suggested that the participants’ level of ought-to L2 self was significantly higher than their level of ideal L2 self. It was also seen that when the participants got older, their levels of ought-to L2 self appeared to indicate a decreasing trend. Besides, the results asserted that the secondary school students’ intended effort for learning a language was found to be predicted mostly by language learning experiences, then ought-to L2 self and lastly ideal L2 self, according to hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The results were discussed in line with L2 motivational self system studies in the literature and it was concluded that the results in favor of ought-to L2 self might imply the existence of peer or community pressure in language learning process of secondary school EFL students in Turkish context. 

Keywords

• L2 motivational self system,ideal L2 self,ought-to L2 self,language learning experience,intended effort

References

1. Boo, Z., Dörnyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). L2 motivation research 2005–2014: Understanding a publication surge and a changing landscape. System, 55, 145-157.
2. Cootzee-Van Rooy, S. (2006). Integrativeness: Untenable for world Englishes learners?. World Englishes, 25(3‐4), 437-450.
3. Dayioğlu, M., & Türüt-Aşik, S. (2007). Gender differences in academic performance in a large public university in Turkey. Higher Education, 53(2), 255-277.
4. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). The general causality orientations scale: Self-determination in personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 19(2), 109-134.
5. Demir-Ayaz, A., & Erten, İ.H. (2017). The relationship between EFL learners’ future L2 self-guides, vision and language learning motivation. In Şehnaz Şahinkarakas and Jülide İnözü (Eds), The role of the self in language learning (pp. 7-24). Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
6. Doğan, G. (2017). The effect of gender and l2 proficiency on learners’ motivational dispositions and vision. International Journal of Language Academy, 5(3), 66-83.
7. Dörnyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroom. The Modern Language Journal, 78(3), 273-284.
8. Dörnyei, Z. (1998). Motivation in second and foreign language learning. Language Teaching, 31(3), 117-135.

9. Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
10. Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self system. Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 self, 36(3), 9-11.
11. Dörnyei, Z., & Ottó, I. (1998). Motivation in action: A process model of L2 motivation. Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, 4, 43-69.
12. Dörnyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited. New York, NY: Routledge.
13. Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2009). Motivation, language identity and the L2 self. UK: Multilingual Matters.
14. Far, H. R., Rajab, A. B., & Etemadzadeh, A. (2012). Examining the relationship between L2 motivational self system and L2—learning among TESL students. US-China Foreign Language, 10(6), 1266-1270.
15. Fan, W., Lindt, S.F., Arroyo-Giner, C.A., & Wolters, C.A. (2009). The role of social relationships in promoting student academic self-efficacy and MIMIC approaches to assess factorial mean invariance. International Journal of Applied Educational Studies, 5, 34–53.
16. Gardner, R.C. (1985). Social psychology and language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. London, UK: Edward Arnold.
17. Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second language learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
18. Goktepe, F. T. (2014). Attitudes and motivation of Turkish undergraduate EFL students towards learning English language. Studies in English Language Teaching, 2(3), 314.
19. Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319-340.
20. Kachru, B. B. (1990). World Englishes and applied linguistics. World Englishes, 9(1), 3-20.
21. Kanat-Mutluoglu, A. (2016). The influence of ideal L2 self, academic self-concept, and intercultural communicative competence on willingness to communicate in a foreign language. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics. 2(2), 27-46.
22. Kim, T.Y., (2009). The sociocultural interface between ideal self and ought-to self: A case study of two Korean students’ ESL motivation. In Dornyei, Z., Ushioda, E. (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self. Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, pp. 274-294.
23. Kim, T. Y. (2012). The L2 motivational self system of Korean EFL students: Cross-grade survey analysis. English Teaching, 67(1), 29-56.
24. Kim, Y. K., & Kim, T. Y. (2012). Korean secondary school students' L2 learning motivation: Comparing L2 motivational self system with socio-educational model. English Language & Literature Teaching, 18(1), 115-132.
25. Kiziltepe, Z. (2000). Attitudes and motivation of Turkish EFL students towards second language learning. ITL-International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 129(1), 141-168.
26. Kormos, J., & Csizér, K. (2008). Age‐related differences in the motivation of learning English as a foreign language: Attitudes, selves, and motivated learning behavior. Language Learning, 58(2), 327-355.
27. Lamb, M. (2004). Integrative motivation in a globalizing world. System, 32(1), 3-19.
28. Lamb, M. (2012). A self system perspective on young adolescents’ motivation to learn English in urban and rural settings. Language Learning, 62(4), 997-1023.
29. Liu, Y., & Thompson, A. S. (2018). Language learning motivation in China: An exploration of the L2MSS and psychological reactance. System, 72, 37-48.
30. Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41(9), 954-969.
31. McEown, M. S., Noels, K. A., & Saumure, K. D. (2014). Students' self-determined and integrative orientations and teachers' motivational support in a Japanese as a foreign language context. System, 45, 227-241.
32. Moskovsky, C., Assulaimani, T., Racheva, S., & Harkins, J. (2016). The L2 motivational self system and L2 achievement: A study of Saudi EFL learners. The Modern Language Journal, 100(3), 641-654.
33. Noels, K. A., Pelletier, L. G., Clément, R., & Vallerand, R. J. (2000). Why are you learning a second language? Motivational orientations and self‐determination theory. Language Learning, 50(1), 57-85.
34. Oxford, R., & Shearin, J. (1994). Language learning motivation: Expanding the theoretical framework. The Modern Language Journal, 78(1), 12-28.
35. Öz, H. (2016). Role of the ideal L2 self in predicting willingness to communicate of EFL students. In İ. H. Mirici, İ. H. Erten, H. Öz, & I. Vodopija-Krstanovic (Eds.), Research papers as an Additional Language (pp. 163-182). Rijeka: Faculty of Humanities and Social Research.
36. Öz, H., Demirezen, M., & Pourfeiz, J. (2014). Willingness to communicate of EFL learners in Turkish context. Learning and Individual Differences, 37, 269-275.
37. Özgür, B., & Griffiths, C. (2013). Second language motivation. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 1109-1114.
38. Öztürk, G., & Gürbüz, N. (2013). The impact of gender on foreign language speaking anxiety and motivation. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 654-665.
39. Papi, M. (2010). The L2 motivational self system, L2 anxiety, and motivated behavior: A structural equation modeling approach. System, 38(3), 467-479.
40. Pavlenko, A. (2002). Poststructuralist approaches to the study of social factors in second language learning and use. In V. Cook (Ed.), Portraits of the L2 user (pp. 277–302). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
41. Pawlak, M. (2012). The dynamic nature of motivation in language learning: A classroom perspective. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2, 249-278.
42. Seidlhofer, B. (2009). Common ground and different realities: World Englishes and English as a lingua franca. World Englishes, 28(2), 236-245.
43. Strauman, T. J., & Higgins, E. T. (1988). Self‐discrepancies as predictors of vulnerability to distinct syndromes of chronic emotional distress. Journal of Personality, 56(4), 685-707.
44. Sung, K. Y. (2014). L2 motivation in foreign language learning. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 9(2), 19-30.
45. Taguchi, T., Magid, M., & Papi, M. (2009). The L2 motivational self system amongst Chinese and Japanese learners of English: A comparative study. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 66–97). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
46. Ueki, M., & Takeuchi, O. (2013). Forming a clearer image of the ideal L2 self: The L2 Motivational Self System and learner autonomy in a Japanese EFL context. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 7(3), 238-252.
47. Ushioda, E. (2009). A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, self and identity. In Murray, G., Gao, A., Lamb, T. (Eds), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self, pp. 215-228.
48. Ushioda, E. (2011). Language learning motivation, self and identity: Current theoretical perspectives. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 24(3), 199-210.
49. Wang, B. (2009). Motivation and language learning. Asian Social Science, 5(1), 98.
50. Warden, C. A., & Lin, H. J. (2000). Existence of integrative motivation in an Asian EFL setting. Foreign Language Annals, 33(5), 535-545.
51. Williams, M., & Burden, R. L. (1997). Psychology for language teachers (Vol. 67). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
52. You, C. J., & Dörnyei, Z. (2016). Language learning motivation in China: Results of a large-scale stratified survey. Applied Linguistics, 37(4), 495-519.
53. You, C. J., Dörnyei, Z., & Csizér, K. (2016). Motivation, vision, and gender: A survey of learners of English in China. Language Learning, 66(1), 94-123.