Search

This study investigates the relationship between high school students' subjective well-being, English learning motivation, and English proficiency. Three sub-components of subjective well-being were included in this study: positive efficacy well-being, positive emotional well-being, and positive relationship well-being. In all subcomponents of subjective well-being, the mean value of female students was higher than that of male students. In addition, the students with upper and middle levels of English proficiency showed higher subjective well-being than those with a lower level. Among the subcomponents of subjective well-being, positive relationship well-being was found to have the most significant effect on both the ideal L2 self and the ought-to L2 self. Among English learning motivations, the higher the ideal L2 self, the higher the English proficiency. The subjective well-being and the ideal L2 self positively affected English proficiency. This study suggests that appropriate educational activities are needed to enhance students' subjective well-being and form a concrete ideal L2 self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent L2 motivation research has paid attention to the dynamic nature of motivation and to the process of motivational changes in L2 learning. While studies have mostly focused on the factors positively influencing L2 motivation, relatively little research has been conducted on the factors that influence learner demotivation. In this light, the study examined the factors affecting Korean college students' demotivation and their reaction to demotivation by drawing on the notions of ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self in Dörnyei (2005, 2009). Based on interviews with twenty-nine Korean college students, three factors were identified as demotivating factors: lack of meaningful purpose, lack of improvement and success experiences, and lack of self-determination. It was noted that the conflict between the students' desire to use English for communication and the immediate need to gain good scores on standardized tests was the main source of learner demotivation. However, the students with a strong ideal L2 self were more successful in setting personalized goals and participating in personally meaningful activities when demotivating factors were present. The findings indicate the importance of learners' ability to visualize their ideal L2 self in overcoming demotivation and remotivating themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between students' perceptions of learning contexts and motivation to learn English in Korea. Three categories of contexts were operationalized: the transnational context as learners' international interest including study-abroaddesires, the national context as awareness of English learning to prepare for CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test) and their classroom experience as the last category. A total of 433high school students were assessed on measures of L2 learning goals, perception of contexts, self-reported L2 proficiency and motivational intentionin the questionnaire, followed by focal participants' interviews and essays. The statistical analyses show that transitional and classroom categories are statistically correlated with motivational intention. However, the national context is negatively correlated with actualmotivation. Multiple regression analyses found that the transnational category is the best predictor form otivational intention, while the national category involves the least significant predictor. The students' classroom experience is also a meaningful, milder than transnational, predictor. Synthesized results of both quantitative and qualitative data suggest thatL2 motivation is more of a sociolinguistic construct that should be construed in relation to multiple social contexts. Findings also suggest Dörnyei's (2005, 2009) notion of the ideal L2 self can better explain the complexity of L2 learning motivation, whereby the integrative-instrumental dichotomy loses its explanatory power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increase in international trade, mass transportation, and information technology, the role of English as a global language has changed, and conventional EFL/ESL motivation needs paradigmatic reconstruction. This study compares Dörnyei's (2009) recent proposal of a second language (L2) motivat-ional self-system with Gardner's (1985) socio-educational model by investigating 2,832 Korean students' English learning motivation from Grades 3 through 12 in 14 different schools. The cross-grade survey results indicated that Korean EFL learners' motivational intensity showed a curvilinear pattern, which means their motivation consistently decreased until Grade 9 but increased from Grades 10 to 12. A series of regression analyses showed that Dörnyei's L2 motivational self-system was a better predictor than Gardner's socio-educational model in terms of the explanatory power for students' English proficiency; students' ideal L2 and ought-to L2 selves explained better than integrativeness and two types of instrumentality (i.e., promotion- and prevention-based). This confirms the findings of recent literature conducted in different nations. Also, the study provides empirical evidence that the ought-to L2 self, which is an external, social form of L2 motivation, functions only at the cognitive level, whereas the ideal L2 self, a more internalized form, taps into both the cognitive and affective levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the perceptual learning style, ideal L2 self, and motivated L2 behavior of Chinese, Japanese, South Korean, and Swedish high school students. Guided by Dömyei's (2005, 2009a) L2 motivational self-system, this quantitative study extends Al-Shehri's (2009) and Tae-Young Kim's (2009a) research by reinterpreting the role of perceptual learning styles in the creation of learners' ideal L2 self and the maintenance of their motivated L2 behavior. The statistical analysis found that learners' perceptual learning styles (i.e., visual, auditory, and kinesthetic styles) were significantly correlated with their ideal L2 self and motivated L2 behavior. However, the results of the regression analysis indicate that none of three perceptual learning styles were meaningful predictors of motivated L2 behavior. Instead, only ideal L2 self were found to be meaningful predictors of their motivated L2 behavior. The ANOVA results indicate that although the Chinese students were more likely to show motivated L2 behavior than the other students, they showed a significantly lower level of the ideal L2 self than the Swedish students. By focusing on the relationship between learners' perceptual learning styles and motivated L2 behavior based on the L2 motivational self-system, this study provides evidence that the creation of ideal L2 selves plays a pivotal role in sustaining motivated L2 behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]