An Investigation Into Non-English Postgraduates’ Use Of Motivational Regulation Strategies In English Learning

Motivation, emerging as an important predictor of individual variability, is a critical determinant of students’achievement in second language learning. This seemingly static concept, however, is essentially dynamic in English learning, for it tends to demonstrate ups and downs as a result of various internal and external influences. Therefore, learners need to use due strategies to regulate their English learning motivation in order to ensure their learning persistence and achievement.Certain research has been conducted on the strategies learners employ to self-regulate their English learning motivation. Nevertheless, on the whole, the research in this area is relatively scarce and suffers from such limitations as heavily relying on Wolters’research paradigm that serves general education, seldom covering populations at other age levels apart from undergraduates, and using questionnaire as the mono-methodology most of the time. In view of this, the present study, based on the five self-motivating strategies in L2 learning proposed by Dornyei (2001b) and other prior research achievements relating to motivational regulation in L2 learning, set out to explore non-English postgraduates’use of motivational regulation strategies in English learning, with the aim of further confirming the significance of motivational regulation and filling the hiatus in the research field of motivational regulation. The study involved the following four major research questions:(1) What attitude do non-English postgraduates have towards motivational regulation in English learning?(2) What types of motivational regulation strategies do non-English postgraduates use in English learning?(3) How often do non-English postgraduates use each strategy? Why do they prefer to use some strategies more often than others?(4) Are there any differences among non-English postgraduates in using motivational regulation strategies when such variables as gender, specialty and grade are considered? What have contributed to these differences?Subjects for this study were 156 non-English postgraduates studying in Central China Normal University. Two research instruments including the questionnaire and the interview were adopted:all the 156 students first participated in the questionnaire survey, and then 15 of them made contributions to the interviews.It was found that non-English postgraduates generally take a positive attitude over motivational regulation and adopt a wide variety of strategies (ten types) to regulate their English learning motivation, but they do not utilize those strategies in a very frequent way. This may be ascribed to the absence of instructions on motivational regulation in the postgraduate study. Results also revealed the frequency variability across the ten strategies stemming from students’ different familiarity with each strategy or their diverse beliefs about the feasibility and effectiveness of each strategy. Specifically, three strategies, performance-oriented self-talk, environmental structuring and value enhancement, are more frequently used, while the strategy of negative-based incentive is least frequently used. This implies that non-English postgraduates are still influenced by traditionally examination-oriented education to pursue high grades, but they do become mature and experienced in self-regulating their English study with consideration of the increasing importance of English. Besides, it was also found that except for a few strategies, there is generally no significant difference in non-English postgraduates’use of motivational regulation strategies regarding gender, specialty or grade. This may be attributed to the particularity of the subjects in the current study.To facilitate non-English postgraduates’ more frequent and effective use of motivational regulation strategies in English learning, this study offers some suggestions in the end:English teachers are required to first equip themselves with as much as possible the corresponding knowledge of motivational regulation strategies and then provide students with timely instructions and help; more importantly, non-English postgraduates themselves should consciously take self-motivational initiatives when confronted with motivational problems.