A Study On English-major Students’ L2 Motivational Self System

Motivation,as one of the main determinants of L2 learning achievement,has aroused widespread concern of considerable research in the field of L2 acquisition over the past decades.Increasing critic of Gardner’s classical motivation construct and social-educational model has demanded a new reinterpretation of motivation with the globalization of English.L2 Motivational Self System(L2MSS),formulated by D?rnyei(2005),is composed of ideal L2 self,ought-to L2 self and L2 learning experience,and provides a new and comprehensive theoretical framework for the research of L2 learning motivation within contemporary multicultural contexts.Given L2MSS’s explanatory power and its applicability within the educational context of China,this study attempts to investigate the L2 Motivational Self System of English-major students and explore their distinguishing motivational characteristics in the process of English learning.The methodology of the study includes both quantitative and qualitative research methods with closed-ended questionnaire and semi-structured interview.A 42-item questionnaire in accordance with Liker scale was administered to 221 English-major students and 10 English-major students were invited to participate in the semi-structured interview.Descriptive analysis,Pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis were conducted on the collected quantitative data by virtue of SPSS 22.0.Based on D?rnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System,this study attempts to address the following four research questions:(1)What is the nature of English-major learners’ L2 motivational self system?(2)Which component has more significant correlation with target learners’ L2 motivation between integrativeness and ideal L2self? Why?(3)Among the three components of L2 MSS,which component is the best predictor of target learners’ L2 motivation? And what are corresponding reasons?(4)Among the three components of L2 MSS,which component is the best predictor of target learners’ motivated learning behavior? And what constitute its fundamentalreasons?According to data analysis on the questionnaire and the response of participants in the semi-structured interview,the main findings of the study are summarized as follows: firstly,among three components of L2 MSS,ideal L2 self and L2 learning experience exert obvious impact on English-major students’ L2 learning motivation with a little impact of ought-to L2 self on their L2 learning motivation.Secondly,the very interesting finding is that compared with ideal L2 self,integrativeness denotes higher significant correlation with L2 learning motivation,which indicates that English-major students have relatively deeper identification with English and the culture of English-speaking communities.Thirdly,L2 learning experience best predicts L2 learning motivation and also motivated learning behaviour,which may be because English-major students tend to associate their English learning with previously enjoyable and successful learning experience.Three pedagogical implications arise from the current study:(1)English-major students with a strong ideal L2 self tend to have strong motivation to learn English and teachers should pay attention to constructing students’ active ideal L2 self through creating their visions;(2)L2 learning experience exert significant impact on both L2 learning motivation and motivated learning behaviour,and thus it is appropriate for teachers to enhance students’ positive language-related attitudes towards English learning experience in the past and immediate learning environment;(3)Integrativeness still plays a significant role in English-major students’ L2 learning motivation,and therefore teachers should focus attention on both communicative competence and also intercultural communicative competence.