L2 Motivations and Self-identities of Chinese Learners of English

Abstract

This thesis investigates, in both Chinese EFL and overseas ESL contexts, students’ motivations to learn English and their motivational possible selves. An exploratory sequential mixed methods design used data from semi-structured interviews and a large-scale factoranalytic survey. A retrospective case study approach was used in the interview study to investigate motivation and possible self histories of 20 English language learners enrolled as PhD students at the University of Auckland. A pilot study (n=10, postgraduate and undergraduate Chinese students) evaluated potential survey instruments and led to the selection of appropriate items and scales. A cross-sectional online questionnaire survey (n=443, postgraduate and undergraduate students enrolled in universities in New Zealand) explored the structural relations among second language (L2) regulatory styles, identity changes and L2 motivational possible selves so as to describe the development of L2 learning. The interview study identified that there were different regulatory styles related to learning English in both domestic schooling and overseas education. Both the ‘ideal L2 self’ and the ‘dreaded L2 self’ were important sources of motivation for learning English in both ESL and EFL contexts. The survey study found that the development of three distinct selves (i.e., ideal L2 self model, ought-to L2 self model and dreaded L2 self model) involved an interaction among three different frameworks (i.e., L2 regulatory styles, identity changes and L2 selves). This thesis delineates the dynamic and interactive process of L2 learning development, originating from regulation styles, leading to identity changes and contributing to the formation of self, with a view to helping L2 learners to develop an adaptive identity and a positive self in their L2 study. As a result of this study, it is suggested that the literature on L2 motivational possible selves should include Markus and Nurius’s (1986) ‘dreaded L2 self ’alongside Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 Motivational Self System, because L2 learners’ motivations and self-identities seem to be multifaceted and complex. The study results also indicate that the development of oral competence in China is not given enough attention, and this may reveal the reason for the existence of the ‘silent English’ phenomenon in China.