A study of online adult English learners’ perception of their English learning motivation and L2 selves

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the perception that Korean graduate students are motivated to study English. Unlike the controversial early studies on L2 (second language) motivation (Gardner, 1985; Gardner & Lambert, 1959, 1972), Korean adult English learners were measured to have a distinctive self-system (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009) in their L2 selves. 78 graduate school students from online English reading and practical English classes participated in the study. The semi-structured survey data analysis shows that the ideal self in possible selves significantly correlated with all three sub-types in L2 learning motivation. Their learning-oriented learning motivation, in particular, verified that both ideal self and ought-to self should be significantly meaningful predictors in practical English and English reading classes. The study’s implication considers how English teachers may reflect and utilize the features that Korean adult EFLs’ (English as a foreign language) learning motivation is more based on their inherent factors of possible self rather than external factors in learning L2. Based on the findings of the study, some pedagogical suggestions have been presented for further study.