Motivational Differences between Monolinguals and Bilinguals in the Context of English as a Foreign Language: A Case Study on the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Abstract

Learner motivation is considered one of the most important individual variables that affect learners’ achievement in the educational domain. Utilizing the Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) of achievement motivation proposed by Eccles and her collaborators, this study focuses on the motivational differences between minority and majority learners [1] in the context of English as a foreign language in Xinjiang where minority students learn English (L3) in Chinese (L2). This study further explores how much the minority learners’ L2 proficiency level influences their motivation in learning L3. Three hundred and seventy-one students from one of the top universities in Xinjiang voluntarily answered a questionnaire and forty of them were interviewed. Results of both quantitative and qualitative analysis showed that minority learners were more motivated than majority learners in learning English. The minority students’ L2 proficiency level was found to have an influence on their interest in learning L3 at the low-intermediate level. From these findings, the present study discusses the importance of systematic English education and the medium of L3 instruction for the minority as well as the implications for improving the motivation of the majority EFL learners in Xinjiang.