The Effect of Korean Secondary School Students' Perceptual Learning Styles and Ideal L2 Self on Motivated L2 Behavior and English Proficiency

Abstract

In this study, 495 Korean secondary school students' visual, auditory, and kinesthetic preferences, ideal L2 self, motivated L2 behavior, and English proficiency were analyzed based on questionnaire surveys. Identifying possible effect of the participants' perceptual learning styles and ideal L2 self on their motivated L2 behavior was followed by an investigation of all variables' impact on English proficiency. The influence of the visual learning style and the ideal L2 self on motivated L2 behavior indicates that the students' visual style preference contributes strongly to the forming of a vivid ideal L2 self, which in turn results in a higher level of motivated L2 behavior. As for the effect of the variables on English proficiency, the more motivated L2 behavior the students exhibited, the higher achievement they obtained, but the impact was not notably powerful. Based on these findings, it is suggested that Korean secondary school students’ motivation to learn English can be increased by enabling them to realize and develop their ideal L2 self through group discussion or individual journal writing.