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L2 Motivational Self System, Attitudes, and Affect as Predictors of L2 WTC: An Imagined Community Perspective

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Abstract

This study explored the interrelationships between the three components of second language (L2) motivational self system (i.e., ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning experience), international posture, L2 anxiety, and willingness to communicate (WTC) using structural equation modeling. Questionnaire data were collected from 1,013 university students in China. The results showed that ideal L2 self was predicted by learning experience, ought-to L2 self, and international posture. Ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self exerted, respectively, a negative and positive effect on L2 anxiety. L2 WTC was found to encompass two distinct factors: WTC inside and outside the classroom. The former was predicted by L2 anxiety, learning experience, and international posture, whereas the latter had international posture as its only direct predictor. This model marks the first step toward drawing on L2 motivational self system to account for foreign language learners’ communication intention from the perspective of an imagined global community.

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Notes

  1. The questionnaire is available upon request.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on the earlier versions of this paper. The study this article reports on was supported by the Ministry of Education of China (MOE) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences (Project No. 13YJA740041)

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  1. Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, College of Liberal Arts, Shantou University, 243 Da Xue Road, Shantou, 515063, Guangdong Province, China

    Jian-E Peng

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Peng, JE. L2 Motivational Self System, Attitudes, and Affect as Predictors of L2 WTC: An Imagined Community Perspective. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 24, 433–443 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-014-0195-0

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