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Relationships Among English Language Proficiency, Self-efficacy, Motivation, Motivational Intensity, and Achievement in an ESP/EAP Context

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Abstract

This study, the first of the kind in the field of English for specific purposes, examined direct and indirect relationships among English language proficiency, English public speaking (EPS) motivation, motivational intensity, self-efficacy, and EPS achievement. The sample consisted of 189 non-English-major students. The final structural equation model yielded an acceptable fit to the data and explained 23.4% of the variance in EPS achievement. English language proficiency and EPS self-efficacy had both direct and indirect (via, respectively, self-efficacy and motivational intensity) impacts on EPS performance. Ought-to self emerged as the strongest contributor to explaining motivation (R2 = .90), followed by learning experience (R2 = .57), and ideal self (R2 = .32). Implications are discussed.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Hunan Office of Philosophy and Social Science Funding Project, [20YBA136], China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instruction, Clover Park Technical College, Lakewood, WA, 98499, USA

    Xue Zhang

  2. College of Education, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99163, USA

    Shenghai Dai

  3. College of Education, Washington State University, Tri-Cities, Richland, WA, 99354, USA

    Yuliya Ardasheva

  4. School of Foreign Languages, Hangzhou City University, Hangzhou, 310015, China

    Yiming Hong

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  1. Xue Zhang
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Correspondence to Yiming Hong.

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Zhang, X., Dai, S., Ardasheva, Y. et al. Relationships Among English Language Proficiency, Self-efficacy, Motivation, Motivational Intensity, and Achievement in an ESP/EAP Context. J Psycholinguist Res 52, 3019–3038 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-023-10034-9

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