Long and Winding Road : A Study of Highly Motivated Learners of English in Japan

Long and Winding Road : A Study of Highly Motivated Learners of English in Japan

著者 TANAKA Keiko

journal or

publication title

明治学院大学国際学研究 = Meiji Gakuin review International & regional studies

number 40

page range 23‑53

year 2011‑10

その他のタイトル 長い道のり : 日本におけるモチベーションが高い

英語学習者のケース・スタディ URL http://hdl.handle.net/10723/1056

【Article】

Long and Winding Road:

A Study of Highly Motivated Learners of English in Japan

Keiko Tanaka

Abstract

This study followed ten highly motivated Japanese EFL learners for 18 months.

The study found that a majority of learners had an international experience that they perceived as a defining moment, often recalling it to sustain motivation to acquire English.

Also, the study showed that change in motivation appears to be mediated by context.

Some contexts, by allowing learners to use English for authentic communication enabled them to rehearse their ideal-L2 selves as speakers of English and strengthen their motivation while other contexts had the opposite effect. However, learners demonstrated their uniqueness as intentional agents by using the context differently: Some joined a community of supporters to strengthen their motivation and operationalized their visions by following action plans autonomously. Others used the same community for purposes such as gaining self-esteem or fulfilling affiliative needs. Similarly, learners in unfavorable contexts managed to restore their motivation and ideal L2-image as English speakers through different paths. The study illustrates learner variability and the dynamic nature of L2 motivation.

Introduction

Preparing students to become competent users of English in the age of globalization is high on Japan’s national agenda. Yet, there is widespread belief that compared to English learners in other parts of Asia, Japanese learners of English are not only disadvantaged but also inept at learning English. Given that in 1999, among 25 nations in Asia, Japan was placed at the bottom in TOEFL scores along with North Korea and nearly a decade later in 2007, it was placed 29

among 30 nations in Asia (ETS, 2000, 2008), this belief may be warranted.

There is no shortage of theories that attempt to explain this observation. Some

theorize that the unique Japanese personality traits such as shyness, conservatism, and fear

of making mistakes prevent Japanese learners from gaining English proficiency (Hughes,

1999). Others blame Japan’s education system for the learners’ inability to become proficient English speakers. For example, Helgesen (1994) states that grammar-translation method and the focus on language analysis instead of communicative use of the language is the culprit. Even Japan’s geography is nominated as the source of the problem. In fact, Koike and Tanaka (1995) point out that because Japan is an island nation, its people had very little direct contact with speakers of other languages historically, and hence the opportunity to communicate directly with them. They suggest that this lack of contact prevented the Japanese from cultivating dispositions and skills to communicate in other languages.

Empirical studies into English as a foreign language (EFL) learning of Japanese learners also identify a range of variables such as the university entrance exam system and instructional practices and materials that impede successful language learning by diminishing positive attitudes and motivation toward learning English. For example, Berwick and Ross (1989) show that the primary motivation for studying English among Japanese high school students is to pass the university entrance exam and that once this goal is obtained, they have little motivation to continue studying English. Similarly, Gorsuch (2000) argues that because the university entrance exams focus primarily on grammatical knowledge, vocabulary, and English-Japanese translations, and since the high school teachers’ priority is to prepare students for the university entrance exams, there is no motivation for them to teach communicative skills to the students. Taguchi’s study (2005) that examined English instruction in Japanese high schools also reveals that teachers emphasized exact understanding of every word, phrase and structures in the classroom. In another study focusing on whether students with such classroom experiences could function effectively in an English-medium university, Taguchi and Naganuma (2006) suggest that their experiences are likely to be the cause of adjustment difficulties for them.

These and other studies highlight the issues in Japan’s English language education

including the gap between the English education curriculum articulated by the Ministry of

Education that emphasizes communication on one hand and the university entrance exams

that do not emphasize communication which the high school teachers have little choice but

to teach to on the other. However, the studies do not explain how curriculum, instruction,

and other variables that they identify actually affect the learners’ motivation and learning

behavior, and interfere with language learning. Neither do they explain how successful

Japanese learners cope with the same de-motivating influences to achieve their language

learning goals. Most importantly, ethnographic studies that follow Japanese learners of

English through the lengthy endeavor of language learning and capture the dynamic nature

of motivation and how it interacts with the classroom and other variables is nearly non-existent.

This paper reports on the findings of a longitudinal study that followed ten highly motivated university English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Japan over a period of 18 months. In contrast to the quantitative studies whose goal is to identify motivational and other variables that impact language-learning outcomes, the present study explores the dynamic nature of motivation and attempted to track its transformation in each learner.

Also, focusing on individual differences, the study examines each learner as an individual with a unique identity, personality, and past experiences, who actively interacts with the dynamic and complex system of social relations and multi-layered contexts in which she is embedded. I believe this approach has merit in view of the complex nature of language learning and its outcomes. Thus, the present study addressed the following questions:

1. What contextual experiences influence the learner’s motivation to learn English?

2. How does foreign language learning motivation transform over the course of the learning process? And how can this transformation be characterized?

3. To what extent does the transformation of motivation differ between individual learners? And how does this difference relate to the learner’s individual qualities and to the learning context?

Answers to these questions could inform language educators in developing comprehensive strategies that support learners by creating learning environments that are favorable for sustaining motivation needed for successful foreign language learning. They can also inform the practice of language teaching by providing teachers with specific suggestions on how to teach and guide the learners in the classroom.

Motivational Constructs and Research

Motivation has been considered to be one of the most important predictors of

second language (L2) learning

outcomes. Hence, there has been an abundance of

research into language learning motivation although much of the research has been

quantitative in its approach. Among the plethora of such motivational studies, those

conducted by Gardner and Lambert (1972) and Gardner (1985) have produced two key

constructs—integrative motivation and instrumental motivation—and has influenced the

direction of research for some 40 years. According to their studies, integrative motivation

(the desire to interact and identify with the speakers of the L2 community) is more

facilitative for learning than instrumental motivation (the desire to learn the language for pragmatic purposes such as furthering career opportunities or passing an examination).

However, subsequent studies, especially those involving different socio-cultural contexts, indicated that instrumental motivation is a better predictor of achievement (Chihara and Oller, 1978; Clement, Dörnyei, and Noels, 1994; Dörnyei, 1990; Littlewood and Liu, 1996;

and Lukmani, 1972).

Another influential construct that describes the nature of motivation comes from the self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985) that distinguishes two types of motivation: intrinsic motivation that arises from the innate needs for competence and self-determination, and extrinsic motivation that arises from a need to fulfill some instrumental goal. Using this construct, Noels, Clement, and Pelletier (1999) examined the interrelationships between learners’ motivation and teachers’ communicative style, thus shifting the focus away from the Gardner approach of characterizing and comparing motivational patterns at the level of language communities and instead, focusing on features of the situational context in which learning takes place. Their study found that successful learners are intrinsically motivated and that this intrinsic motivation is further enhanced when the learners receive constructive feedback from the teacher and are instructed in ways that develop learner autonomy. Subsequent studies by Noels and her colleagues (Noels et al., 2000; Noels, 2001a; Noels, 2001b) support their earlier findings, thereby suggesting the significant role contextual variables including the teacher play in altering the learners’

motivational orientation, and underscore the need to develop a classroom-based concept of motivation.

Studies in Asia have examined the validity of the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation construct (Hayamizu, 1997; Honda and Sakyu, 2005; Williams and Burden, 1997), defined their relationship to integrative motivation (Honda, 2005), and examined learner motivation using the construct (Kimura, Nakata, and Okumura, 2000; Ly, 2007; Pae, 2008). In general, while these studies affirm the viability of this construct, they also show that motivation is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon.

In an overview of advances in L2 motivational research, Dörnyei (2003) notes

that Gardner’s integrative construct was introduced out of a need to understand L2 learning

in a unique Canadian context in which the two language communities—English and French

speaking—coexist. Hence, he questions the applicability of the construct in this age of

globalization where the ownership of English is not restricted to specific communities of

native speakers. Supporting this view, a study by Yashima (2002) indicates that for

Japanese learners of English, integrative motivation can be re-conceptualized as

international posture—interest in international issues and communities, and a desire for intercultural communication. Yashima’s study (2002) that examined university students who have completed 6 years of English instruction in high school indicates that international posture influenced motivation which in turn predicted L2 proficiency and L2 confidence. The study also suggests that both international posture and confidence in communication led to willingness to communicate in L2.

In view of the findings of a large-scale study (Dörnyei and Cisizer, 2002) conducted in Hungary where integrative motivation stood out as the single most important learner variable that accounted for variance in criterion measures even though recognizable L2 communities or opportunities to interact and integrate with their members were non-existent, Dörnyei suggests that integrative motivation involves a psychological dimension related to the learners’ identification process within self concept. Other researchers have also pointed out that for many language learners, L2 communities are more imagined or psychological than real (Murphey et al., 2005), although motivationally powerful (Kramsch, 2006).

Developing this idea further, Dörnyei (2005; 2009) proposes the L2 Motivational Self System, based on studies in self psychology (e.g., Higgins, 1998), which guides the learner through the language learning process consisting of: (1) Ideal L2 self – an ideal image of oneself as a competent speaker of L2 that serves as a powerful motivator; (2) Ought-to L2 Self—which involves socially or others-imposed sense of obligation; and (3) L2 Learning Experience—which involves the influence of learning environment and experience including the impact of the teacher, curriculum, and peers (p. 29). Dörnyei explains that if the learner’s vision of ideal self is a L2 speaking self, then it follows that his attitudes toward the L2 community and its speakers is positive, which is to say, integrative.

Dörnyei also links instrumentality to the ideal L2 self, arguing that it is natural for the learner to be motivated by a vision of being successful in obtaining good grades or having professional success. Studies (Csizer and Kromos, 2009; Ryan, 2009; Taguchi, Magid, and Papi, 2009) conducted across a wide range of learning contexts including China, Japan, Iran, and Hungary support the validity of the ideal L2 self as a construct that explains variability in L2 learning.

Other studies that contribute to understanding motivation have linked motivation to learning behaviors and learner strategies (Gan, Humphreys, and Hamp-Lyons 2004;

Schmidt and Watanabe, 2001; Wharton, 2000; Yamato, 2003) to the types of learning tasks

used in the classroom (Barkhuizen, 1998; Bygate, Skehan, and Swain, 2001), and to the

teacher’s motivational strategies (Berlin, 2005; Guilloteaux and Dörnyei 2008). Also, in

line with Dörnyei’s (2001) hypothesis that motivation does not stay constant, studies (Berwick and Ross, 1987; Koizumi and Matsuo, 1993; Matsuda and Brown, 2004; Sawyer, 2007; Usuki, 1997) show that motivation changes over time.

While some of the studies cited above are longitudinal and qualitative, only a handful captures or explains the process of motivational change. In fact, many studies on learner motivation are quantitative studies. Ushioda (2009) criticizes this tendency, arguing that by focusing on “averages and aggregates that group together people who share certain characteristics” (p. 251), such studies ignore learners as individuals who bring to the learning context, unique identities, personalities, histories, goals and motives. Hence, she endorses a person-in-context relational view of language motivation, and promotes the use of discourse analysis to observe the dynamic and complex interplay of motivation and the various contextual variables. Yashima (2002) also underscores the need to investigate the process of how individuals begin to differ in their international posture and how international posture changes over time. She suggests the need to consider the influences of parents and peers, early intercultural experiences, life experiences, teachers, teaching materials, and English grade.

Among qualitative studies that attempt to capture the fluidity of motivation of individual learners, Gao’s longitudinal study (2008), which explored the motivational shift of Chinese university-level learners of English as they moved from China to Hong Kong, shows that the learners’ motivation was shaped by an interaction between two distinctively different contexts and their own learning goals in both China and Hong Kong, but that this context-mediated motivation gradually shifted toward more self-determined motivation as their vision of ideal self became more powerful after their arrival in Hong Kong.

Similarly, Lamb’s case study (2008), which investigated the motivation of two Indonesian learners of English, shows broad context-mediated differences between the two learners with one displaying motivation associated with an ideal L2 self while the other displayed motivation more indicative of an ought-to L2 self. Lamb uses the social theories of Lave & Wenger (1991) and Bourdieu (1991)

to explain that these differences are related to how individual agency is either constrained or enabled by context. In Lamb’s study, the learner with an ideal L2 self was embedded in an environment in which a future self living abroad and speaking English could be easily imagined whereas the other learner was not.

In addition, while the former exploited opportunities to join the community of English users

and displayed autonomous learner behavior, the latter did not see English as a legitimate

language of communication for himself and engaged in learning activities only when

persuaded to do so. While acknowledging the ability of individuals to overcome

disadvantages, Lamb nevertheless suggests that the former learner is on a learning trajectory that is likely to result in successful L2 learning, while the latter is not.

As the literature review indicates, the incorporation of a psychological perspective into L2 motivation and a renewed focus on contextual elements has enabled a better understanding of EFL learning. However, more research across different global regions is needed in order to understand, for example, how different contexts interact with learner identity and processes and affect L2 motivation and learning behaviors. Furthermore, in addition to quantitative studies that identify motivational variables and create motivational constructs and model at one point in time, there is a dire need to examine the process by which language motivation develops and transforms across time and map out the relationship between context, motivation, learning behaviors, and learning outcomes.

Methodology Context

This 18-month qualitative study was conducted in a private liberal arts university in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area in Japan. Like many universities in Japan, this university has been faced with fierce competition to maintain its enrollment of qualified students amid Japan’s declining birthrate while at the same time, attempting to heed to the directives of the government whose major focus in the recent years has been to facilitate a reform of Japan’s higher education in order to bring it up to international standards.

As is common in Japan, within the university, academic departments have a great deal of autonomy to draw up and implement initiatives. The leadership of the department from which the participants of the study were drawn had made English language education a priority by enhancing and supporting its English language program curriculum and implementing a for-credit study abroad course. Nonetheless, not all faculty members agreed with a stronger emphasis on English. In addition, there were widely disparate opinions on how best to enhance the students’ English skills.

Historically, the department’s English language program had been a mix of

general purpose and academic English program, though the curriculum was largely

textbook-driven and there was no articulation of standards or learning outcomes. When

the present study began, the students were required to take two English courses: reading and

writing, and listening and speaking during the first year. During the second year, students

were required to take one multi-skill course. Students were not required to take English

classes in the third year though the department offered several classes in the disciplines taught using English as a medium of instruction, and one class on preparing students for the TOEFL iBT. A new academic English curriculum was being phased in at the same time this study began. While this new curriculum articulates standards and learning outcomes, and includes a portfolio assessment as well as TOEFL ITP standards, it has not been well implemented for two principle reasons. The first reason has to do with the difficulty of getting the part-time instructors who have long been allowed to teach whatever they wished to teach to the curriculum. The second reason has to do with the system and tradition of a typical Japanese university that does not allow for supervision, faculty development, and hiring and retention practices that promote teaching excellence. Additionally, with a majority of teachers having no formal training in teaching English for Academic Purposes and TESOL, there was a diversity of classroom approaches: constructivist, learner-centered attempts to create a classroom community of L2 speakers; and traditional, teacher-centered focus on language forms and product-oriented writing instruction aimed at writing a typical five-paragraph essay. In a given day, an observer will have encountered one class in which the students are engaged in a coral reading of a textbook essay and another class in which students are watching a 10 minute video whose content they can hardly understand, non-stop, with little coaching on listening strategies from the teacher.

Participants

Ten students responded affirmatively to my call for participants in the study on

“motivation in foreign language learning” and participated in the study. My initial one-on-one interview with each of them determined that they considered themselves motivated learners of English. During the interview, the participants were given a more detailed explanation of the purpose of the study and what they were expected to do. I made it clear that they would remain anonymous, that data derived from them would be kept confidential, protected, and used only for the purpose of this study, and that they could withdraw from the study any time they wished.

Of the ten participants, seven had just started their first year at the university

when this study began. The remaining three had just started their second year at the

university. The ten participants were all women. Although I intended to include men,

only women availed themselves of the study. All participants had enrolled in the

university after passing its entrance examination. They had spent a significant part of their

high school English classes studying for entrance exams. In both their freshmen and

sophomore year at university they were enrolled in different sections of the English courses taught by different instructors.

The seven participants who had just started their first year at the start of this study began their freshmen English classes after the new academic English curriculum was put in place. The remaining three participants had completed freshmen English classes before the new curriculum was implemented. Therefore, they were enrolled in their second year English classes at the start of the study when the new curriculum was being implemented.

All participants were placed in classes for the top quarter percentile of the students based on their TOEFL ITP scores.

Data

The present study used multiple data collection methods including interviews, follow-up email exchanges and face-to-face sessions, group discussions, informal conversations, and observations of participants in classroom and other contexts to increase the reliability of the investigation. I conducted five 40-50 minute interviews at roughly the same intervals with each participant. I followed up with email-exchanges to clarify interview content and probe emerging points. I also talked with participants informally by frequenting lounges and cafeterias where they congregated, accumulating 250 observation record entries. Additionally, I met participants with other students since I advised students wishing to improve English or study overseas. With permission, I observed their classes, spoke to instructors, and looked at materials they shared. In sum, I was immersed in the research setting so that I could understand what their experiences and activities mean to them. Since the participants knew me as an English instructor, I had to overcome the student - faculty barrier. However, my familiarity with the research setting assisted me in understanding the data.

In interviews, I took a non-directive approach by letting students take the lead in discussing the topic of L2 motivation and language although I occasionally focused the conversation on general themes: (a) language learning history and experience, (b) source of motivation for studying English, and (c) attitudes towards and ideas about English and learning English. These sessions were primarily in Japanese though the participants and I code-switched to English.

The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for later analysis. Observations and informal conversation sessions were not audio-recorded.

Instead, I took notes afterwards but within the same day. Following qualitative research

procedures, I let recurring themes emerge inductively as I read transcripts, notes, and

observation journals. As data accumulated, I sorted and coded repeating topics, categorizing and re-categorizing them into themes. This recursive process led to later interview and observation questions.

I translated parts of the interview transcriptions from Japanese into English preserving participants’ voices, and an objective bilingual reviewer ensured accuracy.

Results

Influence of University Entrance Exams in High School

All participants had remarkably similar recollections of high school English classes. They all reported classes dominated by lessons that focused on passing the university entrance exams and that this emphasis tended to strengthen as they went up in grade. For example, all of them reported having oral communication classes which focused on English conversation for the first year and subsequently on exam-focused reading, grammar, and vocabulary classes. Primarily, the exam-focused lessons consisted of reading passages and answering comprehension questions, summarizing or translating the passages, and memorizing vocabulary and grammar rules and identifying sentences with grammatical errors.

All but two of the participants stated that they had accepted the idea that the goal of studying English in high school is to pass the university entrance exams and were even motivated to do so as exemplified by Saori and Chieri’s

narratives (translated from Japanese into English):

I was motivated to pass the entrance exam. My motivation increased year by year as the entrance exam drew nearer and nearer. (Saori)

I needed to pass the entrance exam and this need motivated me to do well. I put all other English learning goals aside. (Chieri)

Some reported thriving under this exam-driven curriculum because they were motivated by competition and the desire to excel, and because the recognition of their success was personally satisfying and rewarding:

To be number one in class was in itself motivating for me. I was a good student and the teacher praised me often, even asked me to help the struggling students. I felt good about this. (Hiromi)

High School Year 1 classes were not streamed, so there was a diversity of abilities and my class

went slowly. This was a bit de-motivating. But from Year 2, we were streamed according to

our abilities. I was put in a higher-level class where the pace picked up and the content became

challenging. I was happy and this motivated me to try harder. (Sayuri)

Yet, it must be underscored that all participants indicated that they viewed studying English for the entrance exam as an activity that has little to do with studying English for communicative purposes and that they had put aside or forgotten their communicative English goals while studying for the entrance exams, as exemplified by Ami’s narrative:

I was somewhat motivated by students who could do well even in the exam-oriented classroom context where the studies were mechanical. I recall that I wasn’t particularly interested in English itself or in improving my conversation skills. Focusing on the entrance exams, I had to put aside the idea of improving my communicative abilities and I actually forgot about this goal.

(Ami)

Notwithstanding this focus on learning English to pass the university entrance exams, most participants indicated that they had already possessed motivation to become English users because they wanted to “become members of an international community.”

The interview data indicates that this motivation was most likely a result of meaningful contact with people who represented the international community in the participants’ mental framework:

When I was in high school, we had a project where we could go abroad for a short time and stay with a host family. We spent a few classes on this study abroad project—learning to communicate in English, for instance. After we came back, we wrote thank you letters, and so on. This was very motivating. I wanted to really learn to communicate in English. Soon we had to re-focus on the entrance exam but I worked hard to succeed. (Maki)

However, for some participants it was not the quality of contact with people but the meaning that this contact took on:

When I was middle school student, there was an international event that my kuyakusho [=ward office] organized and because I was a good student, my school selected me to give a speech in English during the event. I remember making the speech after lots of practice and the many people who listened to my speech. This experience somehow gave me self-confidence in English, a strong wish to develop my English skills, and be at the forefront of international exchange. I felt I was the chosen one. Sometimes, I recall this event and I feel something hot, I feel tears welling up. It was a very emotional experience that determined, I think, my future and who I am going to be. (Sayuri)

Furthermore, supporting the findings of Yashima’s study (2000), when asked to define this

international community, all participants stated that the community consisted of people from

diverse geographical regions, but not necessarily native English speakers from major

English speaking countries like the United States or United Kingdom. The participants

actually mentioned that the international community they envisioned first and foremost

were countries in the Asia including Australia, Philippines, Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and India.

Two participants were unlike others who were motivated by the challenge of university entrance exams. Akemi and Yumi stated that they found it hard to become motivated to study English for the entrance exam, although for different reasons. Yumi reported that the classes were de-motivatingly easy. On the other hand, Akemi found the exam focused classes completely de-motivating and debilitating to her self-esteem and favored the oral communication classes:

The high school Year 1 oral communication class was motivating. The teacher had a positive character and I really enjoyed learning and using English to communicate in this class. I studied hard for this teacher’s class. But, I hated studying English for the exam. The teacher didn’t check our homework or give feedback on our progress. Our grades depended solely on tests and learning was mechanical. My juku

teacher, because of his character, motivated me somewhat to study for the exam though. (Akemi)

For Akemi, the teacher appeared to influence her motivation. Even her motivation to pass the entrance exam seems to have been driven in part by her teacher.

Since the participants were more or less successful

in entering the university, it appears that they had accepted their high school English classes, at least temporarily, and were more or less motivated by the externally imposed goal of passing the entrance-exam—i.e., to use Gardner’s conceptualization, they were instrumentally motivated.

The participants also possessed integrative motivation supporting the earlier findings of Yashima et al. (2004) that showed a prevalence of dual goals of learning English for Japanese EFL learners, although one goal may have become temporarily dormant in the case of this study’s participants.

It may have been that because instruction in high-school English classes was congruent with realizing one goal, all but two participants were satisfied with their classes and able to sustain, develop, and even internalize this motivation. While some Japanese students resist the exam system and opt out of it, many more stay within it. This latter choice is understandable in Japan’s social-educational context where passing the entrance exam is a central concern for many students and their families during the journey from kindergarten to university.

It should be mentioned that the one of the issues nearly all participants raised a

number of times during the interview session and other settings has to do with the disparity

between the university entrance exam and the curriculum of the English classes in the

university:

I understand why high schools teach grammar, reading, and vocabulary. Teachers have to teach students to pass the university entrance exams. And some teachers won’t be able to teach anything but grammar because they actually can’t speak English. But it doesn’t make sense why universities—not just this one but many others have entrance exams that don’t have much to do with what they actually teach in their English classes? Is it the Ministry of Education that forces universities to do this? We know the grammar and the vocabulary of the English language but we can’t speak English. I’m thankful for my high school teachers but I wish that I had a chance to learn English that is useful for my future, that I can actually use to converse with people from other countries. I am ashamed that I can’t speak English as well as foreign students from other countries. Isn’t there anything that can be done to change this whole system? (Yumi)

Hence, supporting the findings of Taguchi and Naganuma (2005), even though most participants generally remained positive about English education they received in high school since they were able to pass the university entrance exam, they recognized as they began their studies in the university, the “disadvantage” this kind of education gave them as they attempted to use English for communication and learning in an academic setting.

Freshmen English Experience

The participants’ narratives indicate that whereas their high school English classes were generally similar with a focus on the university entrance exams, their freshmen English classes in university varied considerably. There was a clear split between those who reported that their university English classes increased their motivation and those who stated otherwise based on the classroom context. The seven participants who reported that their classes increased their motivation were the first year study participants whose freshmen English classes were taught under a new curriculum which emphasized academic English that developed their critical thinking, discussion, and reading and writing skills, and used materials that dealt with topical and global issues. On the other hand, the three participants who reported that their freshmen classes were not motivating were the second year study participants who took freshmen English classes before the new curriculum was put in place when the emphasis was placed on acquiring basic conversation and reading and writing skills using materials that covered topics such as family, aging, and environment at a fairly superficial level.

Reconfiguring motivation in a positive classroom context

Participants who found their classes motivating could provide defining features of

their classes to explain their motivation:

In my class, the rule was to speak English as soon as we entered the classroom. Also, the instruction was not one directional. We needed to think of our own reasons for studying English. We also had to express and explain our own opinions. In high schools, the topics that came up in the English class readings were domestic and familiar ones. In the university, we dealt with international issues and topics that were new, that we never really thought about before. (Maki)

In high school, we learned about English—its grammar and vocabulary and we learned through memorization and mechanical exercises. In the university, the focus was practical—we learned to communicate in English. We even had to “converse” with reading materials—ask questions, interpret meaning, consider the purpose, and react to what the author is saying. We also had to cooperate and negotiate with each other and complete activities. (Akemi)

Hence, in the perception of these participants, unlike the high school classes, university English classes equipped them with tools and strategies to communicate in English, gave them opportunities to engage in genuine discourse with others on a wide range of issues, and created a community of English users within the classroom. This classroom community seems to have not only motivated them to learn English but also led them to construct their identities as English users:

Through studying English in the university, I began to think about what I wanted to do.

Sometimes I think about myself and wonder who is this person that is communicating so actively? In the past, I thought I would be embarrassed if I made a mistake and could not be forthcoming about speaking English. But I am now able to speak. I also discovered the pleasure of speaking English with my friends in class. When my friends make a concerted effort to listen to me, I am overwhelmed with the desire to communicate my thoughts to them.

(Maki)

Until now, I thought of English as merely “a very important subject for the entrance exams.”

But I have come to realize that English is an important tool for expressing my thoughts to the world. By using English, I learned the value of expressing my thinking logically supporting it with reasons. It is as if I discovered a new self who would like to tell the world who I am and what I am thinking. (Yumi)

Also, some participants demonstrated or attested to changes in their behavior that

accompanied this shift in identity. For example, Maki who enjoyed Japanese pop music

and culture began to pay attention to American and British music, magazines, and TV

dramas. Other participants Akemi, Hiromi, and Ami quit or reduced their visits to

predominantly Japanese social networking sites and instead, joined English-based social

networking sites to interact with speakers of English. They also began to exchange

greetings, engage in small talk, and seek opportunities to practice using English with

English speakers including their class instructors outside the classroom setting in a variety of domain:

A lot of foreigners visit the store where I have a part-time job. Before, when foreigners came, I didn’t do anything special but now, I make an effort to speak with them and help them. Other people in the store found out that I can speak English and now, they let me deal with foreigners.

(Sayuri)

However, although instructional context appeared to increase their motivation, this increase was neither immediate nor incremental, and was mediated by other influences as well. For example, most participants stated that they began their freshmen years anticipating their time in the university to be, in a pair of typical descriptions, a time to

“enjoy a campus life centered around non-academic activities” because they had “earned the right to recover from fatigue caused by the rigor of studying for the university entrance exams.” Therefore, they characterized themselves as tending to be academically passive during the first term and attested that they “don’t feel entirely comfortable and consistently motivated.”

The participants’ narratives from the second term, however, suggests that their increased involvement in instructional and other social contexts as English users interacted with their recollection of their past “international experience” such as going overseas on a home-stay and participating in community-based international activities, and presented them with additional ingredients to shape their identities— ideal L2 self-image and possible L2 selves:

During term 1, I wanted to enjoy my campus life. I vaguely thought about studying abroad especially when the teacher talked about it but generally, I just did the required work. Now, I am becoming more motivated to study abroad. I recently recalled the three home stay students from California we hosted at home when I was in middle school and my own home stay experience in Canada when I was in high school. I participated in a Skype conference with our sempai [upper-classmen] studying in California, and I was impressed by them. I wondered if I could be like them. I also attended a workshop for candidates of the exchange program given by a UC professor on how to select courses at the UC. I could almost picture myself becoming an exchange student. (Chieri)

At the beginning, because everything was in English, I was often on the edge and sometimes

didn’t want to attend classes. Now, I’m used to it. I’m starting to see my progress—that I

could actually converse in English—and when I get feedback on my essays and I notice that I

could improve my writing from draft 1 to draft 2, I become more motivated. My successes are

prompting me to think about studying abroad. I remember that in the first place, I chose to

come to this university because it had a study abroad program. Actually, when I was in middle

school, I went on an overseas study trip and decided then that I wanted to repeat that experience

in the university. I was so excited when my host family and I could communicate in English.

(Saori)

The participants’ motivation, however, turned out to be fragile and sensitive to contextual influences such as discourses with others. For example, Ami appeared unusually circumspect and somewhat negative about English during one of the interviews.

Subsequently, it was learned that a member of the university community had warned her that studying abroad could delay her search for a career and that proficiency in English would be unlikely to be a career advantage.

Ami was not alone. For Akemi, whose enthusiasm to make English-speaking friends took her to online chats with English-speakers, interpersonal relations with this online community of friends caused her much disillusionment, and for a number of months negatively impacted her motivation to acquire English: She remarked, “I love to make friends with Americans and other foreigners, but sometimes they are really bad; sometimes, they just want to use me.” During this low period, she often skipped her English classes, focusing her attention instead on friendship circles that differed from when her motivation to learn English was high. Yet, toward the end of Term 2 when she received a report on her TOEFL ITP score that was unexpectedly high, she resolved to resume studying English, saying, “I was so worried because I’m not smart and I’m so emotional.” Indeed, for Akemi, who displays high affiliative and communicative needs and who constantly battles with low self-esteem, her freshmen year was a motivational roller-coaster ride.

In discussing the freshmen experience in a group of all participants, everyone agreed that learning how to balance social and academic life and finding meaning in their academic work were the biggest challenges. They also agreed that some things are beyond their control: In the words of one participant, “You can choose your friends, and your choice will help or hinder you. But you can’t choose your English teachers or classmates—it’s a win or loose situation.” To this comment, however, a second year student whose freshmen year English experience was de-motivating, stated, as if to advise the first year participants,

“…if your English class is bad, just do the minimum to get by and find other ways to improve your English. Find like-minded people. Hang out with us. Focus on your goals.” As will be discussed later, opportunities to interact with highly motivated peers were critical for sustaining L2 learning motivation for all participants.

Protecting motivation in a negative classroom context

How then did the three second-year participants who found themselves in

de-motivating freshmen English classes characterize their experience? Their narratives reveal that their dissatisfaction was related to what they perceived as low academic standards and expectations, and ineffective instruction:

I wanted to study abroad because I lived in the US. until I was seven. That’s why English has always been an important subject that I put a lot of effort into. My first year English classes were disappointing, though. They were easy—we watched videos, listened to WBS, and just chatted, mostly about things that didn’t interest me—and I lost my motivation. I was more motivated during high school. (Minami)

I was very disappointed with my university English classes. The level was low—the reading materials were easier than the ones we used in high school and the teacher was so unenthusiastic—it was terrible. (Akari)

For one participant, the classes had a disconcerting effect on her motivation and self-confidence:

I was motivated when I started the university but my English class was not meaningful for me.

The teacher played tapes with an assumption that we could understand everything right away, and started us on boring discussion. Since I was not good at speaking and there was no actual teaching of listening or speaking skills, the class was de-motivating. By the end of the first term, I saw that my English level declined from when I was a high school student. Both my self-confidence in English and motivation to acquire English began to slip and I began to put more energy into other things—club activities and part-time work. (Hiromi)

Hence, for these participants, university English classes did not bring the rewards anticipated. They were left to their own devices as far as developing as English language users, and of the three, only Akari—the advisor of younger peers quoted above—stated that she overcame disappointment and was able to maintain a degree of motivation throughout the freshmen year through activities outside the classroom context:

Of course, I became de-motivated. But because I kept on reminding myself that I wanted to study abroad to keep some level of motivation. Becoming friends with English speakers kept me motivated. I just had to move forward. (Akari)

Yet, individuals like her are not typical. Her advisor and various faculty members agree that she is one of the most active, goal-oriented, and responsible students in her cohort.

Observational data demonstrates that in the classes she enjoyed, she always sat at the front, responded to teacher questions often, took initiative during group work, and completed the activities seriously and thoroughly. Outside class, she engaged in many activities such as becoming a buddy to foreign exchange students, attending study abroad workshops and support activities, and seeking opportunities to use English including with teachers.

Personal qualities also seemed to protect her need for isolation while allowing her to be

highly liked by peers. Assessing her own character, Akari stated:

I don’t let my friends drift me away from what I need to do. I just say, sorry I can’t join you.

And that doesn’t make them dislike me or ostracize me. I don’t think people think I’m cold or detached. I actually have many friends and I enjoy my school life. (Akari)

The other two participants whose freshmen English experience was negative also eventually reinvigorated, but not until the middle of their sophomore year, as will be discussed later.

Critical period for motivation

To sum, for the participants of the study, the freshmen year was a time when motivation to learn English had to be recreated apart from passing the university entrance exams. In this regard, the context of English classes and the university environment in the Freshman year is critical as facilitator or stymie to the reconstruction process. Clearly, teacher feedback, positive test results, and successful interactional experiences in English, boosted the participants’ motivation and convinced them to focus even more on learning English. On the other hand, when non of these were available, they became demotivated and this demotivation in turn prevented them from working on their English and lowered their self-esteem in English.

While one might expect most university students to be like Akari and manage to remain motivated despite the negative classroom environment in which they might find themselves, it is likely that many will not be able to sustain their motivation especially since there is a range of distractors including the so-called university clubs and circle activities, network of new friendships much larger and diverse than those they encountered in high school, and the intriguing world of adults that they can now interact with.

At the same time, the participants themselves also emerged as active, self-reflective agents who played an equally, if not a more important, role in how their motivation changed and was channeled. For some, it was a straightforward process of reviving an ideal L2 self-image as English users formulated in their relatively distant pasts.

For others, finding a new motivational source was a more complicated process of sorting through interrelationships of multi-layered contexts and conflicting motives and intentions.

The participants appeared to be constantly carrying on an inner dialog and debate as they

discovered by chance or by active exploration, new and widely different ideas including

those having to do with their future-selves as L2 speakers, and while they sometimes

showed fatigue and disappointment, most of them bounced back and carried on with

renewed energy after a short time.

After the first year

Nine out of ten participants managed to enroll in classes that they thought would be better for English development as sophomores because they achieved high scores on their year-end streaming test. However, this was a time when the participants began to show individual differences in the way their motivation interacted with the context in which they found themselves.

Emerging Individual Differences

For six participants who had already experienced motivating classes during their freshmen year, the sophomore classes were additionally motivating largely because they perceived that their peers were highly motivated and competent English speakers:

During Year 1 at the university, there were some unmotivated students in the class. So sometimes, when the teacher was not watching, we drifted to speaking Japanese and occasionally, it was hard to get the discussion moving. This year, I am satisfied. I am stimulated by those who speak English well—the returnees from overseas. The feedback I get from the teacher and my classmates on what I say or what I do is motivating and satisfying.

(Saori)

This year, class group discussions went more smoothly. The quality of class became higher with a huge focus on critical thinking and sophisticated way of constructing arguments. The teacher wrote her own thoughts on the blackboard and the students did too. I was able to absorb their thinking patterns and their knowledge. Also, because I was put in class full of motivated students and returnees, I am becoming more motivated. (Akemi)

Observational data show that most of the participants who experienced two consecutive

years of classes that intensified their motivation had developed an English-speaking

self-identity within an English-user classroom community. For example, they socialized in

English with their Japanese peers upon entry into the classroom and used English for phatic

and transactional interactions unrelated to instructions. English use began to spill over

outside the classroom and they began to use expressions (e.g., oh my god) and gestures (e.g.,

thumbs up) and English words amid Japanese-based conversations that marked them as

English users within the larger university community. Generally, other students regarded

them as the international gang with some students openly stating their admiration for them

and wishing to join them. The fact that other students marked them as being international

motivated the participants to work hard on developing their English skills, and to explore

even more opportunities to use English. Interestingly, the participants of the present study

became core members of a community of English users together with the exchange students

from abroad and exerted a positive influence on the English language learning motivation of other students.

Among the seven participants who joined this study as freshmen, three seem to have managed to translate motivation into facilitative learning behaviors. For example, Chieri’s narrative indicates reaffirmation of a high school dream of speaking English and joining an international community, and recognition of the importance of becoming an autonomous learner and of the facilitative role her peer-group community played in maintaining her motivation and keeping her focused:

During the summer of my freshmen year, I took the TOEFL course because I felt I needed to do much more on my own. Through the course, I got to know students who were motivated to study abroad and I came to realize that when I am with people who have the same goal, I become more motivated. Therefore, these days, I hang out with Saori and Sayuri. We motivate and support each other. (Chieri)

She also made a realistic assessment of the gap between her ideal and real L2 self and took specific steps to narrow that gap:

At the end of my freshmen year, I went to Europe and I was ashamed by my lack of communicative ability. That experience prompted me to study English even harder. It also made me recognize that English is an international language which I need to master if I expect to get closer to my ideal self-image of working in an international environment and having international friends. I go to a private school on Saturday to study for the TOEFL. I watch movies in English. At my part-time job, I actively seek to speak with English speakers. (Chieri)

In fact, Chieri, Saori, and Sayuri formed a support group, studying together, encouraging one another, and participating in many of the university’s support activities for students to further English skills. Together, they have also decided to apply for the exchange program with a US university and have joined the community of third-year students already selected as exchange students to interact with and learn from. Interactions with upper classmen have given the lower classmen a clear path forward.

In contrast, although the other four in this cohort attested to motivation to become English users, each appeared to be held back by different issues. For example, both Maki and Yumi reported envisioning themselves as English users working in the airline or tourism industries or becoming language teachers. Yet, they seemed unable to sort out competing priorities, gain enough learner autonomy, or formulate specific learning plans. All of them spent considerable time discussing the merits and demerits of working for various industries.

They also openly wondered if getting higher scores on the TOEFL was possible task.

Though they joined social activities with overseas students and sought opportunities to

speak English, they lacked the academic focus and autonomy as learners. Also, while they

sometimes joined the activities of Chieri, Saori, and others who wished to study abroad, they stayed on the periphery perhaps because of having felt obligated to join the group and study abroad but as yet without a strong sense of commitment. Hence, they ended up spending little time on the actual task of enhancing their English skills.

As for Akemi, her email message described a major change in her personal life that has affected her deeply. “For now”, she writes, “I have to focus on recovering my mental health.” She adds, “I will never give up my dream of becoming bilingual.”

Likewise, Ami is at a standstill. Toward the end of this study, she summarized her journey of becoming an English user:

During the summer of my freshmen year, I signed up for an online TOEFL program offered by the university. I really didn’t know what I was doing. Then during Term 2, I saw my friends getting geared up to improve their English and became motivated along with them. But soon, I became overwhelmed by all my work in the university and forgot about English. When I got back my TOEFL score at the end of my freshmen year, I decided I had to get back to studying English. Participating in support group activities and being in a class full of motivated people also helped my motivation and I remained motivated until recently. But again, I became busy and overwhelmed and dropped everything. I have to rethink what I really want to do in the future. I’m confused. And my personality, I have a lot of ups and downs. Out there, there are many bumps and barriers. I know I have to go on but I haven’t found my way. It’s a long and winding road. (Ami)

Perhaps she will regain her motivation as a university junior.

Waiting game and regaining the ideal L2 self image

The three participants who had to wait until the second year for classes which they considered motivating stated satisfaction in terms of an instructional approach which allowed a classroom community of L2 users in which to express their own thoughts:

Year 2 classes had discussion and other group work where we could actually use English. It was helpful and motivating especially because I was able to express my own opinion on topics that were interesting to me. Also, because the class taught me skills such as conducting research and writing papers in English, I began to think that I could study in California.

(Minami)

Finally, my class was something that I could unreservedly put my energy into. I was getting a bit frustrated about wasting my time attending classes which were not helpful just to get my requirements over. Of course, like all classes, this class too has some easy-going students who just want to be in the class but don’t want to make a special effort. But I am finally learning something and challenging myself. I am able to actually see what I have to do to get better.

(Akari)

However, even though it was a time to regain their motivation, some participants were unable to do so automatically. Hiromi and Minami, whose freshmen experience devastated their self-esteem, illustrate this point in their narratives:

My family is international—we lived overseas. Therefore, I’ve always wanted to have a job that puts me in touch with people from different cultures using English to communicate. So learning English has always been an important goal, and from when I was in middle school, I consciously began to develop my English on my own. I watched English-language movies again and again, picking up new phrases and vocabulary. Later, I began reading paperbacks, watching pod-casts and news online. I also began online chat to communicate with international friends. Naturally, I was really motivated when I started university. But from about the end of Term 1 of my first year until the middle of Term 1 of my second year, I lost my motivation.

The English classes were so low-level and boring and I saw my English level decline and this in turn made me loose my self-confidence. I turned the other way and began to put more energy into club activities and part-time work. But somehow, I remembered my dream of studying abroad and signed up for an internship in Australia during the summer of my sophomore year.

This trip raised my self-confidence and since my second year classes were motivating, I regained my motivation to study hard toward my goal. (Hiromi)

I was always good in English partly because in my family, we value English skills and international orientation. My parents have been very supportive of me when I put a lot of effort into learning English even when I was in elementary school. Throughout my schooling, English was my strongest subject and I had a strong sense of pride in being good at English.

Needless to say, I felt that I was destined to become an English speaker and work in an international setting. When I arrived at this university, I was satisfied to be in the top class but my class didn’t work out for me. I felt I had no opportunity to practice using English and I could not find a way to develop my skills in the class. I began to feel that I must rethink and reinvent myself. Then I became depressed because I hit a wall. I am slowly recovering because the English class is both challenging and interesting and because I am now buddies with the foreign exchange students. But I’m not sure if I can recover my faith in English as what makes me special. (Minami)

Both Hiromi and Minami may have managed to regain their motivation

eventually despite their devastating freshmen experience because of a strong motivation to

learn English fostered by much earlier experiences (during or even before high school)

imprinted into their minds and shaped into images as ideal L2 selves, and because of

experience as autonomous learners prior to university. It is possible that their family

background which allowed them to actually live or travel overseas could have given them

an added strength just as Lamb’s study (2000) showed that one of the participants had the

advantage of her habitus to actualize her ideal L2 self despite the negative experiences in

school. Being placed in a motivating class in sophomore year was a positive influence as

were opportunities to interact with exchange students and belong to a support group for

studying abroad. However, it is uncertain whether a move from a negative to a positive classroom alone would have been sufficient in reviving motivation to become competent English users.

For Akari, it may have been her personal qualities described earlier and her extraordinarily clear and specific vision of herself working in an international environment using English to communicate which assisted her in maintaining her motivation:

I want to work an aid agency for developing countries. Right now, I’m not certain if I can achieve this goal but I know that the first step is to study in the US. to broaden my horizons.

The US. has ethnic diversity and high level education—both of these motivate me. I hope to work in a country other than the US., though. I accomplish what I can now and then my dream will come true. (Akari)

Moreover, her narratives demonstrate thinking about this goal constantly and seriously:

Recently, I just wonder about the whole issue of aid. In Africa, the people don’t have anything.

And in contrast, we have everything. But people in Africa are often happy. Maybe they lead happier lives than us. So who are we to go out there and try to help them? What are we supposed to do for them? So these days, I’m asking these questions. But for now, I’ll just leave the questions aside. Perhaps studying at UCI will give me some leads. (Akari)

For Minami, too a specific vision of herself nurtured since elementary school may have been a helping factor:

I was in elementary school—sixth grade when I decided that I wanted to work on the protection of elephants. Since then, my goal has been modified. Nevertheless, I still want to work at the forefront of sustainable world development. That is why I’m in this university and studying with my professor. I know I can realize this old dream with my own effort. It depends on me.

But my first step is to learn English, go to the US. and armor myself. I want to experience many things and become a resourceful person. (Minami)

Original source of motivation

For the participants, a positive learning context and an accumulation of experiences as members of the community of L2 users facilitated the growth of their images of possible-selves. On the other hand, while all of them stated that they remained motivated, clear differences among participants began to emerge.

It should be underscored here is that the participants’ self-images as English users appear to have been developed long before becoming university students in tandem with self-images of participating in an international community. Furthermore, these images appear to have a strong influence on sustaining, and perhaps strengthening motivation even in the face of negative experiences in the English classes.

Hiromi, Minami, and Akari whose motivation to learn English suffered during

their freshman year but recovered during the following year remained motivated even though they were not required to take English courses in last months of this study. All of them had decided toward the end of sophomore year that the best step to realize the goal of acquiring English was to study abroad through the university’s exchange program with a university in California. They dedicated much time to acquiring a TOEFL IPT score of 550, a minimum requirement to participate in the exchange program. They also joined an Internet community of English learners from across the world wishing to attend the same university in California. There were many setbacks in achieving their goal of acquiring English: One month before the deadline to meet the required TOEFL score, their scores decreased from previous test scores, and although small fluctuation in test scores occur naturally, they were psychologically affected. The economic downturn led one to question the financial ramifications of a sojourn in the US., which dampened her enthusiasm for overseas study. Yet at the end of the study, they were settling into their new environment in the United States, taking another step forward in acquiring English.

Conclusion

This study suggests that L2 motivation is multifaceted, showing features associated with both integrativeness and instrumentality. The learners of this study were motivated to learn English because of a desire to pass the university entrance exams, raise TOEFL scores, and earn the prestige and recognition of being top students in the class.

But they were also motivated to acquire English to expand networks of friends, join the international community in both work and social life, access a wealth of information, and transform their identities by acquiring a perceived new way of thought, existence, and expression. Therefore, L2 motivation could not be characterized as a dichotomy of integrative and instrumental motivation, or intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. As Yashima (2009) suggests, in today’s rapidly globalizing, networked world in which English is a well-established lingua franca, it is perhaps unrealistic for anyone, including the participants of this study, to deny the utilitarian value of knowing English. At the same time, this study indicates that English appears to exist for the participants of this study as means for self-expression and for brokering of identity. That is, in the eyes of the participants, English has evolved beyond its traditional role as a foreign language to be used to communicate with non-Japanese people. Thus, it can be said that motivation to acquire it is inexplicably tied to one’s self concept.

Indeed, Dörnyei’s concept of the ideal-L2-self and ought-to-self was useful in this

study in characterizing L2 motivation. Clearly, all the learners had idealized images of themselves as L2 users which transformed in different ways. However, this study highlights the centrality of early international experience—during adolescence—in the development of the ideal-L2-self. International experience was a common feature in the histories of all the learners; for some, the formative experience was actual contact and communicative experience with L2 speakers in the classroom or through an overseas home-stay, whereas for others it was an opportunity to use English in a cross-cultural events.

Regardless of the actual quantity or quality of interaction, from the learners’ perspective the experience was an intense defining moment, visualized with clarity and poignant details, and used to sustain motivation. Encounters with overseas books, movies, and music added to the international experience and sometimes drove the participants’ motivation to learn English.

This study supports the recent suggestion of L2 researchers (e.g., Dörnyei, 2009;

Gao 2009; Ushioda, 2001) who portray the dynamic nature of L2 motivation. The study also demonstrates that the transformation of L2 motivation is mediated by context: the classroom and communities in which learners interact. Some contexts—a L2 community in which participants could rehearse ideal- L2 selves by using English for authentic communication and expression of the self—strengthen the learners’ ideal-L2-self image and motivation. Conversely, there are contexts where the learners’ ideal L2 self-image finds no support for growth and not only dampens their motivation but threatens their self-esteem.

However, what comes across powerfully in this study is that context does not affect the learners in predictable ways. Instead, as Ushioda suggests (2009) learners appear to respond to the context in different ways through active self-reflection and active meaning-making that demonstrate their uniqueness as intentional agents. For example, some learners in classes that functioned as L2 user communities and who joined a peer group community of supporters strengthened their motivations and operationalized their visions by crafting and following effective action plans autonomously. There were others, however, who used the same community for other purposes such as gaining self-esteem or fulfilling affiliative needs.

Similarly, although those who found themselves in an unfavorable context

managed to restore a fading ideal L2-image and motivation, and move forward within the

duration of the study, they followed different paths from one another. For one learner,

evidently the intensity of early international experiences, family history, and elementary and

secondary school socialization contributed to individual agency that ultimately succored her

from the negative influences of unfavorable contexts. For another learner, active