An Investigation into Motivational Self-Systems of Turkish English Language Learners in Higher Education

Abstract

Motivational self-systems have been researched in various educational settings including the English language teaching environment. However, motivational self-systems in the Turkish educational context still need to be investigated more due to the scarcity of studies in the local context, specifically with relation to the majors of the language learners. The current mixed-methods sequential explanatory study focuses on Turkish language learners' motivational self-systems and their correlation with the major of the learners. The quantitative data were collected from 118 participants in the Fall Term of 2019-2020 Academic Year based on convenience sampling at a language preparatory school of one of the state universities in Adana, Turkey through an adapted questionnaire. The qualitative data were gathered from 40 participants through reflective papers the participants were asked to keep at the beginning and end of the semester. The quantitative data were analyzed via SPSS 21 and the qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings indicated that there was no dominant L2MSS of Turkish language learners. The findings implied that the ideal L2 self of Turkish learners did not strongly correlate with their majors while their ought-to L2 self-had a strong correlation for some of the majors.

Keywords: ELT, L2 motivational self-systems, ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, Turkish language learners.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/11-34-02

Publication date: December 31^st 2020