Modern Foreign Languages in UK Secondary SchoolsExploring L2 Student Motivation in the East Riding of Yorkshire

Resum

This thesis represents a mixed-methods study conducted in the field of foreign language learning motivation. The quantitative investigation involved 393 students from three secondary schools in Hull and the Humberside (North of England), and the follow-up qualitative study consisted of semi-structured interviews carried out among 11 teachers in the same context. The key purpose of this thesis was to investigate the rationales for students’ disaffection with foreign languages in England, which has resulted in the ongoing decline of Modern Foreign Languages uptake at GCSE stage (i.e., beyond the age of 14) over the past two decades. In summary, the results showed an interplay of multiple factors affecting L2 student demotivation, ranging from the student level, the context level, the teacher level and the L2 learning experience level. In particular, the findings revealed that English secondary school student’s motivational profile was mainly characterized by a lack of the instrumental component of L2 motivation, reflecting students’ lack of long-term aspirations and future direction with regards to language learning. Promising findings highlighted the necessity of reformulating the notion of Ought-to L2 self as it had been originally conceived in Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 Motivational Self System. As suggested in this study, to substantiate the validity and applicability of this motivational component to the UK context, it is deemed necessary to reconceptualize it so that it may incorporate additional standpoints reflecting a number of supportive and unsupportive contextual influences. As similar results have also been achieved by recent UK-based studies, the current research corroborated those findings. By emphasizing the necessity of a reinterpretation of the Ought-to L2 self, this study also provided meaningful pedagogical implications for both teachers and researchers. The process whereby secondary school students internalize the multifarious external influences into the self should indeed be explored by teachers, in order to help students self-regulate their behaviour and foster their motivation towards the language learnt at school. As the study unfolded, furthermore, it revealed that a multiple-perspective approach is needed to gain better insights into L2 motivation. Thus, it integrated different interpretive stances from established L2 motivation theories, such as Self-Determination Theory, Attribution Theory, Expectancy-Value Theory, Self-Worthy Theory. By providing convincing support for claims that L2 student motivation is a complex dynamic system, this study also suggested that innovative qualitative methods are required in future research, within the domain of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory . Finally, by focusing on the role of the teacher and the L2 Learning Experience in enhancing L2 student motivation, the thesis came to the conclusion that it is essential that teachers put in place effective practices and strategies in order to develop students’ metacognitive awareness - a key component of self-regulatory behaviour that facilitates L2 successful language learning and motivation.