This study conceptualises Chinese language-major undergraduates' motivation to learn a third language (L3) from a self perspective. Two overarching aims were adopted to guide the research: how learners' L3 motivation was formulated and reformulated over the course of one year of learning an L3 and whether classroom intervention could help learners to construct their L3 motivation. This research adopted a longitudinal case study design and was situated in a state university in China. Students who had chosen to learn an L3 as their major and English majors who were required to learn an L3 participated in the research. To achieve the two principal research aims, the data collection process was divided into two phases. The goal of the first phase was to explore the development of my participants' L3 motivation without any intervention. Qualitative research methods were employed during this phase and data were gathered from open questionnaires, interviews, class observation and written journals. In the second phase, an intervention was carried out to explore how to construct my participants' ideal L3 selves. A quasi-experimental design was employed and mixed methods were adopted. Analysis was primarily guided by the L2 Motivational Self System and was carried out at both at class level and individual level. At a class level, findings suggest that both L3 majors' and English majors' L3 motivation was mainly constituted on the basis of their ideal L3 selves, ought-to L3 selves and L3 learning experiences, which were constantly constructed and reconstructed over the course of learning. Notably, learners' motivational trajectories did not display a homogenous pattern at the group level. In total, six different motivational patterns were identified, three from English majors and three from L3 majors. It was also interesting to identify that a few learners developed a type of multilingually oriented motivation during their L3 learning. Data collected at the second phase of fieldwork revealed that the intervention was effective in helping English majors to construct their ideal L3 selves but less useful in the case of L3 majors. At the individual level, six cases were analysed in depth to investigate how the trajectories identified at the group level developed temporally and contextually. The analysis shows that the construction of these learners' L3 motivation involved a complex interplay between their future L3 selves and current L3 learning experience. It was through this process that learners explored the relationship between the L3 and their self-identification, and attempted to develop their personal meaning of learning an L3. On the basis of the empirical evidence, this thesis argues that the construction of learners' L3 motivation hinges on exploration of the position of the L3 in their self-identification, and that class intervention might help learners to realise the importance of learning an L3 by helping them to develop their ideal L3 selves, at least in the case of non-L3-major students. Moreover, this study suggests that it is crucial for L3 learners in China to recognise the value of being multilingual, which plays an essential role in constructing their L3 selves and sustaining their L3 motivation.

Syftet med denna studie är att belysa skillnader i grundskoleelevernas motivationer, i deras studier i moderna språk spanska, mellan två kritiska punkter: när de börjar läsa språket i årskurs 6 till deras sista år på grundskolan i årskurs 9, utifrån elevens perspektiv. De forskningsfrågor som använts för att uppnå syftet är: (i) vad framträder som centralt i elevernas motivation i sina språkstudier för årskurs 6 och 9?, (ii) på vilka sätt och i vilka aspekter kan man se att motivationen skiljer sig mellan de två grupperna? och (iii) vilka pedagogiska konsekvenser leder skillnaden i motivation till för ämnesdidaktiken mellan de båda grupperna? Studien baseras på intervjuer med elever från årskurs 6 och 9, som syftar till att samla information om deras erfarenhet av deras spansklärande, deras förväntningar och mål samt vad som motiverar dem. När det gäller den teoretiska ramen är denna studie grundad på fälten Self-efficacy, Self-determination theory (SDT) och The ideal multilingual self. Det huvudsakliga resultatet av denna studie är att elevernas motivation förändras från årskurs 6 till årskurs 9 från att vila på en inre motivationsgrund till att vila på en yttre motivationsgrund. Från ett ämnespedagogiskt perspektiv indikerar resultatet behovet av att hitta strategier och arbetsmetoder för att stimulera elevernas inre motivation och för att tillsammans skapa elevens L3 Self, som är bilden eleven skapar av sig själv som spansktalande och även som en del av en spansktalande gemenskap. / The purpose of this study is to analyse the differences in students’ motivations in modern language Spanish between two critical points: when they start reading the language in grade 6 and in their last year of compulsory school in grade 9, from the student’s perspective. The research questions used to achieve this purpose are: (i) what appears to be central in the students’ motivation in their language studies for grades 6 and 9?, (ii) in what ways and in what aspects can one see that motivation differs between the two groups? and (iii) what pedagogical consequences does this difference in motivation lead to for subject didactics of Spanish between the two groups? The study is based on semi-structured interviews to students from grade 6 and 9, aiming to collect information regarding their experience in their Spanish learning, their expectations and goals and what motivates them. Regarding the theoretic frame, this study is grounded on the fields of Self-efficacy, Self-determination theory (SDT) and The ideal multilingual self. The main finding of this study is that students’ motivation changes from grade 6 to grade 9 from resting on an intrinsic motivational basis to resting on an extrinsic motivational basis. From a subject didactics perspective, this result indicates the need for finding strategies and working methods to stimulate students’ inner motivation, and to co-create the student’s L3 self, that is the image the student creates of himself as a Spanish speaker and as a part of a Spanish speaking community.

The aim of this paper is to investigate in which manner and to what extent the existence of a multilingual self, that is, the ability of an individual to adopt a vision of themselves that encompasses many languages, relates to different aspects, such as the will to improve one’s linguistic ability or motivation to study, within learning and acquisition of second languages. The idea of a multilingual self has its theoretical base within the Second language motivational self system, or the L2MSS for short, which states that motivation is primarily derived from one’s vision of self and one’s previous experiences.  The investigation was carried out using custom made surveys which were distributed among university students of Spanish in Sweden. The investigation received 42 answered surveys in return using which several separate comparisons were carried out with the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods.  The findings of the investigation have shown that the multilingual self has a positive correlation in every single one of the aspects used in the investigation. Therefore, according to the results of this investigation, the identification with the multilingual self has a positive correlation with learning and acquisition of second languages. The biggest factor that leads to a larger possibility of an individual to identify with the multilingual self seems to be said individuals experience of learning the languages that they possess. / El objetivo de este trabajo es investigar de qué manera y en qué medida la existencia de un yo multilingüe, es decir, la capacidad de un individuo para adoptar una visión de sí mismo que abarca muchas lenguas, se relaciona con diferentes aspectos, tales como la voluntad de mejorar su capacidad en sus lenguas o la motivación para estudiar y aprender otras lenguas. La idea de un yo multilingüe tiene su base teórica dentro del sistema del yo motivacional de segundas lenguas, o L2MSS por sus siglas en inglés, que establece que la motivación se deriva principalmente de la visión que uno tiene de sí mismo y de las experiencias previas. La investigación se llevó a cabo a través de encuestas personalizadas que se distribuyeron entre estudiantes universitarios de español en Suecia. La investigación recibió 42 encuestas respondidas, las cuales fueron analizadas mediante el uso de métodos tanto cuantitativos como cualitativos. Los resultados de la investigación han demostrado que el yo multilingüe tiene una correlación en todos y cada uno de los aspectos utilizados en la investigación. Por tanto, según los resultados de esta investigación, la identificación con el yo multilingüe tiene una correlación positiva con el aprendizaje y adquisición de segundas lenguas. El factor más importante que conduce a una mayor posibilidad de que un individuo se identifique con el yo multilingüe parece ser la experiencia de aprendizaje que poseen.