The aim of this study is to understand whether Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) motivational self system fits well with the language learning motivation of the participants in this Turkish university context The study has been carried out in a university in Western Turkey. In order to answer the research questions, the study has adopted a quantitative research design. The study has been conducted using a 109 item Likert scale questionnaire. The total number of participants in the study is 250. The study includes English prep class participants from the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, the Department of Environmental Engineering, the Department of English Language Teaching, the Department of English Language and Literature and the Department of Biology. The results of the study show that the motivational self system partially fits well with the language learning motivation of the participants in this Turkish university context. As the results suggest, the model needs some modifications in order to fit within this context. The three main components of the motivational self system (ideal L2 self, ought to L2 self, and attitudes toward learning English) are seen to be related to the intended learning efforts of the participants, and are confirmed as distinct independent constructs that measure the different dimensions of L2 motivation. However, the two standpoints, own and other, overlap in terms of instrumentality promotion, instrumentality prevention and family influence. The contribution of attitudes toward learning English to the intended learning efforts of the participants is higher than the ideal L2 self, and the effect of the ought to L2 self is questionable. In addition to this, the study shows that family influence is related to the ought to L2 self, rather than the ideal L2 self, but, contrary to Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) model, milieu does not have any significant relationship with the ought to L2 self. The results also show that instrumentality has two foci: instrumentality promotion is related to the ideal L2 self, and instrumentality prevention is related to the ought to L2 self. Furthermore, imagination is found to be related to the ideal L2 self, as shown in the motivational self system. The results also suggest that the international community is important instrumentally for the imagined selves of the participants. This result supports the discussion that the international position of English attracts the participants’ future selves as suggested in the L2MSS. Key words: motivational self system; ideal L2 self; ought to L2 self; attitudes toward learning English; instrumentality promotion; instrumentality prevention.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:743988 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Taylan, Halit |
| Contributors | Durrant, Philip ; Richards, Andrew |
| Publisher | University of Exeter |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32639 |
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