Multilingual Future Self-Guides: A Mixed-Methods Study of Learners of Multiple Foreign Languages in China
type: CreativeWork
description: Drawing on the theoretical literature on L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009) and multilingual future self-guides (Henry, 2017, 2020), this PhD project is a mixed-method study on university students’ motivation to learn multiple foreign languages in China. Three overarching research aims guided the research: - To uncover the motivational profiles of multilingual future self-guides for learners of multiple foreign languages in China - To identify personal and contextual factors that contribute to the specific configurations of the motivation profiles - To examine the longitudinal effects of the multilingual future self-guides The research adopted a three-stage mixed-methods design, with the first stage and part of the second stage following an explanatory sequential design, and part of the second stage and the third stage following an exploratory sequential design. In Stage 1, 523 students who were studying English and a language other than English simultaneously were recruited from four universities in eastern China to participate in the survey study. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify the motivational profiles of future self-guides, including both the ideal multilingual self and language-specific ideal and ought-to selves. Four motivational profiles were identified, namely Unmotivated, Obligated, English Dominant and Multilingual. The four profiles were compared in terms of behavioural and affective engagement, intended effort and self-perceived competence. Results point to Multilingual as the best performing group and Unmotivated the worst performing group, with the performance of English Dominant and Obligated being somewhere in between. To better understand the factors contributing to these motivational configurations and their corresponding outcomes, representative participants were purposively sampled from each group for follow-up semi-structured interviews in Stage 2. Specifically, 23 participants were recruited from the four group…
abstract: Drawing on the theoretical literature on L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009) and multilingual future self-guides (Henry, 2017, 2020), this PhD project is a mixed-method study on university students’ motivation to learn multiple foreign languages in China. Three overarching research aims guided the research: - To uncover the motivational profiles of multilingual future self-guides for learners of multiple foreign languages in China - To identify personal and contextual factors that contribute to the specific configurations of the motivation profiles - To examine the longitudinal effects of the multilingual future self-guides The research adopted a three-stage mixed-methods design, with the first stage and part of the second stage following an explanatory sequential design, and part of the second stage and the third stage following an exploratory sequential design. In Stage 1, 523 students who were studying English and a language other than English simultaneously were recruited from four universities in eastern China to participate in the survey study. Latent profile analysis was conducted to identify the motivational profiles of future self-guides, including both the ideal multilingual self and language-specific ideal and ought-to selves. Four motivational profiles were identified, namely Unmotivated, Obligated, English Dominant and Multilingual. The four profiles were compared in terms of behavioural and affective engagement, intended effort and self-perceived competence. Results point to Multilingual as the best performing group and Unmotivated the worst performing group, with the performance of English Dominant and Obligated being somewhere in between. To better understand the factors contributing to these motivational configurations and their corresponding outcomes, representative participants were purposively sampled from each group for follow-up semi-structured interviews in Stage 2. Specifically, 23 participants were recruited from the four group…
author: Liu, Meng
language: eng
keywords: cross-lagged panel model, L2 motivational self system, latent profile analysis, motivation, multilingual future self-guides, multilingualism
license: http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved
date published: 2022-03-19
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:28Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.87020