The Attitudes and Motivation of Swedish Upper Secondary School Students towards Learning English as a Second-Language

English (Linguistics)

Bachelor thesis

15 Credits

Spring 2014

Supervisor: Damon Tutunjian

The Attitudes and Motivation of Swedish

Upper Secondary School Students towards

Learning English as a Second-Language

A Comparative Study of Vocational and Theoretical Programs

Acknowledgement

Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Damon Tutunjian PhD (Linguistics), for the support of my research project, for his patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and great knowledge in linguistics. His guidance helped me a lot during of this project.

Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank the rest of the project committee: Maria Wiktorsson, Jean Hudson, and Soraya Tharani, for their guidance, encouragement, insightful comments, valuable meetings and their support.

My sincere thanks also go to all of my professors at Malmö Högskola: Philip Clover, Damian Finnegan, Stephen Myers, Asko Kauppinen, Adam Gray, Kerstin Sonesson, and staff members; as well as my spiritual teacher Qari M. Ashraf, for helping me to become a better person by providing me education.

I am greatly thankful to my comrades: Khalid M, Munawar S, Dr. Farhan M, and M. Asif Raj, for encouraging and helping me during the period of my graduation.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my family: my parents Muhammad Saleem and Zarina Saleem; my siblings, Tanveer S, Azeem S, Yasin S, Firdos S, and Hamza S, for

cheering and supporting me spiritually throughout in my life.

Best Regards,

Jahangir Saleem, (PAK).

Table of Contents

2.2 Re-theorizing L2 motivation theory 3

2.3 The L2 motivational self system 5

2.4 The Swedish upper secondary school system 7

2.5 English at Swedish upper secondary school 8

3 Method 9 3.1 Participants 9 3.2 Procedure 10 3.3 Material 10 3.4 Analysis 11 4 Results 11

4.1 Attitudes/motivation of theoretical students 12

4.2 Attitudes/motivation of vocational students 16

4.3 Motivational differences between theoretical and vocational programs 20 5 Discussion 23

5.1 Ideal L2 self 24 5.2 Ought to L2 self 25 5.3 L2 learning experience 26

5.4 The potential differences among students 27 5.5 Motivational difference in ideal L2 self 27

5.6 Motivational difference in ought to l2 self 28 5.7 Motivational difference in L2 learning experience 29 6 Concluding remarks 29 References 32

Appendices 37 Appendix I 37

Abstract

This research paper examines Swedish students’ attitudes and motivation towards English education in two upper secondary schools, using Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 motivational self

system. Of interest is whether theoretical and vocational students have motivational

differences when it comes to learning English as a second language. A quantitative questionnaire was compiled using the instrument variables from previous studies of L2 motivation, and question items, which were “re-theorized” for this particular study. 58 students participated, of which 30 were theoretical students and 28 vocational students. Results were then analyzed across three dimensions of L2 motivation: ideal L2 self, ought to

L2 self, and L2 learning experience. Findings revealed that, on average, both groups were

motivated to learn English as a second language, but that there is an apparent difference between theoretical and vocational students’ attitudes towards learning an L2: the theoretical students’ data showed that they have stronger influence than vocational students in the ideal

l2 self, integrative/integrativeness, instrumentality-promotion, attitudes to l2 community, ought-to l2 self, instrumentality-prevention, family influence, attitudes to learning English, and criterion measures.

Key words: L2 motivation, L2 motivational self system, ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, L2

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1. Introduction

Interest in second language L2 motivation has blossomed over the past few years, and there have been considerable advances made towards understanding the factors that influence such motivation and the consequences of motivation on learning. Traditionally, the concept of L2 motivation research has had as its base the seminal work of Gardner and Lambert (1972). More recently, researchers have identified several motivational mechanisms for L2 learning and have provided some initial hypotheses as to how they might be interlinked. For example, Tremblay (2001) identifies a set of variables that take into account the intensity and

persistence of motivational behaviour, certain factors related to the classroom environment, and the degree of expectancy to achieve a desired goal such as efficacy and

self-confidence. Other researchers have also examined motivational factors such as the desire to develop to understand a foreign culture as well as one’s own culture and to improve one’s own language (Inbar, Donitsa, & Shohamy 2001).

English is an excellent language to examine when considering the question of L2 motivation, since it is regarded as an international language and a global lingua franca

(Seidlhofer, 2005), and is learned and used as either a foreign or second language (EFL/ESL) around the world (Cenoz & Jessner, 2000). Similarly, Sweden is an excellent environment in which to investigate motivations for learning English. Josephson (2003) estimates that approximately 75% Sweden’s population can speak English for communication and read English newspapers. And English has a strong standing in the Swedish education system. The National Agency for Education provides eighteen national programs for upper secondary school students, of which six are theoretical programs and twelve are vocational programs. Each of these national programs possesses English as a core, foundational subject in the curriculum (Skolverket, 2011). In fact, English is so widespread in Sweden that it can be considered to have changed in status from EFL to an ESL (Lindberg, 2007).

Given the global importance of English and its status in Sweden, it is useful and important to investigate L2 motivation research among Swedish students at upper secondary schools. An investigation of Swedish students of vocational programs by Andersson (2008) revealed that such students do believe that English is important for their future, but

nevertheless have been playing truant and not attending English classes on account of a low motivation towards English education. Building on this finding, the current research paper investigates L2 motivation in relation to learning English as a second language at Swedish upper secondary schools, as well as potential differences between vocational and theoretical

2 programs. The study follows the L2 motivational self system approach outlined in Dörnyei (2005) which shows that learner’s motivation in L2 learning is based on different orientations:

ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning experience.

1.1 Research questions

The study investigates the following research questions using as its basis the L2 motivational

self system.

Research questions:

 What attitudes or motivation do Swedish upper secondary school students have towards learning ESL?

 What are the potential differences between students on vocational and theoretical programs concerning their attitudes and motivation towards ESL?

2. Background

The purpose of this section is to explain briefly about the previous studies relevant to the current investigation. The main focus of this research is to investigate students’ L2

attitudes/motivation. It is equally crucial to investigate teachers’ L2 motivation; yet this is unfortunately beyond the scope of the study and will not be discussed in this paper. In order to understand the purpose of this research paper and the attitudes/motivation of L2 theory, it is critical that we recognize preceding approaches to both motivational theory and the way that the Swedish upper secondary school system is constructed. I first provide a brief explanation of attitudes and motivation theory, focusing on L2 motivation theory, re-theorising L2 motivation theory, and the L2 motivational self system. I then elucidate the Swedish upper secondary school system and English at Swedish upper secondary school.

2.1 L2 motivation theory

Language researchers didn’t pay much attention to investigating language learning motivation until the late 1950’s. And starting in the early 1960’s, L2 motivation research evolved

significantly, largely on account of Gardner and Lambert’s (1959) concept of L2 motivation, which helped to pioneer the major studies of language learning motivation in the early 1960’s, and culminated in the theory presented in Gardner and Lambert (1972) (see discussion in Dörnyei, 2009; Ushioda, 2001). After almost three decades, language learning theory has been developed by social-psychological studies which investigated the role and nature of

3 motivation in the process of L2 learning (Ushioda, 2001), and the fundamental model of L2 motivation has developed and solidified as consequence of important theoretical progresses in both the field of L2 and mainstream psychology (Dörnyei, 2009). Within the field of L2 motivation research, the leading concept of integrative/integrativeness motivation, which was introduced in Gardner and Lambert (1959), was used extensively for at least two decades. The next significant development came when Gardner (1985) developed and proposed a

dimensional theoretical framework for the L2 motivation theory: the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). AMTB contains a wide array of questions that measured the student’s assessment of language learning situation in the classroom; Dörnyei (1994a) claims that ‘Gardner's model-and the way it has been typically understood-is on general motivational components grounded in the social milieu rather than in the foreign language classroom’ (p.273).

As soon as the AMTB theory was presented, contemporary language researchers started to re-examine old L2 motivation theory, and a number of researchers (Higgins, Klein, & Strauman, 1985; Markus & Nurius, 1986; Higgins, 1987, 1998; Higgins, Roney, Crowe, & Hymes, 1994) proposed new motivation research on the base of possible-selves theories. Gardner’s motivation theory and the AMTB stood as the most influential approach. It took into consideration a combined effect of two components, integrative and instrumental motivations. The integrative motivation is highly linked towards the L2 community and culture, and the desire to become similar and identify with an L2 community. The

instrumental motivation is connected to the desire to improve overall communication skills in L2 for the purpose of earning more money or obtaining better jobs (Dornyei, 1994a). Despite the influence of this model, Crookes and Schmidt (1991) called for a re-theorizing of L2 motivation research. They invited contemporary researchers to set up a new research agenda. In addition, they raised significant questions about new theoretical approaches and expanded social-psychological conceptual framework in the field of L2 motivation (Ushioda, 2001).

2.2 Re-theorising L2 motivation theory

In 1994, several scholars directed the focus of motivation research towards the goal of re-theorizing L2 motivation theory (Dörnyei, 1994a, 1994b; Gardner & Tremblay, 1994a, 1994b; Oxford & Shearin, 1994). For example, Dörnyei (1994a) criticized Gardner's theory (1959) and test battery (AMTB) (1985) as being too complex and reaching “beyond the

4 and Macintyre (1993) stressed the importance of recognizing that motivation is inherently dynamic, and that the old characterization of motivation as having integrative vs. instrumental orientations largely ignored this important characteristic.

Beginning in the early 2000s, L2 motivation researchers began to question whether the integrative concept can actually be applied to integrative orientation, when English has spread globally and there is no one specific community of English speakers (Ushioda & Dörnyei, 2009). Yashima (2002) considers the integrative notion as an ‘International posture’, and expands the concept by describing and referring to Japanese learners of English because they might have ‘interest in foreign or international affairs, willingness to go ... overseas to stay or work, and […] openness or ... non-ethnocentric attitudes towards different cultures’ (p.57). The notion of ‘international posture’ expands the external orientations from a particular geographic and ethno-linguistic society to a non-particular international society of English language users (Ushioda & Dörnyei, 2009). Indeed, people have become an essential part of a global community, yet the question arises whether is it acceptable to consider it as external orientations or as a part of an individual’s internal orientations of oneself as a de facto member of that global community. There has been a theoretical change of attention towards internal orientations of self and identity, which symbolizes the fundamental right to re-theorizing the concept of integrative motivation (Ushioda, 2006).

To investigate the concept of integrative motivation and to help drive the re-theorizing of L2 motivation research, Dörnyei and Csizer (2002) conducted a large-scale longitudinal investigation of Hungarian students’ attitudes towards learning foreign languages during 1993 to 2004. The survey data showed some vital and versatile results regarding integrative

motivation, yet Dörnyei and Csizer proposed that the process of identification that underlies integration might more accurately be characterized as an internal process of identification within the individual’s self-concept, rather than identification with an external reference group, as claimed by Ushioda and Dörnyei (2009). In another study, Lamb (2004) argued that the concept of integrative and instrumental motivation are too complex to make a distinction between both orientations, because ‘meeting with westerners, using computers, understanding pop songs, studying or travelling abroad, pursuing a desirable career – all these aspirations are associated with each other’(p.13). Thus, a number of researchers concluded to re-theorise L2 motivation theory.

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2.3 The L2 motivational self system

In an attempt to solve L2 motivation research issues, Dörnyei (2005) broadened his

speculation about L2 motivation to investigate the theory of ‘possible selves’, and proposed the latest approach of L2 motivation theory, the L2 motivational self system (Dörnyei, 2005). Since 2005, L2 researchers have used this new theory to conduct several quantitative

empirical studies. This new self theory has been testified and validated in different countries: China, Hungary, Iran, Japan, and Saudi Arabia (see for example, Al- Shehri, 2009; Csizer & Kormos, 2009; Ryan, 2009; Taguchi, Magid, & Papi 2009). The concept of the new

motivation research has developed on the base of possible-selves theories (Higgins, Klein, & Strauman, 1985; Higgins, 1987, 1998; Higgins et al., 1994., Markus & Nurius, 1986). In their seminal work on possible selves, Markus and Nurius (1986) acknowledged three main types of possible selves: ‘ideal selves that we would very much like to become, selves that we could become, and selves we are afraid of becoming’ (Dörnyei, 2009, p.12). According to Markus and Nurius (1986), ideal possible selves may include: the successful self, the creative self, the rich self, the thin self, or the loved and admired self; conversely, feared possible selves might comprise: the alone self, the depressed self, the incompetent self, the alcoholic self, [or] the unemployed self. The third type of the selves, the selves which one can become that can be described just as a synonym of the possible self, because possible is what one could become (Dörnyei, 2009).

As mentioned above, the new approach to motivation research was based on possible selves’ theories; Higgins’s (1987) self theory (see also Higgins, Klein, & Strauman, 1985) consists of the concepts of ideal self and ought self. As it is mentioned above, Markus and Nurius (1986) also describe these concepts; however, Higgins defined them more

appropriately and precisely in terms of motivation and self theory. He defines the ideal self as the ‘representation of the attributes that one would ideally like to possess (i.e. representation of hopes, aspirations, or wishes)’, and ought self is classified as the ‘representation of attributes that one believes one ought-to possess (i.e. representation of someone else’s sense of duties, obligations or moral responsibilities)’ (p, 320; Dörnyei, 2009, p.13). These

definitions indicate that the individual’s self concept can be defined as the summary of a person’s self knowledge concerning that how one’s own self views at present and future. Carver, Reynolds, and Scheier (1994) highlight that possible selves characterize: ‘the

individuals’ ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming’ (Dörnyei, 2009, p.11). On the contrary, Markus and Nurius (1986)

6 signify an exceptional self-dimension by indicating future self rather than current self states, because the notion of possible selves is very much connected with people’s hopes, wishes, and fantasies. In this regard, possible selves play a role of future self-guides, indicating a progressive approach that might clarify how a person is moved from the present toward the future (Dörnyei, 2009).

The new L2 motivation theory offers a synthesis as well as creates links with two new orientations of L2 motivation by Ushioda (2001) and Noels (2003). According to Noels (2003), L2 motivation development is made up of three interrelated orientations: (a) intrinsic reasons innate in the language learning process, (b) extrinsic reasons for language learning, and (c) integrative reasons, while Ushioda (2001) identified L2 motivation research in more details by pointing out eight motivational dimensions, which can be grouped into three broad clusters: (a) actual learning process (subsuming language-related enjoyment/liking, positive learning history, and Personal satisfaction); (b) external pressures/incentives; and (c)

integrative dimension (subsuming personal goals, desired levels of L2 competence, academic

interest, and feelings about French-speaking countries or people). Additionally, Dörnyei (2005) argues that there is another kind of language learners, who’s initial L2 motivation does not reveal from intrinsic or extrinsic reasons; rather their L2 motivation come from a strong commitment to improve language learning process such as they discover that they are good at it.

In order to organize L2 motivation orientations, Dörnyei (2005) proposed a new L2

motivational self system theory in the light of above discussed paradigms. This model consists

of three main components: the ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning experience. The

ideal L2 self, concerns to the L2-specific feature of one’s ideal self (i.e. integrative,

internalized instrumental motives, and if a person want to speak an L2. The ought-to L2 self, defines the ‘attributes that one believes one ought-to possess (i.e.various duties, obligations, or responsibilities) in order to avoid possible negative outcomes’ (p.106). This component is found with more extrinsic motivational reasons than intrinsic reasons. The L2 learning

experience, classifies the situation-specific intentions concerned to the particular learning

setting and experience, (e.g. the curriculum, the impact of the teacher, the peer group, the experience of success) (Dörnyei, 2009).

The above discussion shows that various L2 motivation orientations emerge to

concentrate on a common tripartite construct, which advocates a high compatibility with the

L2 motivational self system. Thus, the remarks present theoretical validation for the new L2

7 three main components: the ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning experience, yet every individual component also has sub components, which are typically referred to as “motivational variable concepts”. The first component, ideal L2 self, have five sub components: (1) ideal L2 self, signifying to the ‘L2-specific facet of one’s ideal self’ (Dörnyei, 2005, p.105), (2) integrative/integrativeness, entailing learners’ positive attitudes towards the second language, the culture and the native speakers, (3)

instrumentality-promotion, following the guideline of personal goals to become successful in future by

developing proficiency in English to earn more money or find a better job, (4) attitudes to L2

community, investigating the students’ attitudes toward the speakers of the target language,

and (5) cultural interest, measuring the students’ interest towards the culture of L2 society and its media products: TV programs, magazines, music, and movies. The second component,

ought-to L2 self, holds three motivational instruments: (1) ought-to L2 self, identifying the

‘attributes that one believes one ought-to possess (i.e. various duties, obligations, or responsibilities) in order to avoid possible negative outcomes’ (Dörnyei, 2005, p.106), (2)

instrumentality-prevention, assessing the learners’ duties and obligations concerning to study

English in order to get a passing grade, and (3) family influence, examining the parents’ role to motivate L2 learner. The third component, L2 learning experience, contains two

motivational items: (1) attitudes to learning English, measuring situation-specific motives connected to the immediate learning environment and experience, and (2) criterion measures: assessing the students’ future efforts to learn English. To sum up, the L2 motivational self

system has three main components, and every single component comprises on various sub

components (motivational variable), which all together become ten variable concepts.

2.4 The Swedish upper secondary school system

In Sweden, the upper secondary school system consists of ‘national programs, introductory programs, and programs that differ from the national program structure’ (Skolverket, 2011). This paper investigates only national upper secondary programs. There are 18 national programs at upper secondary schools and every program last for three years. Most of the Swedish students enrolled at upper secondary school at the age of 16, and anyone up to the age of 20 can be registered after completing ones compulsory education. Although these programs are divided into two sections, vocational and preparatory programs for higher education (theoretical programs), all programs consist of nine compulsory subjects: ‘English, history, physical education and health, mathematics, science studies, social studies, Swedish

8 or Swedish as a second language[,] and religion’ (Skolverket, 2011). The programs at upper secondary school are designed with an aim that is broader than just preparing students for professional life or for higher education. According to the Swedish Education Act (2010:800), the aim is expressed as follows:

The upper secondary school should provide a good foundation for work and further studies and also for personal development and active participation in the life of society. The education should be organised so that it promotes a sense of social community and develops students’ ability to independently and jointly with others acquire, deepen and apply knowledge.

(Skolverket, 2012a, p.8)

The Education Act covers most of the skills needed for everyday life (such as textile crafts, wood crafts and home economics), and emphasises the student’s scholastic ability and social communication skills. Nevertheless, the ‘diploma goals emphasize language and

communication’ (Skolverket, 2012a, p.82). Students need to develop a language foundation and communicative skills in the subjects of Swedish or Swedish as a second language and English; because good language skills are helpful in searching for information, and in communicating with different people (Skolverket, 2012a)

2.5 English at Swedish upper secondary school

Since English is an international language, it is spoken in various institutions: e.g. in the realms of education, politics, and economics. English education provides diverse

opportunities to contribute locally and globally in social and cultural contexts. The aim of English education is to help students learn the English language, so they develop the ability, desire, and confidence to utilize the language in various situations for different purposes (Skolverket, 2012b). According to the Swedish education system, students should be provided the following opportunities to develop their English language skills:

1) Understanding of spoken and written English, and also the ability to interpret content. 2) The ability to express oneself and communicate in English in speech and writing. 3) The ability to use different language strategies in different contexts.

4) The ability to adapt language to different purposes, recipients and situations.

5) The ability to discuss and reflect on living conditions, social issues and cultural features in different contexts and parts of the world where English is used.

9 Most of the information as reported by Skolverket (2012a) is not presently available in

Swedish, so it is crucial to learn English as a professional language for vocational and theoretical program students. Theoretical program students should acquire good skills in the Swedish and English languages to continue in higher education; at the same time, it is essential for vocational program students to gain a command of advanced English because electricity, energy, automation, and computing companies require English language speakers at a national as well as international level.

3. Method

The aim of the study is to investigate the attitudes and motivation of Swedish upper secondary school students towards learning English as a second language by using Dörnyei’s (2005) L2

motivational self system. The analysis also looks at the potential differences between students

on vocational and theoretical programs. It is important to investigate whether students from different fields have different attitudes or motivation for learning English as a second language. Potentially, this research can be used to improve the underlying motivational factors of students in English education. There have been many surveys and investigations in the L2 field; where the qualitative method has been employed and the data was collected by taking interviews of respondents, but it was impossible for this study to take interviews from every individual student. A quantitative research method was used to collect data from students. In order to collect data, a self-report questionnaire was designed, so the respondents fill questionnaire by themselves. Questionnaires have been shown to provide a valid and useful research instrument for L2 learning and motivational data (Dörnyei & Taguchi, 2010). Questionnaires can be employed to collect various types of data about the respondents. Subject descriptor questions are used to cover the demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, and race) ‘behavioural questions emphasize the present and past activities, and attitudinal questions’ measure the attitudes, opinions, beliefs, interests, and values of respondents (Dörnyei & Taguchi, 2010). Since the subject of this research paper deals with demographic characteristics, behavioural characteristics, and attitudinal characteristic, I prepared a self-report questionnaire for data collection.

3.1 Participants

The data were collected from two Swedish upper secondary schools: one school is located in Lund and the other school is in Kalmar. 58 students between the age of 16 and 18 participated

10 in the survey, including 28 students from Lund and 30 students from Kalmar. Table 3.1

presents the information of Lund school, where 21 respondents were enrolled in vocational programs and nine were in theoretical programs. In the school in Kalmar, 21 respondents were studying in theoretical programs and seven were enrolled in vocational programs. In sum, 30 theoretical and 28 vocational respondents filled in an online questionnaire from both schools. It was important for this study to select participants from different schools, to allow for analysis of the potential differences between theoretical and vocational students as regards to motivation towards learning English as an L2.

Table 3.1 58 participants of vocational and theoretical programs in Lund and Kalmar school

Vocational Students Theoretical Students Lund School 21 9

Kalmar School 7 21

Total 28 30

3.2 Procedure

The questionnaire was posted using Forms on Google Drive (an online data collection platform), and the web link of the questionnaire was emailed to the contact persons of the schools. The online survey method was adopted to get easy access to the respondents; otherwise, it would be difficult to visit the schools for data collection. Specifically, the vocational program students often do not attend school because of their training or practice activities.

3.3 Materials

The questionnaire comprised of two major sections. The first part focused on the learner’s attitudes and motivation towards learning English as a second language, and the second part aimed to explore the students’ demographic information: gender, age, teacher, household income, current status, parents’ education, program information, bilingualism, and future plans for profession and education. The design of the questionnaire followed the method recommended by Dörnyei and Taguchi (2010). Since the current investigation is based on Dörnyei’s L2 motivation framework, the L2 motivational self system, the

11 Ushioda and Dörnyei (2009). In this research, many questionnaire components were

re-theorized and some of them were newly designed in order to meet the requirements of Swedish students towards learning English as a second language.

The latent variables in the first section model of the questionnaire items were measured by a seven-point rating Likert scale with ‘strongly disagree (1)’ anchoring the left end

‘strongly agree (7)’ anchoring the right end as well as ‘never (1)’ and ‘every time (7)’ for some quantifiable variables. The final questionnaire can be found in the appendix section, in English (see Appendix I) and Swedish (see Appendix II). The total number of questionnaire items was sixty-seven with Likert-points and eighteen demographic questions. As Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 motivational self system framework is adopted to investigate this research paper, which consists in three main dimensions and these dimensions have further ten sub

dimensions: (a) ideal L2self (ideal L2self, integrative/integrativeness,

instrumentality-promotion, attitudes to L2 community, and cultural interest), (b) ought-to L2 self (ought-to L2 self, instrumentality-prevention, and family influence), and (c) L2 learning experience

(attitudes to learning English, and criterion measures. These ten motivational variable concepts were used to measure the L2 motivation of Swedish students.

3.4 Analysis

As the research questionnaire of this study consists of 67 question items, I calculated the mean value of all individual question responses. To get the mean/average values of

motivational variable concepts, the question responses were summed and then divided by the number of participant responses to produce individual question mean. Then, for the aggregate measures of ten motivational variables, the individual question mean were grouped into aggregate categories and then summed and divided by the number of individual questions in that category to produce aggregate question mean of ten motivational variable concepts. Finally, to aggregate measures of three main components, the ten motivational variable mean were combined to produced the mean values of ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and L2

learning experience.

4. Results

There were 58 participants involved in the questionnaires, from two different schools. The respondents were also from two different programs: theoretical and vocational. They demonstrated a comprehensive approach to motivational levels, but on average all the

12 respondents were reasonably well-motivated. Regarding to the differences between both program students, theoretical students were, on average, stronger than vocational students in every dimension of L2 motivation: the ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning

experience. The results section is modified to describe the ten motivational variable concepts

(for details, see section 2.3) with statistical characteristics, tables, graphs, and their explanation.

4.1 Attitudes/motivation of theoretical students

The initial purpose of this research was to investigate the students’ motivation towards learning ESL. Therefore, the data were collected to identify and measure the underlying motivational variables. Table 1 indicates the given and obtained values of motivational variables. The table reports the number of variables (No.V), number of students (No.S), total value of variables (TV), mean (M), maximum (Mx.M) and minimum mean (Mi.M). The mean values of all individual variables are provided in the Appendix III. The most important aspects of Table 1 are explained in the following section with the help of graphs and tables. One thing is important to remember that values of mean in the Table 1 correspond to the number of variables.

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Table 1. Statistical values of motivational instruments used for student questionnaire

Motivational Instruments No.V No.S TV M Mx.M Mi.M

Ideal L2 self Ideal L2 self 11 30 7 5,68 6,43 4,53 Integrative/Integrativeness 2 30 7 5,48 5,60 5,36 Instrumentality-promotion 6 30 7 5,22 6,36 4,46 Attitudes to L2 community 7 30 7 4,85 6,13 3,80 Cultural interest 6 30 7 4,33 5,16 2,80 Ought-to L2 self Ought-to L2 self 7 30 7 4,67 6,00 3,70 Instrumentality-prevention 5 30 7 5,57 6,16 4,73 Family influence 7 30 7 4,60 5,20 4,03 L2 learning experience

Attitudes to learning English 7 30 7 5,64 6,43 4,53

Criterion measures 9 30 7 5,00 6,23 3,63

Regarding the individual variables among theoretical students, Figure 1 shows the mean value concerning ten attitudinal and motivational variables adopted for student questionnaire. Figure 1 represents a vast range of motivational levels, ranging from 4,33 to 5,68 mean value of motivation in all variables used to investigate theoretical students’ attitudes and motivation towards learning ESL. The minimum motivational variable among theoretical students was 4,33 while the maximum value reached 5,68. It is interesting to note that four variables show a consistency among their mean values, ranging from 5,48 to 5,68 respectively:

integrative/integrativeness 5,48, instrumentality-prevention 5,57, attitudes to learning English

5,64, and ideal L2 self 5,68. Therefore, it seems that theoretical students had strong attitudes/motivation to learn ESL as a whole.

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Figure 1. The mean values of ten motivational instruments (theoretical students’ response)

Regarding the individual variables, Table 2 shows the most agreed and Table 3 least agreed motivational instruments with their mean values of theoretical students. Since a 7-point Likert scale was employed, the responses that are above 5 or below 3 suggest agreement or

disagreement with the variables of interest. Table 2 shows seven distinctive variables that received mean value higher than 6, and only three statements registered in the 5-range, suggesting strongly agreed preferences. Three received mean of less than 4, and only one variable got mean of less than 3. The ten most agreed-with variables registered in each individual motivational category, while in Table 3 four least agreed-with variables reflect the

attitudes to L2 community, ought-to L2 self, cultural interest, and criterion measures

approaches. 0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 6,00 Motivational Instruments Ideal L2 self Integrative/Integrativeness Instrumentality-promotion Attitudes to L2 community Cultural interest Ought-to L2 self 2 Instrumentality-prevention Family influence

Attitudes to learning English Criterion measures

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Table 2. Mean values of most agreed motivational variables (theoretical students)

Theoretical students

Motivational variables Mean

Ideal L2 self

22. I can imagine myself speaking English with international friends or colleagues.

6,43 29. Studying English is important to me because I plan to study abroad. 5,60 31. Having a high level of English proficiency will allow me to work

globally.

6,36 36. I listen carefully and try to understand all the words whenever I hear a

song that is sung in English.

6,13 44. How often do you watch films that are in English (excluding any

dubbed movies)?

5,16

Ought-to L2 self

54. An educated person is supposed to know English well. 6,00 57. I have to study English because I do not want to get bad marks in my

English course.

6,16 67. My parents strongly believe that English is important for my future. 5,20

L2 learning experience

02. I find learning English really interesting. 6,43 13. I would study English even if it were not a required subject. 6,23

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Table 3. Mean values of least agreed motivational variables (theoretical students)

Theoretical students

Motivational variables Mean

Ideal L2 self

41. I often meet people who come from native English-speaking countries.

3,80 47. How often do you play video games where English is the primary

language?

2,80

Ought-to L2 self

49. I study English because close friends of mine think it is important. 3,70

L2 learning experience

11. I would like to concentrate on studying English more than any other topic.

3,63

Summary

In this section, the theoretical students’ attitudes and motivation towards learning ESL are examined in details. The obtained score of motivational variables indicate that theoretical participants are very much conscious about the importance of English and they work hard to get command on English because of having good L2 motivating aspects in their life. The results shows that among ten motivational variables, seven question items attained higher mean than 6, and only three in the 5-range, suggesting strongly agreed preferences. Three got mean of less than 4, and only one instrument received the mean of less than 3.

4.2 Attitudes/motivation of vocational students

Table 4 identifies the total and registered values of motivational variables. The table indicates the number of variables (No.V), number of students (No.S), total value of variables (TV), mean (M), maximum (Mx.M), and minimum mean (Mi.M). The mean value of all individual variables provided in the Appendix III. The major aspects of Table 4 are explained in the following section. In Table 4, the mean values correspond with the number of variables.

17

Table 4. Statistical values of motivational instruments used for student questionnaire

Categorical Instruments No.V No.S TV M Mx.M Mi.M

Ideal L2 self Ideal L2 self 11 28 7 4,37 4,85 3,67 Integrative/Integrativeness 2 28 7 3,66 3,85 3,46 Instrumentality-promotion 6 28 7 4,27 4,85 3,50 Attitudes to L2 community 7 28 7 3,77 4,64 3,14 Cultural interest 6 28 7 4,70 5,53 3,21 Ought-to L2 self Ought-to L2 self 7 28 7 3,63 4,67 3,14 Instrumentality-prevention 5 28 7 4,21 4,67 3,60 Family influence 7 28 7 4,17 4,53 3,75 L2 learning experience

Attitudes to learning English 7 28 7 4,02 5,89 2,35

Criterion measures 9 28 7 3,85 4,78 2,64

Figure 2 is presented to show the mean values regarding to ten attitudinal and motivational variables utilized for student questionnaire. Figure 2 represents the attitudes/motivation level of vocational students towards ESL, ranging from 3,63 to 4,70 mean value. This Figure shows that seven variables vary 3,63 to 4,21 while only three variables across 4,21:

instrumentality-promotion (4,27), ideal L2 self (4,37), and cultural interest (4,70). The variable ought-to L2 self with only 3,63 mean value represent that vocational students have less obligations or

responsibilities regarding to get further English education. However, the result suggests that students have an average level of motivation to learn ESL, but the highest mean value 4,70 of

18

Figure 2. The mean values of motivational instruments (vocational students’ response)

By considering individual variables, Table 5 presents the most agreed and Table 6 least agreed motivational instruments with their mean values of vocational students. In the table 5, only two statements scored above 5, suggesting strongly agreed preferences in cultural

interest and attitudes to learning English. In opposition, every individual variable in table 6

received a least agreement mean value and even two variables receiving the strongest disagreement mean value less than 3-range: concerned with extra English lessons at school and concentrate on studying English. The other eight responses, while scoring above 3, may indicate disagreement.

Table 5. Mean values of most agreed motivational variables (vocational students)

Vocational Students

Motivational variables Mean

Ideal L2 self

47. How often do you play video games where English is the primary language?

5,53

L2 learning experience

1. I like the atmosphere in my English class. 5,89

0,00 0,50 1,00 1,50 2,00 2,50 3,00 3,50 4,00 4,50 5,00 Motivational Instruments Ideal L2 self Integrative/Integrativeness Instrumentality-promotion Attitudes to L2 community Cultural interest Ought-to L2 self Instrumentality-prevention Family influence

Attitudes to learning English Criterion measures

19

Table 6. Mean values of least agreed motivational variables (vocational students)

Vocational Students

Motivational variables Mean

Ideal L2 self

24. I can imagine myself studying in a university where all my courses are taught in English.

3,67 29. Studying English is important to me because I plan to study abroad. 3,46 33. I study English in order to keep updated on and informed about

recent world news.

3,50 40. I want to become more similar to people who are native English

speakers.

3,14 45. How often do you read magazines, newspapers, and/or books that

are in English?

3,21

Ought-to L2 self

49. I study English because close friends of mine think it is important. 3,14 59. If I am not good at English then I will be considered a weak student. 3,60 65. My parents believe that having high skills in English will bring

greater honour to my family.

3,75

L2 learning experience

05. I would like to have more English lessons at school. 2,35 11. I would like to concentrate on studying English more than any other

topic.

2,64

Summary

The mean values of attitudes and motivation among vocational students towards ESL specify that the participants have an average level (average = 3.5) to learn English, yet only three variables received higher score than 4 and seven less than 4. It indicates that vocational students have less interest to learn English education. The results show that most of the motivational variables received the least agreement mean values, rather two variables got the strongest disagreement mean value less than 3, which specifies that students didn’t want to have extra English lessons, because of lacking L2 motivation.

20

4.3 Motivational differences between theoretical and vocational programs

As a concise explanation of statistical characteristics is mentioned in the earlier parts of results section, Tables 1 through 6 and Figures 1 and 2, present the statistical values of attitudinal/motivational instruments as well as described the theoretical and vocational program students’ L2 motivation approach separately. In Table 7 and Figure 3, the statistical data are combined to focus on the difference between both of the groups. In Section 4.1 and 4.2 above, the mean values of motivational instruments were demonstrated from both of the student groups individually, and these values are combined in this (4.3) section. In Table 7, it appears that there is a difference between the mean values of both groups. The mean values of Table 7 are represented through graph also in Figure 3.

Table 7. The mean values of motivational instruments (theoretical and vocational students)

Motivational Instruments TP Mean VP Mean Ideal L2 self Ideal L2 self 5,68 4,37 Integrative/Integrativeness 5,48 3,66 Instrumentality-promotion 5,22 4,27 Attitudes to L2 community 4,85 3,77 Cultural interest 4,33 4,70 Ought-to L2 self Ought-to L2 self 4,67 3,63 Instrumentality-prevention 5,57 4,21 Family influence 4,60 4,17 L2 learning experience

Attitudes to learning English 5,64 4,02

Criterion measures 5,00 3,85

In Figure 3, the registered data of both programs are combined to analyze the differences among all variables individually. While I compared the obtained mean value of theoretical and vocational programs, certain differences were found in the results among all variables. Figure 3 show that nine categorical instruments amongst theoretical program have higher

21 mean values than the mean values of vocational program, while only one variable cultural

interest has less mean 4,33 than vocational program 4,70. It seems as vocational program

students watch 0,37 more English films, TV programs, and video games with English subtitles than theoretical students. The statistical results of theoretical students show higher mean values than the other students in all other motivational variables:

integrative/integrativeness 1,82, attitudes to learning English 1,62, instrumentality-prevention

1,36, ideal L2 self 1,31, criterion measures 1,15, attitudes to L2 community 1,08, ought-to L2

self 1,04, instrumentality-promotion 0,95, and family influence 0,43 respectively.

Figure 3. Mean values of motivational instruments (theoretical and vocational students

Summary

In regards to the attitudes and motivation differences among students, theoretical group has higher mean values than vocational one in nine motivational variables, while only one

variable among vocational participants received higher value than theoretical ones. It seems as vocational group spends more time to watch English media channels than theoretical group. It seems that there is a huge difference between both of the groups regarding to L2 motivation. One can see that theoretical students are considerably more motivated than vocational students towards getting English education.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Theoretical Students Vocational Students

22 Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 motivational self system constructed on three dimensions: the ideal L2

self, ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning experience. In Table 8 and Figure 4, the data

represented confirms a precise and compact difference between both groups of students. This data suggests that the strength of theoretical students in L2 learning experience (5,32) is 1,39 mean value higher than vocational students; such as, ideal L2 self 0,96 and ought-to L2 self 0,94 respectively. The results suggest that theoretical students have considerably higher L2 motivation than vocational students. Regarding the vocational students, the results show that they also appear to be motivated towards learning English language, because the findings claim that they get higher than average mean value (average mean value = 3.5) in three dimensions: Ideal L2 self (4,15), Ought-to L2 self (4,00), and L2 Learning Experience (3,93).

Table 8. The mean values of L2 learning experience, ideal L2 self, and ought-to L2 self

between theoretical (TP) and vocational programs (VP).

Three Dimensions of L2 Motivation TP Mean VP Mean

Ideal L2 self 5,11 4,15

Ought-to L2 self 4,94 4,00

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Figure 4.The mean values of Ideal L2 self, ought to L2 self, and L2 learning experience

between theoretical and vocational programs.

5. Discussion

The obtained results of the current study’s questionnaire provide support for Dörnyei’s (2005) framework in Swedish context. The results reveal that the ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and

L2 learning experience, measuring the underlying factors of attitudes and motivation for L2

learning in both theoretical and vocational groups. The results show that there is a clear difference between theoretical and vocational participants in relation to the L2 motivation. It is established that the L2 learning experience obtained the highest score among all three motivational dimensions between both of the groups, and the L2 motivation and learning attitudes of vocational participants gained lower mean values than theoretical ones. In the case of ideal L2 self, the findings indicate that theoretical students got higher mean values than vocational students, which shows that theoretical participants are more concerned towards language learning motivation than vocational participants in order to achieve their ideal self for their career. Last but not least, the ought-to L2 self also have an obvious difference between both of the groups. The outcome represents that theoretical students scored higher than vocational ones relating to fulfil their ought self, and this variation designates that theoretical participants are more serious than vocational participants to get good grades and meet their duties, obligations or moral responsibilities towards L2 learning (Dörnyei, 2009).

0,00 1,00 2,00 3,00 4,00 5,00 6,00

Ideal L2 self Ought-to L2 self L2 Learning Experience

Theoretical Programs Vocational Programs

24 However, the ought-to L2 self indicates the least value towards L2 motivation among theoretical students as compare to the ideal L2 self and L2 learning experience. In the case of vocational students, the L2 learning experience got the least score by contrasting ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self which predicts students less effort in language learning. Csizer and Kormos (2009) claim that the three dimensions of Dörnyei’s (2005) theory the ‘ideal L2 self,

ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning experience are either not related at all to each other or show

only weak correlations, indicating that these three constructs are clearly different and independent motivational variables. The results in the current study show that L2 learning

experience has the highest score in theoretical group, while the ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self obtained almost equal values, but ideal L2 self has higher score than ought-to L2 self in

both of the groups. As Deci and Ryan (1985, 2002) say that an effective self concept and intrinsic interests are more influential predictors concerning that how much effort the language learners are willing to invest in learning than extrinsic motivational forces. The motivational instruments of the ideal L2 self expresses students’ intrinsic values and self-perceptions about achieving command on the target language. As the ideal L2 self, ought-to

L2 self, and L2 learning experience show the value of fundamental factors in the results, it

signifies that Dörnyei’s (2005) re-theorizing motivation theory may take place of integrative variable in the field of L2 motivation. I will now discuss each of these three components in the sections that follow.

5.1 Ideal L2 self

The first most significant dimension of Dörnyei’s (2005) model is ideal L2 self, which expresses students’ attitudes towards the importance of English at national and international level. Additionally, it plays a crucial role to become a driving force in L2 learning, and makes possible for language learners to visualize a future image of themselves as the competent L2 learners. The results, however, suggest that theoretical students provided higher scores in the

ideal L2 self than ought-to L2 self, because their demographic responses advocate that most of

the students preferred to get higher education to get a master or PhD degree. Other participants, who do not want to continue their studies, are very much aware of the importance of English in their professional life and career. It seems that the participants’ idealized images of themselves are thus very important in order to become good language learners. In the case of vocational group, the ideal L2 self gained the highest scores among all of the three motivational dimensions, which confirm that vocational students are conscious

25 about the usage of English at local and global level. However, it seems that the Swedish students’ views towards English do not revolve only around integrative or extrinsic

motivating factors; rather, they have intrinsic motivating characteristics, significantly, which are correlated with the learners’ L2 self concept. The results represent that the study supports earlier investigations in the field of L2 motivation (e.g., Lamb, 2004; Warden & Lin, 2000; Yashima, 2000, 2002, Kormos & Csizer, 2008).

The findings show that both groups in Swedish setting are highly motivated under the

ideal L2 self instruments, and it is obvious from the obtained results that English serves as an

important tool for most of the skilled language learners to communicate with English

community, get better job, study abroad, to integrate, and adopt foreign culture. Furthermore, it helps to gain information about the world through international mass media such as English news, films, programs, TV channels and internet.

5.2 Ought-to L2 self

The ought-to L2 self variable consists of extrinsic factors that affect learning an L2. The results indicate that participants obtained L2 motivation from their surroundings: friends, family members, and teachers. As the respondents’ demographic data give details, the learners start to learn English from a very young age and being aware of learning ESL for their career prospects. Moreover, the globalised mass media products have relatively high impacts on students’ L2 motivation, because students utilize computer products in their daily routine life. These external factors also leave strong effects on students L2 motivation. Dörnyei (2001) argues that it is the most important responsibility of teachers to motivate students for learning education. The investigation highlights a contribution of teachers, peers, or boss to provide a long term motivation for language learners. The results also elaborate strong outcomes in instrumentality prevention variable between both of the groups. Most of the students in both groups have their intention to study English for completing their education and get a diploma, while others want to get higher grade in order to compete in the class and use English

successfully for their future career. Regarding to the instrumentality, it is an important illustration that instrumentality has two distinctive aspects; because, these aspects separately sum up the major and underlying motivational factors of language learners.

Further, the family influence motivational instrument of the ought-to L2 self clarifies parental influence towards English education. The variable contributes positively to formulate a strong self-concept among both groups. The results suggest that for theoretical group the

26 correlation between the parental influence and ought-to L2 self is very strong. While parental

influence finding seems pretty close between both groups, it shows that the ought-to L2 self is

completely constructed on social values. Indeed, it confirms that characteristics of students’ views have to meet the expectations of their surroundings and environment such as Dörnyei (2005) calls it the attitude of the learners’ immediate learning environment. According to the self-discrepancy theory of Higgins (1987), one’s ought-to self is primarily shaped by

significant others, and in the case of this investigation, the results show that the environmental influences regarding L2 motivation, in Swedish setting, are derived from the language

learners’ parents and instrumentality prevention. As the findings reveal, the family influence scored higher than ought-to L2 self among vocational participants while the theoretical group treats both of the components equally. It can be assumed that the parental influence has direct or indirect effects on students’ motivational values, which contribute highly to the students’ extrinsic L2 self-concept. Moreover, the instrumentality prevention provides extra ordinary results among theoretical participants, which create the impression that the participants are not only highly serious towards English education rather they want to get good grades in order to maintain their higher education.

5.3 L2 learning experience

Finally, the third component of the L2 motivational system is L2 learning experience, as mentioned earlier that it shapes the students’ attitude towards learning English. The results indicate that theoretical students have the highest tendency level to learn English. The theoretical participants scored much more than average in each of the variables. It gives the feeling that the learners have very strong intrinsic interest in learning ESL, which indicates the students’ positive intensions towards L2 self concept. It seems that all of the activist values: teachers’ motivation, motivating activities, classroom atmosphere, tasks, and teaching methods are extremely essential components to influence the students L2 motivation. There have been investigations (see Nikolov, 1999) in the field of L2 learning motivation, which validate that positive classroom factors and teachers’ positive behaviour helps to consider the students learning experiences as well as how much effort the students would like to devote in language learning (Csizer & Kormos, 2009). In the case of vocational students, the L2

learning experience showed the least score as compared to the other two motivational

components. It can be assumed from the demographic answers of respondents that the most participating students are willing to start a professional life, right after the completion of their

27 upper secondary education. Indeed, they seem to have intensions to use English for their future needs, yet they might be considering that high proficiency in English would not lead them towards their career. Therefore, the results record an average score of both variables in the L2 learning experience dimension.

5.4 The potential differences among students

The second purpose of this research paper was to consider about the potential differences between vocational and theoretical program students’ attitudes and motivation towards ESL. In the above sections (5.1 to 5.3), it is explained that what kind of individual preferences were originated among the students of both groups regarding to L2 motivation and learning ESL.

5.5 Motivational difference in ideal L2 self

Ideal L2 self, integrative, instrumentality promotion, attitude to L2 community, and cultural interest

Firstly, if we study the possible differences between the participants of both groups, the findings prove that the ideal L2 self has a stronger tendency towards language learning motivation concerning to the theoretical participants than vocational participants. By considering the learners’ self concept in general, it can be seen in the data that participants’ self-image goes through substantial future aim and goals, and therefore their ideal L2 self has higher importance to think about their career. This dimension is found with the highest score among vocational students, which confirms that they have self-imagination by assuming the practical usage of English in their future. Theoretical students, however, have further higher study plans, moving abroad, and international job intentions, so the L2 self concept is an important part of their self-image.

Theoretical participants behave differently from vocational ones in the sense that there is a great difference in the results of the three variables on the ideal L2 self. Indeed, the theoretical group supposes that they should study English to achieve their idealized English self, to spend longer period for living and studying abroad, and to obtain an international job. This might be because good English abilities are regarded as one of the favourable conditions to find a job at local as well as global level. Whereas, the vocational students assume that they do not need to work hard for studying English for their future. It could be because for most of them, good English skills would not be a requirement to find a job, and since they have an average level of English to consider their ideal self and travel abroad. In 2007, Kobayashi

28 claims that apparently the valuable aspects of English skills are limited to ‘those prospective and current professional employees who are already in good standing regardless of their English levels’ (p.64). Accordingly, the idealized and professional English self, among vocational participants, is recorded less importance than theoretical students.

Regarding to the attitudes to L2 community and cultural interest, relatively an interesting influence is found in the theoretical and vocational participants. The findings reveal that both of the groups have opposite tendencies between these two variables.

Vocational students are motivated towards L2 culture variable more than theoretical ones, and theoretical group has higher score towards L2 community than vocational group. From this perspective, it seems that L2 culture variable has less attraction in the case of theoretical students if it is compared with L2 community, and vocational group is more motivated towards English films, TV programs, and music with English lyrics. It can be assumed that because of not having good skills in English, vocational students watch the English channels with English subtitles in order to understand it completely. On the other hand, theoretical students relatively have good skills in English, so they do not need to bother about English subtitles. Additionally, one remarkable cross-cultural diversity concerns the influence of

attitudes to L2 community and cultural interest on the ideal L2 self. The results of theoretical

students have the impact from both of the variables on the ideal L2 self, which is considerably higher than attitude to L2 culture and community, whereas in the vocational data the

contribution of the cultural interest is higher than L2 community, and integrative is roughly equal to L2 community.

5.6 Motivational difference in ought-to L2 self

Ought-to l2 self, instrumentality prevention, and family influence

Secondly, the study discusses the differences in the to L2 self. Concerning to the

ought-to L2 self and family influence, the results show that theoretical students scored equally in

both of the variables, whereas a huge difference is found among vocational participants data regarding both variables. The ought-to L2 self got the lowest range among vocational participants, yet the family influence scoring higher than average. The obtained results confirm that theoretical students have higher attributes than vocational students to ‘believe ones ought-to posses (i.e., various duties obligation, or responsibilities) in order to avoid possible negative outcomes’ (Dörnyei, 2005, p.106). The majority parents of theoretical group were graduates and aspired to motivate their children for higher education; equally, the

29 parents of other group are also aware from the importance of English education and used to support their children in order to motivate for learning English. Along the same line, the data reveals that instrumentality prevention got higher score among theoretical students than vocational ones. It mean that vocational participants are not highly motivated from prevention regarding to get good grades in English for a successful future, while theoretical ones seem highly motivated towards learning English in order to get good grades, get admission in university, and to be a successful person at their future career. Last but not least, one thing is found very interesting in this research that both variables of the instrumentality have a strong correlation among theoretical and vocational students. The instrumentality variables rated equally among theoretical participants as well as among vocational participants.

5.7 Motivational difference in L2 learning experience

Attitudes to learning English and criterion measures

Finally, if we observe the potential differences between the results of the two groups of participants, it is found that the L2 learning experience has the strongest effect on L2 motivation and learning attitudes in relation to the theoretical students than for vocational students. It is important to remember that English is a compulsory subject for upper secondary school students. The L2 learning experience recorded as the highest score among theoretical students, because this component has a great effect on the effort of students in language learning. For vocational students, attitude to learning English and criterion measures could be somewhat less important, because a considerable and an average developed L2 concept

among vocational students might possibly be enough to tackle the situation in their future, where they would need to speak in English. In regards to the criterion measures, theoretical students had a higher average than the vocational ones, which intimates that theoretical students spend more time to study English as well as they were willing to take extra class and ready to study English even if it were not a required subject. While in the case of vocational students, they did not like to concentrate on studying English more than any other topic and most of them were not willing to study English education in their future.

6. Concluding remarks

To conclude, L2 motivation has been a fundamental interest to linguists and researchers since Gardner and Lambert’s (1959) motivation theory, and L2 motivation researchers have been working to determine how motivation affects language learners with the goal of helping to

30 improve the learning process. Dörnyei’s (2005) L2 motivational self system framework is arguably the most advanced and up-to-date model of L2 motivation, and it has been used to investigate language learners’ attitudes in formal and informal settings in many countries and numerous results have validated this new theory. In the current study, I used the same theory

L2 motivational self system in the Swedish settings to investigate the students’ attitudes and

motivation in relation to learning English as a second language at two Swedish upper secondary schools, as well as potential differences between vocational and theoretical

program students. The two groups investigated represented theoretical and vocational students in upper secondary school context, where English language is generally taught in classroom settings. The results indicated that both groups motivated towards learning English education by the ideal L2 self, ought to L2 self, and L2 learning experience, which represented a

correlation among these three dimensions. The most significant determinant effort of learning ESL, in the findings, was the dimension of L2 learning experience among theoretical

participants. It was found to be stronger dimension than the ideal L2 self and ought to L2 self, while for vocational participants the ideal L2 self, ought to L2 self, and L2 learning

experience played an equally essential role.

The results suggest that motivational factors have great influence on students’ effort for language learning, which emphasize the importance of ideal self, ought self, and situation specific environment among students. Regarding to theoretical students, the role of the

ought-to L2 self appeared ought-to be secondary. Its involvement ought-to motivate students’ learning behaviour

was little less, but it achieved the level of equally importance for the vocational students. The main motivational concepts of the participants’ self notion were globalization, knowledge adaptation, and language learning experiences. In regards to the potential differences, It is clearly visible from the findings that theoretical participants are found considerably stronger than vocational ones in every individual dimension: ideal L2 self, ought to L2 self, and L2

learning experience. The L2 learning experience is distinctively stronger than other

motivational factors, and it influenced the students’ ideal self towards English as an

international language, because both of the factors have a good correlation between them. By considering ideal L2 self, participants could imagine themselves as proficient language users, having international jobs, living and studying abroad, and communicating with foreigners in the future. Students’ ought-to L2 self was found to have only instrumentality prevention factor with a significant contribution towards ought self, so they can get good grades and continue their education in national and international universities. While, most of the vocational program students do not want to continue higher education. Although the findings indicate