Language learning motivation in China_ Results of

AppliedLinguistics2014:1–26OxfordUniversityPress2014doi:10.1093/applin/amu046LanguageLearningMotivationinChina:ResultsofaLarge-ScaleStratifiedSurvey*CHENJING(JULIA)YOUandZOLTA´NDO¨RNYEISchoolofEnglish,UniversityofNottingham,UK*E-mail:[e-mail]hefindingsofalarge-scalecross-sectionalsurveyofthemotivationaldispositionofEnglishlanguagelearnersinsecondaryschoolsanduniversitiesinChina.Thetotalsampleinvolvedover10,000studentsandwasstratifiedaccordingtogeographicalregionandteachingcontexts,selectingparticipantsbothfromurbanandrurallocations.Theinvestigationaimstopre-sentabalancedoverviewofthegenerallevelofL2motivationinChinathroughthelensoftheL2MotivationalSelfSystem(Do¨rnyei2005,2009).ThewealthofdataobtainedinthesurveyprovidesolidempiricaldescriptionofthemainfeaturesoflanguagelearninginChina,andthedetailedinformationpresentedinthestudycanalsoserveasabaselineforfutureresearchconductedtoinves-tigatetemporal,social,andgeographicalvariationandevolution.INTRODUCTIONOverthepastdecade,Chinahasincreasinglyjoinedtheglobalcommunityofeconomyandculture,andestablishedahigh-profilepresenceinvariousareasoftheinternationalscene.ThishasforegroundedthesignificanceofknowingEnglishinthecountryand,indeed,by2005approximately176.7millionChinesepeoplewereengagedinsomekindofEnglishlearning(Graddol2006),whichconstitutesthelargestEnglishlearnergroupintheworld.Inspiteofthisboom,therehavebeenonlyfragmentedreportsofthemotiv-ationalbasisoflanguagelearningfromthissignificantcountry,andmostofthestudiesreportedintheliteratureexaminedlimitedsamplesbymeansofinstrumentsthatusuallydidnotrepresentthelatesttheoreticalinsightsinthefield.Theaimofthecurrentinvestigationistoobtainasystematicandcom-prehensiveoverviewofthemotivationalcharacteristicsoflearningEnglishinChina.Forthispurpose,wesurveyedalargesample(N10,000)andweusedstratifiedsampling,withthecategoriesofthesamplingframeincluding(i)twolearningcontexts:universityandsecondaryschool;(ii)threegeographicalre-gions:eastern,central,andwestern;(iii)withinsecondaryschoolstwotypes:urbanandrural;(iv)withinuniversitiestwotypes:keyandordinary;and(v)withinuniversitiestwostrands:Englishandnon-Englishmajors.ThewealthofdataobtainedallowustoofferabalancedandempiricallybasedoverviewthatdescribesgeneraltrendsandinterestingcontrastswithintheEnglishlearningmotivationofChinesestudents.AppliedLinguisticsAdvanceAccesspublishedAugust24,2014atUniversityofNottinghamonAugust25,2014:withapopulationofoverabillion,Chinadisplaysconsiderableregionaldifferences.Inthepast30years,theeasternregionsofthecountryhaveexperiencedfastereconomicgrowth,betterdevelopmentalopportunities,andgreaterreturnsthanthecen-tralandwesternregions(Chen1987),andthegapinregionaldevelopmentisstillincreasing(Tu1995).Economicdisparitiesamongregions,inturn,resultinunevenallocationsofeducationresourcesintheseareas(ChenandWu2011),withEnglishlanguageprovisionbeingnoexceptiontothistrend(Wu2001).Consequentlyandunsurprisingly,studentsinmoredevelopedpartsofthecountryhavebeenfoundtohavebetterEnglishproficiencythantheirpeerselsewhere(YanandHorwitz2008).Withintheregionaldifferences,wefindafurtherdevelopmentalcontrast:theurban/ruraldisparity.Duetothescarcityinnaturalandsocialresources,priorityhastypicallybeengiventourbanareasoverruralregions,andthusthegapbetweenurbanandruralareasinChinahasbeenwidening(Yu2006).ThishashadinevitableconsequencesforEnglishlanguageeducationbecauseurbanareashavenormallybeenallocatedbetterteachingstaff,teachingequip-ment,andcurricularresources.Asarecognitionoftheunevennessinprovi-sion,alargenumberofstudentsinruralareasaresentbytheirparentstosecondaryschoolsincitiestoreceivebettereducationinspiteoftheoftenratherhighcostsinvolved.Inadditiontotheregionalandtheurban/ruraldisparities,wefindathirdmajorsourceofeducationaldiscrepancywithintheChineseeducationalsystem,relatedtotheexistenceoftwotiersinhighereducation:keyuniversities,whichwerepromotedbythegovernmentinitiativeof‘Project211’and‘Project985’(MOE2009),andordinaryuniversities(ChenandWu2011).Inevitably,students’Englishproficiencylevelsvarynotonlyacrossgeograph-icalregionsbutacrossthetwodifferenttypesofuniversities.AbriefoverviewofL2motivationresearchinChinaL2motivationresearchinChinabeganinthe1980sundertheinfluenceofGardnerandLambert’s(1972)socialpsychologicalperspective(e.g.Gui1985;Zhang1986).Inthe1990s,amorecriticalapproachemergedwithseveralconceptualpapersanalysingL2learners’individualdifferencesanddefiningthenatureandroleofmotivationwithinthisdomain(cf.e.g.Liu2002;WangandZhang2005).Subsequentempiricalres