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Article

L2 Motivational Self System, International Posture and the Sustainable Development of L2 Proficiency in the COVID-19 Era: A Case of English Majors in China

by
Xi Zhao
1,
Wei Xiao
1,2,* and
Jiajia Zhang
3
1
School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
2
Research Center for Language, Cognition and Language Application, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
3
School of English Studies, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, 200083, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 8087; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138087
Submission received: 7 May 2022 / Revised: 21 June 2022 / Accepted: 27 June 2022 / Published: 1 July 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applied Linguistics and Language Education for Sustainable Development)
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Abstract

:
The L2 motivation self system (L2MSS) has been extensively researched in a variety of contexts, but few studies have delved into its relationship with international posture and the sustainable development of L2 proficiency in the COVID-19 era. To address this issue, we surveyed 156 English majors in China and analyzed their response data with structural equation modelling. The results show that the ideal L2 self positively predicts the L2 learning experience, while the ought-to L2 self has a negative predictive power. The international posture exerts a positive influence on the ideal L2 self and L2 experience, and a negative insignificant influence on the ought-to L2 self. The L2 experience and ideal L2 self have a positive influence on L2 proficiency, while the ought-to L2 self has a negative influence. Our results not only contribute to the generalizability of L2MSS but also deepen the understanding of possible contextual variations of L2 motivation, as well as the uniqueness in the sustainable development of English majors in China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Introduction

The past decade has witnessed China’s rapid development in economy and culture, as well as a growing willingness to participate in international affairs and to make its voice heard. The outbreak of COVID-19, which caused perturbation at the very beginning, has accelerated China’s pace towards the center of the global arena. In the COVID-19 era, China, the second-largest economy in the world, has shouldered its responsibility to fight the pandemic [1]. In addition to the things done, it has also said a lot, such as the narrative power struggle over COVID-19 [2], the superiority of China’s political and economic system [3], and the Chinese “conception of an international order” [4]. It is now evident that the sounds of the East Asia giant are louder and louder than ever before. The Chinese people have also become more involved in global communities with English as the mainstream medium and are more closely connected with the people and businesses worldwide.
Under these changing socio-economic conditions, the EFL (English as a foreign language) learning in China has been comprehensively and profoundly influenced, and even reshaped, from the very beginning of learning psychology to the final learning achievements. Among the psychological factors, the international posture and the L2 motivational self system are worth particular concern. The international posture refers to the attitude towards the international community and culture, including the interest in foreign or international affairs, willingness to go overseas to stay or work, readiness to interact with intercultural partners, and openness or a non-ethnocentric attitude toward different cultures, among others [5]. The L2 motivational self system is a powerful analytical framework for reconceptualizing L2 learner motivation [6,7]. It assumes that L2 learners can invest the effort to fill the gap between their actual selves and possible selves related to using the L2 [6]. Strong L2 motivation tends to increase the effort invested in L2 learning [8] and to improve learners’ sustainable development of L2 proficiency in the end, and vice-versa. In the COVID-19 era, the international posture is directly associated with and easily influenced by drastic changes in the international environment, such as the joint fight against the pandemic, the vaccine aid to the developing countries, the suspension of flights, the lockdown of a city, the closure of the border, and the politicization of COVID-19-related issues. In turn, it may exert influences on the motivation to learn a foreign language. For example, due to the horrible pandemic and the ever-changing policies, current students may become less willing to go overseas to study or work than before, and then become less motivated to learn a foreign language.
Currently, there is extensive research on the L2 motivation self system (L2MSS) [6,7,8,9,10,11,12] and several studies on international posture [13,14,15], as well as the relationship between the two [16,17,18]. However, there is scarcely any study that examines the relationship between L2MSS, international posture, and L2 proficiency simultaneously. Moreover, despite a widespread investigation into L2 motivation in a range of socio-cultural contexts including China [19,20,21,22], Korea [17,23,24,25], Japan [5,16,26], Pakistan [27], Saudi Arabia [28], Iran [10,29,30,31], Indonesia [32,33], Hungary [10,34,35], Spain [36,37] and Chile [18,38], it seems that the attention paid to China, the second-largest economy in the world with more than 390 million EFL learners [39], is not proportional, especially in the COVID-19 era. Since context plays a significant role in motivation [8,10,32], it necessitates studying this specific spatio-temporal context. Moreover, most of the previous studies have focused on EFL learners in general, whereas little interest has been shown in a particular group: university students with English as their major. The uniqueness of English majors is twofold. First, with the English language, literature, translation, cross-culture studies and international studies as their learning and research objects, the English majors are required to develop a solid foundation in English proficiency, master the basic knowledge of the English language and literature, and grasp a basic understanding of the history, society, politics, economics, and culture of English-speaking countries. Second, most of them will serve as English teachers and translators after graduation, which implies that they are, to a certain extent, one of the determinants of the nationwide English competence and the national capability of cultural transmission and participation in international affairs. By taking a closer look at the English majors in China, we can gain more insights into both the generalizability of motivation theories and the unique motivational characteristics of these future English teachers and translators. This study, therefore, attempts to address all the issues mentioned above, hoping to shed light on both the applicability of motivation theories to a specific spatio-temporal context and China’s reform on EFL learning in the COVID-19 era.

2. Literature Review

2.1. L2 Motivational Self System

Motivation is about the direction and magnitude of human behavior, explaining choice, persistence, and effort concerning human behavior [6]. It has been regarded as the critical reason why learners do the activity, how hard they plan to continue the activity, and how eager they determine to achieve the goal [40]. Early studies on motivation originated from psychology, where the Possible Selves Theory proposed that one can be promoted by the possible selves to invest efforts into achieving their future images [41], and the Self-Discrepancy Theory stated that one’s inclination to reduce the discrepancy between the current self and imagined ideal self in the future would regulate the motivational behaviors [42]. In the field of SLA, Gardner [43] proposed the concept of integrativeness in the socio-educational model. Drawing on the theories mentioned above, Dörnyei [6,7,44] attempted to elaborate L2 motivation in a three-level construct and put forward the Theory of L2 Motivational Self System. The L2MSS is regarded as a strong contributor to current understandings of the conceptualization of language motivation [45] and is then adopted as the main framework in the current study.
As Dörnyei [6,7] theorized, The L2 motivational self system contains three components: the ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self, and the L2 learning experience. The ideal L2 self refers to the L2-specific aspect of one’s ideal self, an ideal image that the L2 learner aspires to become in the future, which encompasses a wide range of components such as cultural interest, integrativeness, instrumentality, promotion, and attitude to the L2 community [6]. For example, learners who have a vivid ideal self tend to endeavor to learn an L2 by imagining themselves being able to fluently communicate with the L2. The ought-to L2 self refers to the attributes that the learners think they ought to possess as a result of a series of duties, obligations, or responsibilities [6]. For example, one may learn an L2 only to meet the expectations of important people or merely to avoid potential negative consequences. The L2 learning experience concerns situation-specific motives related to the immediate learning environment and experience [7], where language learners interact with such factors as curriculum, classmates, peer group, teachers, atmosphere and their attitudes towards L2.
Since the proposal of L2MSS, the relations among the internal components have been examined empirically in a range of socio-cultural contexts [46], and it is found that the internal structure of L2MSS may operate differently in various contexts [9,38]. For instance, Csizér and Kormos [10] found that the ought-to L2 self and L2 learning experience had a positive effect on the ideal L2 self in the Hungarian context, which was later replicated by Peng [20] in China, while Kim et al. [24] suggested that the L2 experience of Korean EFL learners was correlated with neither ideal nor ought-to L2 self. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out context-specific studies to validate the applicability of L2MSS and to explore the uniqueness of different contexts.

2.2. International Posture

The international posture is an update of the traditional classification of motivation that distinguishes instrumental motivation, i.e., “functional reasons for learning a language, such as to get a better job or promotion, or to pass a required examination”, from integrative motivation, i.e., “a positive attitude towards the target language group and the potential for integrating into that group” [43] (p. 83). This classification was criticized in that it was developed in the English as a second language (ESL) context and may not be applicable in EFL contexts, where language learners have fewer opportunities to use English in their daily life than ESL learners do. Due to the lack of contact with English speakers and practical usage of English, the EFL learners may not be constantly clear whether their motivation for English learning is instrumental or integrative. Moreover, as Warschauer [47] (p. 512) pointed out, globalization has brought about “a new society, in which English is shared among many groups of nonnative speakers rather than dominated by the British or Americans.” With the spread of World English, the English language has no longer been regarded as the privilege of native speakers but as a decentralized global resource for communication. It becomes meaningless to consider the norms of native speakers or the potentiality for integration into the Anglophone circle [48].
Under this circumstance, the concept of international posture seems more suitable. International posture refers to “an interest in foreign or international affairs, willingness to go overseas to stay or work, readiness to interact with international partners, and openness or a non-ethnocentric attitude toward different cultures” [5] (p. 57), suggesting people’s interest in global issues and international affairs [38] and learners’ attitudes toward what English symbolizes or what is termed as an imagined community [49]. In the EFL context, the motivation of language learners may be neither instrumental nor integrative. Rather, their motivation is highly linked with their visualization of an imagined international community. If the EFL learners have a high international posture, they will show great interest in taking part in the imagined community and make efforts to achieve their goals by learning and using English.

2.3. The Relationships between L2MSS, International Posture and L2 Proficiency

In recent years, scholars have begun to explore the relationships between L2MSS and international posture. The ideal L2 self was consistently found to be highly connected to international posture [10,18,50,51,52,53,54]. For example, Yashima et al. [54] investigated Japanese adolescent learners of English and found that those who had a motivation of belonging to an imagined international community might also visualize his/her English-using self. Csizér and Kormos [10] investigated Hungarian secondary and university learners of English and found that the international posture contributed to learners’ ideal selves. Munezane [55] studied Japanese university students and found that their L2 ideal selves were highly correlated with international posture. With regard to ought-to L2 self, mixed findings were yielded. Some studies found a negative correlation [16,17,56,57], while some others found that the ought-to L2 self and international posture were barely related [51]. As for the L2 experience, a positive correlation with international posture has been found [11,20,26,58]. For example, Peng [20] investigated non-English majors in China and found that their L2 experience significantly predicted their international posture. Yashima and Zenuk-Nishide [11] analyzed the impact of learning contexts on proficiency development at a Japanese high school and found that the students who studied abroad were likely to acquire a higher level of international posture.
Concerning motivation acts as the driving force behind learning efforts and performance, there has been a growing body of research on the relationship between L2MSS and L2 proficiency. Some studies have examined L2MSS as a whole [28,59,60,61,62,63,64] and concluded that the L2MSS might lead to an increase in L2 proficiency. Since the three components in L2MSS may not function unidirectionally, some others have zoomed into specific dimensions of L2MSS [9,10,23,26,37,38,51,65,66], most of whom have found that the ideal L2 self and L2 learning experience positively predicted L2 proficiency. For example, Kim and Kim [23] studied Korean EFL students’ visual, auditory, kinesthetic styles, imagination, ideal L2 self, motivated behavior and English proficiency, and found that the ideal L2 self could impact motivated behavior, which gave rise to more successful L2 learning outcomes. Similar results were also found by [67], which investigated the effect of differing semiotic processes of representation (video, audio, text, iconography, etc.) on language learning. Nishida and Yashima [26] studied Japanese university EFL learners and found that students with an L2 experience in their childhood showed higher international posture and L2 proficiency. Dunn and Iwaniec [37] studied Spanish teenage English language learners and found that the ideal L2 self and learning experience performed well in differentiating students at differing proficiency levels. As to ought-to L2 self, mixed findings were yielded. While some found that the predictive power of ought-to L2 self is positive albeit weak [10,32], some found a negative one [66].
As to the investigation into L2MSS, international posture and L2 proficiency simultaneously, there appears, to the best of our knowledge, little to no study of this kind. Based on the previous findings, the relationships among the three can be theoretically hypothesized. To be specific, the international posture may positively predict the ideal L2 self and L2 experience, which may in turn positively predict L2 proficiency. Meanwhile, it is still far from clear how the international posture would predict the ought-to L2 self and how the ought-to L2 self would predict L2 proficiency. However, these are only theoretical assumptions, which need to be validated and supported by empirical data.
From the review above, it could be seen that the relationships between L2MSS, international posture and L2 proficiency are still under-researched. Neither is the internal structure of L2MSS depicted with adequate clarity in different contexts. Moreover, while the previous studies have focused on a variety of EFL contexts, those in China are not proportional, especially in the COVID-19 era. Indeed, there have appeared several related works on the impact of online language learning techniques on language learners’ motivation [68,69,70] and the motivation of learning Mandarin [71] during the COVID-19 era, yet none of them focused on the relationships between L2MSS, international posture and L2 proficiency. In addition, most studies have focused on EFL learners in general, whereas little interest has been shown in the English majors. Therefore, the present study aims first to examine the internal structure of L2MSS, and then to explore the relationships between L2 motivation, international posture, and L2 proficiency of English majors in China. The research questions are as follows:
(1)
In the COVID-19 era, what is the internal structure of L2MSS of English majors in China?
(2)
In the COVID-19 era, what are the relationships between L2MSS, international posture, and L2 proficiency of English majors in China?

3. Methods

3.1. Participants

A total number of 156 participants (152 valid) were randomly sampled with the convenience sampling method from a key university in Southwest China. The sample university, as one of the Top 30 in China, had a high academic standard for admission. Thus, the students in this university are in general excellent ones compared with their peers. Our 152 valid participants were all English major undergraduates. As English majors, English is their primary academic language used for course lecturing, in-class activities, assignments, group projects, course papers and so on. As to their language learning background, all of them reported having studied English as a school subject since junior high school. Some of them reported that they had taken English lessons as early as in their primary schools. All of them reported having passed the College English Test Band 4 (M = 567.64, SD = 42.514), which is a large-scale and high-stakes national English examination measuring college students’ listening, reading, writing and translating skills held by the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, China [72]. Among the participants, 31 (20%) were male and 121 (80%) were female. The gender ratio reflects the status quo that a vast majority of English majors in China are girls. The participants were aged from 16 to 23, with an average of 20.11 years (SD = 1.44). All of them voluntarily participated in this study.

3.2. Instruments

Three questionnaires were developed following [73]’s guidelines to measure participants’ L2 motivation self system, international posture, and L2 proficiency, respectively.
L2 Motivation Self System. This questionnaire had 18 items, which were developed based on [8,23,29,74]. Our items on ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self originated from [23], which explored the structural relationships between L2 proficiency and the constructs of L2 learners’ resilience, motivation, and demotivation. Our items on L2 experience were based on [8,29], whose questionnaires originated from [74]. In our study, six items were used respectively to measure the ideal L2 self (ILS, e.g., “I can imagine myself living abroad and using English effectively for communicating with the locals”), the ought-to L2 self (OLS, e.g., “Studying English is important to me because other people will respect me more if I have knowledge of it”), and L2 learning experience (LE, e.g., “I find English learning interesting”). The items were on a six-point Likert scale, with 1 to 6 representing strongly disagree to strongly agree, respectively.
International Posture. This questionnaire was developed based on [5,54]. Yashima [5] proposed four indicator variables to define the latent variable of international posture: (a) intercultural friendship orientation, (b) interest in foreign affairs, (c) intercultural approach-avoidance tendency, and (d) interest in international occupation or activities, with the theoretical basis on [75,76,77,78,79,80]. Yashima et al. [54] further refined the items in [5]. In our study, six items were selected from [5,54] to measure the international posture (IP, e.g., “I am interested in an international career”). A six-point Likert scale was employed for measurement, with 1 to 6 representing strongly disagree to strongly agree, respectively.
Self-Assessed L2 Proficiency. This questionnaire had six items that required participants to self-assess their L2 proficiency (L2P) in listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar. We adopted the self-assessment method to measure L2 proficiency in consideration that this method is convenient for data collection and the self-perceived proficiency is regarded as authentic, serving as the driving force for students’ learning efforts and behaviors [20]. The items were on a 6-point Likert scale, with 1 to 6 representing beginner to 6 advanced, respectively.
Since the items on L2MSS and international posture originated from prestigious studies, and the EFL contexts of these studies are similar to ours, we did not modify the items. Despite this, reliability and validity tests should be conducted before the items were put into use in a new context. The reliability and validity analysis of the measurement model is reported in Table 1. The reliability was tested in terms of Cronbach’s α and composite reliability (CR), the convergent validity was tested by average variance extracted (AVE), and the discriminant validity was tested by comparing the square root of AVE and the correlation coefficients between latent variables. In Table 1, all the values of Cronbach’s α and composite reliability exceed or approach 0.9, above the threshold value of 0.7, suggesting good reliability of the measurement model [81]. All the values of AVE exceed the threshold value of 0.50, and the values of the square root of the AVE outnumber the corresponding Pearson correlation coefficients [82]; thus, both the convergent and discriminant validity of the measurement model were confirmed.

3.3. Data Collection

The questionnaire data were collected on April 2021, and we finished the data collection within one month. We first contacted some lecturers in the faculty of English of the sample university, explained our purpose of study, and invited them for their assistance. With the coordination of these lecturers, we went to the class, explained the purpose of the study to the students, and invited them to participate in our study. With the consent of the students, we distributed the questionnaires to them. We informed the participants that there is no right or wrong answer to the questions, and they were encouraged to select the option that felt most suitable. We also informed them that, to protect their privacy, no identifiable personal information would be revealed in any case and that they had the right to quit the study at any time. The completion of all items took approximately 20 min. When they finished the questionnaires, we thanked them in person and gave them some snacks for appreciation. A total of 156 questionnaires were distributed and 152 responses were returned (valid rate = 97%).

3.4. Data Analysis

To examine relationships between variables, a two-step structural equation modelling (SEM) approach proposed by [82] was used. The first step was to build a measurement model and the second step is to build a structural model [83]. According to [9], the measurement model is meant to specify the relationships between the latent variables, and the structural model is meant to define relations among the unobserved latent variables and to specify how particular latent variables directly or indirectly influence other latent variables in the model. In our process of data analysis, the confirmatory factor analysis was conducted first to identify the reliability and validity of the measurement model. Second, SEM was used to examine the structural model, i.e., the relationship between L2MSS, international posture and L2 proficiency. Since SEM does not tolerate missing data and only complete datasets can be used, we replaced the missing values with the corresponding average. All the data analysis procedures were conducted with the R statistical software.

4. Results

4.1. Descriptive Statistics

Table 2 reports the descriptive statistics of the variables. All the ranges are from 1 to 6 except L2P (with a maximum of 5.33). The means of the variables, except OLS, are 3.63 to 4.97, all above the medium 3.5 on a 6-point Likert scale. Specifically, ILS has the highest rating (M = 4.97), followed by IP (M = 4.40), LE (M = 3.84), L2P (M = 3.63), and OLS (M = 3.11). The results suggest that the English majors under investigation generally have a positive international posture, are highly motivated by the ideal L2 self, enjoy their L2 experience, and regard themselves as proficient in English, but are moderately motivated by pressure, responsibility, and expectation from the outside. All the skewness and kurtosis values are within −2 and +2, suggesting a normal distribution and allowance of parametric tests.

4.2. SEM Analysis

Since the sample size (N = 152) is over the suggested minimum sample size of 150 with seven or fewer constructs, the proposed model can then be tested with SEM [84]. By using the maximum likelihood method, the overall goodness-of-fit and the standardized estimates of paths were calculated. Regarding the model-fit indices, six indices were selected in reference to previous studies [85,86]. As shown in Table 3, five of them meet the criteria of suggested thresholds, and one is close to the threshold, indicating a good model fit [84]. The structural model is thus acceptable and can be further analyzed.
The final model for the internal structure of L2MSS as well as the relationships between L2MSS, international posture and L2 proficiency is presented in Figure 1, and the estimates and significance of the paths are shown in Table 4. Regarding the internal structure of L2MSS, the ideal L2 self exerts a weak positive influence on L2 experience (β = 0.220, p = 0.002), while the influence of the ought-to L2 self on L2 experience is a weak negative one (β = −0.177, p = 0.012). With regard to the relationships between L2MSS, international posture, and L2 proficiency, the international posture has a moderate positive influence on ideal L2 self (β = 0.323, p < 0.001) and a strong positive influence on L2 experience (β = 0.589, p < 0.001), but a weak negative impact on ought-to L2 self (β = −0.129, p = 0.162). The L2 experience has a strong positive influence on L2 proficiency (β = 0.539, p < 0.001), which is negatively and weakly affected by the ought-to L2 self (β = −0.145, p = 0.045) and positively and weakly affected by the ideal L2 self (β = 0.096, p = 0.217).

5. Discussion

The main objectives of this study are first to examine the internal structure of L2MSS of English majors in China, and then to explore the relationships between their L2MSS, international posture, and L2 proficiency. Questionnaire data were obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic to capture the motivational characteristics in this specific period. The results found that, for English majors in China, the ideal L2 self positively predicts L2 learning experience while the ought-to L2 self has a negative predictive power on it. This study also confirmed that the international posture exerts influence on L2MSS, which further influences L2 proficiency. Despite its similarities with the findings of previous studies, this study also found several unique features of English majors in China, which may reflect the peculiarity of the cohort of participants surveyed in the COVID-19 era.

5.1. The Internal Structure of L2MSS

Regarding research question 1, it is found that the tripartite model of L2MSS fits well with our data. The ideal L2 self was found to positively predict L2 experience, which is in line with some previous studies [10,20,25,32]. For instance, Lamb [32] has argued that students with a strong ideal L2 self may enjoy L2 learning more than other students. Kim and Kim [25] found that the ideal L2 self was likely to be enhanced with the increase of L2 experience abroad. Our study is special compared to the previous studies in that it was conducted in the difficult COVID era and still found a positive result. Although the COVID-19 pandemic may bring some negative impact on L2 motivation (e.g., EFL learners who give up going abroad may be demotivated to English learning, and demotivation may happen due to poor external supporting facilities [87]), the relationship between ideal L2 self and L2 experience seemed to be immune to the COVID disturbance. The reason for this can be attributed to the background of the participants. In our study, the participants chose English studies as their major at university. Compared to EFL learners in general, for whom the English language is only a means for their study and work, the English majors learn English as both means and goals, with love and passion. That is to say, they learn the English language as a means to explore the English literature and culture hidden behind. Immersed in the English culture, the English majors have a strong intrinsic driving force to English learning and are thus highly likely to foster a positive ideal L2 self and L2 experience.
Despite the consistency of the relation between the ideal L2 self and L2 experience before and after the outbreak of COVID-19, we found that the ought-to L2 self exerted negative effects on L2 experience, which contradicts the findings of some previous studies [7,25]. For instance, Dörnyei [7] studied Hungarian L2 learners and found that both the ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self were positive predictors of L2 experience. Kim and Kim [25] studied Korean L2 learners and found no correlation between ought-to L2 self and L2 experience. The inconsistent roles played by the ought-to L2 self in different studies may be accounted for by the differing contexts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, domestic competition has become more and more fierce in China, mainly due to the economic sanctions from abroad and the inward cycling policy at home. It becomes more and more difficult to get a decent opportunity to further studies or jobs, giving rise to the omnipresence of the phenomenon of involution. As to the English majors, i.e., the pre-service English teachers and translators, the situation in job market is even worse. For one thing, the recently issued “double reduction” policy in China, which aims to reduce students’ homework burden and off-campus training burden [88], has dramatically shrunk the English training market. For another, considering the unpredictable global situations, many students that have intended to study abroad may now change their minds, resulting in a decay of the English training market as well as the agencies for overseas students. Under this difficult circumstance, excessive ought-to L2 self may result in abundant anxiety and pressure from the outside world, thus proving detrimental to the experience in L2 learning.

5.2. The Relationships between L2MSS, International Posture and L2 Proficiency

With regard to research question 2, it is found that the international posture positively predicted the ideal L2 self and L2 experience, which is in line with several previous studies [10,16,38,51,53] argued that international posture was an important factor that determined L2 learners’ motivated English learning behavior, due to the possibility of establishing connections with other people who are part of a globalized world. Our finding underlines that the English majors who have a motivation of belonging to an imagined international community are able to realize the critical role of the English language during the COVID pandemic. Their willingness to embrace the international community gives rise to establishing the ideal L2 self with more English-using opportunities in the future. They are also prone to take a more positive attitude, enjoyable experience, and interactive engagement in English classes. However, our finding that the international posture negatively and insignificantly predicted the ought-to L2 self contradicts some previous studies [10,51], suggesting that the English majors’ ought-to self has scarcely any relation with their international posture in the COVID-19 era. A possible explanation may lie in the role played by international posture in differing EFL contexts. The international posture is an attitude towards and a willingness to be engaged in international affairs [5]. The English majors, who choose English as their major and even their career in the future, are cultivated with a global view and great interest in foreign cultures. Generally, they hold a strong driving force from the inside, as well as a weak force from the outside. Their willingness to be involved in international affairs, therefore, should have little to do with the ought-to L2 self. Our finding echoes those in [71,89] that the L2 learners who were highly driven by intrinsic motivation were less likely to be motivated by external pressures such as the ought-to L2 self. This finding can also be corroborated by the descriptive statistics, where the mean score of international posture is rather high while that of ought-to L2 self is the lowest.
As to the impact of L2MSS on L2 proficiency, it is found that the L2 experience positively predicted L2 proficiency, which is in line with previous studies in Korean [90], Japanese [9], and Iranian [30] contexts. In China, the English major is constantly under reform. Today, English teachers adopt a variety of innovative teaching methods and tools to attract students’ interest in English learning, such as flipped classrooms with creative individual presentations and open-ended group discussions. The COVID-19 era, although having caused too much tragedy and difficulty, has at the same time witnessed and incubated the rapid and widespread applications of a variety of modern technologies for English learning, such as virtual reality and meta-universe. All of these can equip English major students with great interest and sound engagement in the English classroom, giving rise to effective enhancement in the final proficiency. It is also found that the ought-to L2 self negatively predicted L2 proficiency, which adds to the mixed findings in previous studies (e.g., positive: [10,30]; negative: [66]; neutral: [61,62,91]). In China, English majors now face fierce competition with peers, high expectations from their parents, and great pressure from the teachers, which may contribute to their high ought-to L2 self and in turn impact their English proficiency in a negative way. Although the mean score of ought-to L2 self is rather low and the predictive power is rather weak, its impact is not negligible. If students chose English as their major because of the outside pressure or expectations, instead of the inner love and eagerness, their English proficiency may not develop in a sustainable way as required. Therefore, the quality of the “products” of the English major would be threatened. What is counter-intuitive is that the ideal L2 self was found to exert a rather weak and insignificant influence on L2 proficiency, which is inconsistent with a vast majority of previous studies [23,37,65,92] that in general found a positive effect. Despite the inconsistency, our finding is understandable in that the ideal L2 self was thought to be an indirect predictor of L2 proficiency, mediated by L2 experience [93]. The ideal L2 self is an image of the future, while the L2 experience refers to what has been experienced in the past and what the learners are experiencing now. No matter what they would like to be in the future, their image has to be reflected in concrete and realistic experiences and finally affect L2 proficiency. The idealized future self does not necessarily result in learning motivation unless it is perceived as accessible and available through specific learning means or channels [93]. In other words, the ideal L2 self needs to be equipped with an appropriate learning experience [94] to facilitate L2 attainment and reach high proficiency.
All in all, our findings confirm the validity of L2MSS and the relationships between L2MSS, international posture, and L2 proficiency in the English majors in China. Meanwhile, our findings show that the ought-to L2 self negatively predicts L2 experience and L2 proficiency, the international posture negatively predicts the ought-to L2 self, and the ideal L2 self weakly predicts L2 proficiency; these results reveal the uniqueness of this cohort of EFL learners, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering the variations across learners, space and time, we suggest that motivation studies should be conducted with definite and targeted learners, as well as spatio-temporal context, in mind as opposed to a general study, so as to maximize its pedagogical direction and usage.

6. Conclusions

This study has investigated L2MSS, international posture, and L2 proficiency of English majors in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest that the ideal L2 self positively, while the ought-to L2 self negatively predicts the L2 experience. The international posture exerts a positive influence on the ideal L2 self and L2 experience, and a negative insignificant influence on the ought-to L2 self. The L2 experience and L2 ideal self have a positive influence on L2 proficiency while the ought-to L2 self has a negative influence. Some of the findings are in line with previous studies while some are not, possibly due to the differences in cohort of participants and spatio-temporal context. Therefore, our results not only contribute to the generalizability of L2MSS but also deepen the understanding of possible contextual variations of L2 motivation, as well as the uniqueness of English majors in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, we reveal from the perspective of L2 motivation how the COVID pandemic has influenced, reshaped, and even re-defined our language learning and development, which merits sustained tracking and investigation.
Our study has several practical implications for the sustainability of L2 learning in the COVID-19 era. First, since L2 proficiency is positively influenced by L2 experience, the teachers could attempt to create a more interesting, positive, and enjoyable classroom environment. In the COVID-19 era, some EFL programs have to be instructed online, where face-to-face interactions are impossible. For young students, this makes no difference in that e-study may have become part of their lives. For the elder ones, however, the new techniques would take a long time to be perceived as useful and easy-to-use, which may hinder the sustainable development of L2. In this case, how to foster a positive online L2 experience needs special care. Second, since L2 proficiency is negatively influenced by the ought-to L2 self, the teachers should be aware of this inhibitory effect, put their pedagogical focus on cultivating students’ inner interests in English rather than putting too many obligations and expectations on them, and instruct the students to keep a balance between the outside pressure and their own interest in learning English. For example, language teachers could make use of the rational-emotive therapy (RET) approach to reduce learners’ anxiety in classrooms, which has been proven to be effective [95,96,97], and is worth trying in the COVID-19 era. Third, although international posture does not directly influence L2 proficiency, it has an indirect influence via L2MSS. The teachers could integrate culture learning with language learning, to equip the English majors with a more profound understanding of the English language, culture, and society. Some international volunteering opportunities and cultural exchange activities are also expected to be introduced to the English majors, through which they can use English to deal with current affairs (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) internationally.
Despite the meaningful findings, there remain some limitations. First, since quantitative methods such as SEM lack in-depth interpretability, this study could be complemented with qualitative methods such as interviews. Second, this study is only a cross-sectional one. Since the COVID-19 pandemic has not seen an end and has its ups and downs, it must have long-enduring and fluctuant impacts on EFL learning, which awaits explorations with longitudinal research designs. Third, several important demographic variables, such as gender, were not tested in this study; they could be considered in the future.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, W.X.; methodology, W.X. and J.Z.; writing—original draft, X.Z., W.X. and J.Z.; writing—review & editing, X.Z. and W.X. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This work was funded by the Social Science Foundation of Chongqing, grant number 2019QNYY51; the Fund of the Interdisciplinary Supervisor Team for Graduates Programs of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission, grant number YDSTD1923; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, grant number 2021CDJSKZX07.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board of School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Chongqing University.

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1. The final model of L2MSS, international posture, and L2 proficiency. Notes: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.
Figure 1. The final model of L2MSS, international posture, and L2 proficiency. Notes: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.
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Table
Table 1. Reliability and validity analysis of the measurement model.
Table 1. Reliability and validity analysis of the measurement model.
ReliabilityConvergent ValidityDiscriminant Validity
Cronbach’s αCRAVELatent Variable Correlations
ILSOLSLEIPL2P
ILS0.900.9080.7120.844
OLS0.880.9050.615−0.0020.784
LE0.930.8970.5940.373 **−0.1220.771
IP0.900.8930.5820.307 **−0.0750.591 **0.763
L2P0.940.9210.6610.334 **−0.234 **0.562 **0.501 **0.813
Note: ** p < 0.01.
Table
Table 2. Descriptive statistics of the variables.
Table 2. Descriptive statistics of the variables.
MinMaxMeanSDSkewnessKurtosis
ILS164.970.940−0.8561.065
OLS163.111.1010.126−0.004
LE163.841.114−0.162−0.228
IP164.400.884−0.2130.892
L2P15.333.630.995−0.8360.464
Table
Table 3. Model-fit indices.
Table 3. Model-fit indices.
χ2/dfCFIGFIIFITLIRMSEA
Results1.6280.9350.8800.9360.9270.065
Threshold<3>0.900>0.900>0.900>0.900<0.100
EvaluationGoodGoodCloseGoodGoodGood
Table
Table 4. Estimates and significance of each path in the SEM.
Table 4. Estimates and significance of each path in the SEM.
PathEstimateSECRp
IP → ILS0.3230.1063.518***
IP → LE0.5890.0896.484***
IP → OLS−0.1290.072−1.3990.162
ILS → LE0.2200.0603.0950.002 **
OLS → LE−0.1770.087−2.5220.012 *
ILS → L2P0.0960.0851.2340.217
LE → L2P0.5390.1195.823***
OLS → L2P−0.1450.120−1.9290.045 *
Notes: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.
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Zhao, X.; Xiao, W.; Zhang, J. L2 Motivational Self System, International Posture and the Sustainable Development of L2 Proficiency in the COVID-19 Era: A Case of English Majors in China. Sustainability 2022, 14, 8087. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138087

AMA Style

Zhao X, Xiao W, Zhang J. L2 Motivational Self System, International Posture and the Sustainable Development of L2 Proficiency in the COVID-19 Era: A Case of English Majors in China. Sustainability. 2022; 14(13):8087. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138087

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhao, Xi, Wei Xiao, and Jiajia Zhang. 2022. "L2 Motivational Self System, International Posture and the Sustainable Development of L2 Proficiency in the COVID-19 Era: A Case of English Majors in China" Sustainability 14, no. 13: 8087. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138087

APA Style

Zhao, X., Xiao, W., & Zhang, J. (2022). L2 Motivational Self System, International Posture and the Sustainable Development of L2 Proficiency in the COVID-19 Era: A Case of English Majors in China. Sustainability, 14(13), 8087. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14138087

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