English as an International Language and Second Language Motivation: A Case Study of Korean University Students

This study examined the link between the macrodiscourse of English as an international language (EIL) and language learning motivation in a particular context of Korea. Eighty one university students were measured on their goals of English learning, perception of EIL, perceived significance of English study, linguistic (L2) self-confidence, instrumentality and motivation (defined by students’ intention for persistence in English learning). The study also compared students’ TOEIC scores and their self-assessed English competence. The findings show that international posture (Yashima, 2002), not integrativeness, is the most viable form of goal orientation in this population, followed by instrumentality as the second. And this international posture significantly correlates with desire for English bilingual proficiency. Multiple regression analyses suggest that students’ perception of the importance of English is a significant predictor of their motivation, and linguistic L2 self-confidence significantly predicts their tested proficiency, but motivation itself is not a predictor of their attained proficiency. The analysis of the two (tested and self-assessed) versions of English proficiency shows that more of negative values (self-rated proficiency is lower than tested proficiency) came from students with high test scores than low-achieving learners, indicating that high proficiency is not always the case of high-level self-confidence. Potential interpretations of the findings and implications for L2 pedagogy are discussed.