EFL Learning Motivation in Shanghai Upper-secondary Students and the Influence of Important Others.

This study aims to investigate the extent and styles of English learning motivation and
i
how it is influenced by three types of important others - parents, teachers and peers - for
upper-secondary-level students in Shanghai, one of China's leading cities currently
spearheading many of her English reform initiatives. A survey strategy has· been used
involving seven academic schools of varying status. In the main study, 610 'usable'
questionnaire responses were obtained, followed by 64 'usable' interviews. The research
design has been mainly informed by two influential perspectives from the field Gardner's
social-educational theory and Deci and Ryan's (1985) self-determination
theory. The main results from this study are as follows. (1) On a six-point Likert scale
ranging from 'very high' to 'no motivation at all', 4.4% of the survey respondents
reported their overall strength of English-learning motivation was 'very high', 28.4%
'fairly high' and 46.7% 'medium'. (2) Their regulation was predominantly 'external
regulatory', followed by 'identified regulatory'. (3) A factor analysis produced a threefactor
solution of the reasons for learning English: integrative, life/career aspects and
external pressure. These serve as evidence that the more traditional orientations
(integrative and instrumental) can be relevant to a wide range of EFL contexts including
the city of Shanghai; additionally, the exam-tied Eastern cultures may have elements
unique to that situation. (4) The influence of important others was positive but small, with
teachers being viewed as most influential, which is followed by parents and peers. Those
groups of people generally illustrate positive but limiting English-related attitudes or
reasoning, which is in tune with a collective understanding of the society. (5) Additionally,
prevalent means of parental, teacher and peer influences have been identified; specifically
in the cases of parents and teachers, the gap between prevalent practices and the
'wanted' strategies has been highlighted. (6) Finally, in the aspect of value transmitting,
SDT-based data illustrate that parents, teachers and peers appear to have varied degrees
of influence on the students' orientations, regulatory styles and certain types of motivated
behaviour. The findings have a number of implications for practice, future research and
policy.