English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies ISSN 2640-9836 (Print) ISSN 2640-9844 (Online) Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls 10 Original Paper An Investigation of Foreign Language Anxiety and English Learning Motivation of Female Mainland Students in an English Medium Institution in Hong Kong Liqing He 1* 1 Liqing He, School of Foreign Languages, Nanfang College, Guangzhou, China Received: August 4, 2022 Accepted: September 20, 2022 Online Published: September 29, 2022 doi:10.22158/eltls.v4n4p10 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/eltls.v4n4p10 Abstract When mainland students come to Hong Kong for higher education, they experience transition from Learning English as Foreign Language to Learning English as Second Language. This study aimed to investigate language learning anxiety, learning motivation and the relationship between the two, and to find out how do the mainland students motivate themselves to learn English within such pressing environment caused by the transition. This research used semi-structured interviews with 6 female mainland students to closely examine the topic. The results of the study showed that most mainland students think there is a positive relationship between motivation and anxiety, and some of their motivation actually originated from anxiety. The causes of the anxiety, different types of motivation, and implications of these findings in relation to learning English as a second language are discussed. Keywords foreign language anxiety, motivation, English learning, language learning, second language acquisition, Hong Kong 1. Introduction Despite their outstanding prior academic achievements, some mainland students who study in the University of Hong Kong, still face challenges and difficulties in adapting to the use of English, which is the primary language, used to conduct majority of courses. What was once a foreign language is now their second language. In other words, due to the shift in language of communication from Chinese to English, this group of students find it hard to cope with the demanding academic requirements. This study aims to find out the language learning anxiety, motivation and the relationship between the two in the process of learning English and how can the students better acquire English in the www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 11 Published by SCHOLINK INC. University of Hong Kong. Interviews related to students‟ English learning experience will be conducted for better understanding of the characteristics of mainland students, and suggestions for effective acquisition of English will be made based on the interview results. 2. Literature Review 2.1 Foreign Language Anxiety According to Spielberger, anxiety is the “subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness and worry associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” (1983, p.15). Specifically, there are three types of anxiety: trait anxiety, state anxiety, and situation specific anxiety (MacIntyre & Gardner 1991). The situation specific anxiety can be applied to the field of foreign and second language acquisition. Horwiz and Cope have identified three components of foreign language classroom anxiety, namely communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and test anxiety (1986). Various researches have shown the negative influence of anxiety on learning. For example, Bailey proved that anxiety and stress are prevalent in classroom learning as well as in individual learning contexts (1983). Peter MacIntyre (1995) also argues that whatever the context, anxiety can interfere with the learning process. However, many scholars also prove that anxiety is not always a negative factor in learning (Mizruchi, 1991; Spielmann & Radnofsky, 2001). These lead to the new theory developed by Dornyei (2005), pointing out that there are two dimensions in the literatures that are relevant to understanding anxiety: facilitating anxiety and debilitating anxiety. Additionally, there are different types of anxiety under Foreign Language Anxiety: Speaking Anxiety, Reading Anxiety, Writing Anxiety, Listening Comprehension Anxiety and Grammar Anxiety (Bekleyen 2004). 2.1.2 Gender and Anxiety There is lack of literature which investigate the relationship between gender and Foreign Language Anxiety. Limited articles states that females are more likely to be motivated by easy assignments and encouragement. Story and Sullivan also argue that males are more interested in challenge, while females place greater importance on the feeling of achievement (1986). 2.2 Motivation There is abundant research on motivation. In a general sense, motivation can be defined as a cause, effect or process because of its dynamic and complex nature. According to Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert (1972), motivation can be divided into instrumental motivation: language learning for immediate or practical goals; and integrative motivation: language learning for personal growth and cultural enrichment through contact with speakers of the other language. Deci and Ryan has developed a new theory called Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in 1985, and it includes both intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation means to motivate oneself for satisfaction or pleasant experiences whereas extrinsic motivation means to motivate oneself www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 12 Published by SCHOLINK INC. for external rewards or to avoid punishments. The SDT theory focuses on how extrinsic motivation can be internalized and may thus co-exist with the intrinsic motivations of a person. Additionally, there are four types of extrinsic motivation: external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, and integrated regulation (Deci & Ryan, 1985): the first type is entirely focus on external rewards or punishment rather than self-determined actions; the second type is sort of imposed rules for students to follow; the third type is students sees the usefulness of learning the language so he or she is thus motivated and the last type involves “choiceful behavior that is fully assimilated with the individual‟s other values, needs and identity” (p. 24). There is also a term called amotivation, which is a learner lack of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the learning process. Meanwhile, contextual influences on motivation cannot be overlooked. There are two types of context: instructional context and the social and cultural influences. Instructional contexts such as materials design and evaluation practices can highly influence students‟ motivations in the short term. The social and cultural influences will play a larger role in the long term. For example, research has pointed out that higher order cognitive functions are gradually internalized from social interaction with more competent others (Vygotsky, 1978). A more updated motivation theory will be Zoltan Dornyei (2001a)‟s process-oriented model of motivation. It consists of three phases and shows that motivation can change over time: The first stage is preactional stage, and it is known as “choice motivation”, and it is for getting started and to setting goals; the second stage is actional stage, also referred to as “executive motivation”, meaning carrying out the necessary tasks to maintain motivation; the last stage is postactional stage and referred to as “motivation retrospection” and it is a kind of evaluation of the previous activities and plan for future actions. Williams and Burden also highlighted the fact that motivation is not simply arousing interest but to keep putting in efforts to achieve the goals (1997). However, this model of L2 motivation treats each motivational phase as a separate and isolated phase and neglects the fact that learners can be motivated not just for the L2 goals but also other academic or personal goals (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2011). One of the latest motivational theories is called L2 Motivational Self System developed by Dornyei in 2005. It consists of three elements: first is the Ideal L2 Self, it includes both integrative and internalized motives that motivate the learner to become his or her ideal L2 self in the future; second is the Ought-to L2 Self, it includes both instrumental and extrinsic motives that help the learner to avoid negative outcomes; third is the L2 learning experience, which is related to the learners‟ learning experiences and environments (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2011). This system has narrowed down the motivation to L2 learning and it also takes the contextual elements into consideration. More specifically, the system has also divided the instrumental motivation into two types: promotion focus and prevention focus. The former is concerned with “advancements, growth and accomplishments, whereas [the latter one is] concerned with safety, responsibilities and obligations” (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 87). In addition, the system suggests three sources of motivation of www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 13 Published by SCHOLINK INC. foreign or second language acquisition: one‟s vision of his or her Ideal L2 Self, the external social pressure and the learners‟ positive learning experiences (Dornyei & Ushioda, 2011). In sum, motivation is dynamic and multidimensional construct. rnyei and Ushioda state that is important to narrow down the research of motivation and use some sort of a behavioral measure as the dependent variable or criterion. Some examples include volunteering answers and extracurricular language use and so on (2011). Ushioda‟s person-in-context relational view of motivation also highlight the importance of multiple contextual elements, and “view motivation as an organic process that emerges through this complex system of interrelations” (2011, p. 78). Hence it is important to examine different contextual elements as well as adopting some specific behavioral measure for further research in motivation. 2.3 Mainland Students in Hong Kong When mainland students come to Hong Kong, they undergo the transition from Learning English as Foreign Language to Learning English as Second Language. All courses expect the Chinese and Cantonese language courses require students to use English as the official instructional language. The English language demands placed upon Mainland students in the University of Hong Kong is overwhelming. The majority of the mainland students “are eligible for top universities on the Chinese mainland” (Gao, 2007, p. 196) and their academic competence are strong. Since their competence of English is positively correlated to their academic performance, it is natural for the mainland students to feel anxious when facing the rapid transition to an English medium environment. Hence, it is important to investigate the relationship between anxiety and motivation and to find out how do the mainland students motivate themselves to learn English within such pressing environment. There have been very few studies on the relationship between Foreign Language Anxiety and English learning motivation focusing on the mainland students. One study using the quantitative approach shows that motivation can be hindered by foreign language anxiety (Liu & Huang 2011). Most studies focus on the motivation alone or learning strategies of English instead (Cheng et al., 2007; Gan, 2009; Gao, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011; Gao et al., 2008). But still, there is a lack of qualitative research on the foreign language anxiety of the mainland undergraduate students and this study also aims to find out the motivation of the mainland students as well as the relationship between the foreign language anxiety and English learning motivation. 3. Methodology: 3.1 Research Design This paper will examine the English learning process of six Year 3 female mainland students to find out students‟ learning experiences, motivations and concerns. The research result aims to help mainland students to better understand how foreign language anxiety and motivation that affect their English learning in the University of Hong Kong and come out with possible ways and means for effective www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 14 Published by SCHOLINK INC. acquisition of English. 3.2 Research Instruments Semi-structured Interviews with 6 mainland students All mainland students are Year 3 female students and from the faculty of business and economics. Three of them come from first-tier cities in the mainland (Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen) and three of them come from second or third-tier cities (Hangzhou, Quanzhou and Guilin). All of them have taken the National Higher Education Entrance Examination and were born and raised in Mainland China. They have taken the English Courses i.e. the CAES (Centre for Applied English Studies) in year 1 and year 2, because it is a compulsory English course for all university students in the University of Hong Kong (HKU). There will not be any gender differences in terms of analyzing the results because all of them are female students. Each interview is conducted in English and lasted around 30-40 minutes. The students were asked to describe their past learning English experiences, shift in motivations, factors causing their foreign language anxiety and their views on the relationship between motivation and foreign language anxiety. The semi-structured interviews allow the author to ask follow-up questions to get a fuller understanding of the students‟ responses (Gillham, 2005). The aim of the study is to examine the foreign language anxiety and motivation of the students in Learning English as Second Language; discuss how these two factors affect them in learning English and find out ways to improve their English. Research questions: 1) What are the major causes for foreign language anxiety of the mainland students? 2) How do the mainland students in HKU motivate themselves in learning English? 3) How is foreign language anxiety and motivation related to each other in the process of learning English? 4. Findings and Discussions: The following session will be divided into four parts: namely foreign language anxiety of the mainland students; motivation of the mainland students; relationship between the foreign language anxiety and motivation; and other findings. All the data is obtained from the interviews and detailed discussion will be made in each session. The following Table.1 sums up some basic findings from the interviews: Table. 1 Basic Findings from the Interviews Student (city of origin) Motivation Top Anxiety 2 nd Top Anxiety Relationship between Motivation and Anxiety English Result (year 1; year 2) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 15 Published by SCHOLINK INC. Que (Beijing) Academic; socialization Speaking Anxiety Listening comprehension Anxiety “Anxiety can sometimes motivates you” (Note 1) B+; B+ Hu (Shanghai) International exposure; career development Speaking Anxiety Grammar Anxiety “Higher anxiety higher motivation” (Note 2) B+; B+ Huang (Shenzhen) Gain better opportunities Listening compreh en-sion Anxiety Speaking Anxiety “Anxiety motivates me to learn” (Note 3) B+; A- Qiu (Hangzhou) Passion for language learning Speaking Anxiety Grammar Anxiety “They have a positive correlation and it is a two way effect” (Note 4) B+; A Lin (Quanzhou) Career development; socialization Listening compreh en-sion Anxiety Grammar Anxiety “A part of motivation comes from anxiety” (Note 5) B+; A- He (Guilin) Gain better opportunities; personal interests; quality of the instructor Reading Anxiety Speaking Anxiety “If you do not have the anxiety you will not have the motivation” (Note 6) B; B- It is clear that most of the students‟ motivation involves gaining better opportunities which include career development and international exposure. Socialization and academic pressure also motivate the mainland students to a certain extent. As for foreign language anxiety, speaking anxiety ranked the top anxiety among mainland students in HKU, followed by grammar anxiety. Listening comprehension anxiety is also mentioned several times either as top anxiety or the second top anxiety for some students. Moreover, most mainland students think there is a positive relationship between motivation and anxiety, and some of their motivation actually comes from anxiety. There seem to be very weak relationship between their place of origin and their English results. The same applies to other areas such as motivation and anxiety. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 16 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 4.1 Foreign Language Anxiety of the Mainland Students From the interview results, speaking anxiety, listening comprehension anxiety and grammar anxiety (which is also linked to speaking anxiety) were the main concerns of mainland students. There are several reasons: firstly, there is lack of preparation or encountering new topics. For example: “When I have to express something that I am not familiar with, like if I need to do an academic presentation, then I have to express something that is very new to me, or those I only finish a week ago.” (Que, A. 6) “I am afraid of public speaking because there is little time for preparation.” (Qiu, D. 7) In other instances, it involves speaking out during lectures conducted in English. Some responses are as follows: “Not very much. Because the lecture is about new knowledge, I am not confident about that knowledge.” (Que, A. 4) “I will only answer when I am very confident. I will prepare the answer several times and make sure it is right and then I will voice out my opinion.” (Huang, C. 4) Secondly, mainland students are generally anxious when they are interacting with native English speakers for a few reasons. The first reason involves the lack of English competence as compared to the native speakers: “If I cannot express myself in English clearly I will feel anxious. Sometimes when I am communicating with native speakers, they will ask me to repeat my sentence for second time. Because I am not native speaker, I will wonder can they understand what I am saying. So I will be anxious about this.” (Huang, C. 6) The second reason is lack of familiarity with the native speakers‟ cultures: “When I was doing my exchange in Canada, when a Canadian speak something that I was not familiar with, with some idioms. I could not get it at that time.” (Que, A. 7). “Maybe because of the cultural differences, I sometimes could not get their point.” (Lin, E. 8). Thirdly, the mainland students are afraid of under-performing, especially in interviews, competitions or the question and answer session of presentations: “I will be anxious in presentation, because it is directly with your final grade.” (He, F. 6). “The time I feel most anxious was once I was in a competition. What I worried about is not the way I am answering the questions but worried about I cannot understand the question.” (Lin, E. 6) “A year ago, I was interviewed for a program conducted by Citi bank & the faculty, there are two interviewers, I don‟t remember the topic but I have to use English to express my idea clearly. So it is very stressful.” (Hu, B. 8) Fourthly, the students want to pursue perfectionism. This is also linked to the first reason where mainland students emphasize a lot on preparation to reduce the chance of making mistakes: “In terms of writing is fine, I can double-check. But in terms of speaking, I am not a native speaker, so I will stop for a while wondering whether I use the grammar correctly or not.” (Lin, E. 7) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 17 Published by SCHOLINK INC. “When I am doing public speaking I know I am going to make mistakes, and I will get more nervous with this knowing that I am going to make mistakes.” (Qiu, D. 7) From above, it is clear that mainland students care a lot about their English competency. Communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and test anxiety are three components of foreign language classroom anxiety (Horwiz & Cope, 1986). Here the first two components can also applied to the case of mainland students in HKU, however, mainland students care more about socialization and opportunities related to career development and international exposure, the text anxiety is only mentioned before they enter college. 4.2 Motivation of the Mainland Students Table 2. Motivation Analysis of Mainland Students in HKU Student Motivation Most important element of L2 Motivational Self System Attitude towards English Culture Amotivation English Result (year 1; year 2) Que Academic; socialization Positive learning experience Affective No B+; B+ Hu International exposure; career development Ought-to L2 Self Affective No B+; B+ Huang Gain better opportunities Ought-to L2 Self Affective Yes, from socialization B+; A- Qiu Passion for language learning Ideal L2 Self Avoid integration No B+; A Lin Career development; socialization Ideal L2 Self Integrative Yes, from academic pressure B+; A- He Gain better opportunities; personal interests; quality of the instructor Ought-to L2 Self Affective Kind of, when receiving negative feedback B; B- Framing the results using the instrumental motivation and integrative motivation theory invented by Gardner and Lambert (1972), it is clear that most of the mainland students belong to both categories as www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 18 Published by SCHOLINK INC. they learn English not only for practical goals but also for personal growth. However, when it comes to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, only one mainland student displays strong intrinsic motivation and the rest are more associated with different types of extrinsic motivation. Since extrinsic motivation can be internalized and co-exist with the intrinsic motivations of a person, what differentiate the four types of extrinsic motivation are the degree differences. Most of the mainland students belong to the identified regulation because they see the usefulness of learning English and they are thus motivated, for example: “Specifically, the kind of don‟t want to lose advantages in competition motivates me. Because good English can give you better opportunities: job interviews, job markets and job fair, because they are many foreigners, and you cannot speak Cantonese style English, you must use well-presented English. You also need IELTS for exchange and master pursuits.” (He, F. 2) “I think English is not just a tool to communicate, but rather a value-added thing to bring you more opportunities. Especially in Hong Kong, we have multicultural firm, to get a good chance, you need to have good English. It is my biggest motivation to compete with those people with overseas background.” (Huang, C. 2) Using the L2 Motivational Self System (Dornyei, 2005), it is clear that half of the mainland interviewees are most driven by their Ought-to L2 Self, which means their instrumental motivation is prevention focus and thus they are motivated to meet their expectations or avoid negative outcomes. There is one student who is driven by her Ideal L2 Self. Even though she is partially motivated by career development, but ultimately it is a promotion focus that allows her to achieve for the ideal future image of herself. Additionally, this student expressed belief that English promotes social interaction because she would like “to mix [herself] with different cultures” (Lin, E. 13). Another key finding is that students who view their Ideal L2 Self as the most important element of their motivation tend to have better English Performance than those who prefer to be motivated by their Ought-to L2 Self and positive learning experience. 4.3 Relationship between the Foreign Language Anxiety and Motivation Table 3. Mainland Students’ Views on Foreign Language Anxiety, Motivation and English Performance Student Relationship between Anxiety and English Performance Relationship between Anxiety and English learning process Relationship between Motivation and Anxiety Motivation or Anxiety plays larger role on English Performance English Result (year 1; year 2) Que A bit anxiety is helpful Positive correlated Anxiety can sometimes Motivation B+; B+ www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 19 Published by SCHOLINK INC. motivates you Hu Anxiety has a negative influence Anxiety can do a positive influence Higher anxiety higher motivation Motivation B+; B+ Huang Negative Positive Anxiety motivates me to learn Motivation B+; A- Qiu Negative Anxiety is mostly positive for learning They have a positive correlation and it is a two way effect Motivation B+; A Lin Negative Depends. Too much, no A part of motivation comes from anxiety Depends on occasions B+; A- He Negative Positive because anxiety forces you to get progress immediately If you do not have the anxiety you will not have the motivation Anxiety B; B- From Table 3, most of the students agree that foreign language anxiety plays a negative role on their command of the English. Regardless whether it is during an interview or exam, anxiety will negatively affect their overall performance. However, they also agreed that anxiety has a positive contribution to the process of learning English and some of their motivations actually come from anxiety. Additionally, most of them also believe motivation plays a larger role on English performance. Almost all the mainland students observe a positive relationship between motivation and anxiety, for example: “Without anxiety, I cannot push myself, anxiety comes from something that you couldn‟t do, it comes from some moments when your ability cannot meet your expectation. It is those moments that remind me for improvement.” (Que, A. 9) “Anxiety will make you feel that you need to improve in English. Sometimes I feel relaxed because I only use English in class and I don‟t use English quite often. But I think during that period I have little improvements. So whenever I feel anxious I will try to find some solutions to improve.” (Huang, C. 9) However, some mainland students also pointed out that they should strike a balance in their level of anxiety. This group of students also coincidentally had better English results as compared to other students: “Too much anxiety you will get depressed, but if it is too little so it doesn‟t matter.” (Qiu, D. 9) “ epends. A certain level of anxiety can help. But if it is too much anxiety, it might actually stop you from learning English, because you can be worrying too much about using English.” (Lin, E. 9) www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 20 Published by SCHOLINK INC. Dornyei (2005) suggests there are two types of anxiety: facilitating anxiety and debilitating anxiety. From the interview results, most of the mainland students are using anxiety as a facilitating force to achieve their goals. 4.4 Other Findings When asked about Dornyei (2001a)‟s process-oriented model of motivation, some of the mainland students affirm that such a model can help students to better motivate themselves. Additionally, one student pointed out it is “suitable for those students who have high standards for themselves.” (Que, A. 3). However, one mainland student, who is truly motivated by her Ideal L2 Self gives the following comment regarding the model: “It sounds really nice for most of the students. They like to set goals at the very beginning of semester, but it is very common for them to give up the goals unless they are truly passionate.” (Qiu, D. 3) It is important to note that Qiu has used the word “passion” for several times throughout the interview, and she also has the best English results among the interviewees. Besides, when asked whether they set goals for themselves in learning English, most of the students responded that they did not and thus their motivation does not follow the pre-actional, actional and post-actional phase of the theory. Another finding is that most of the mainland students will not use extracurricular activities to practice their English and most of them usually socialize with their mainland friends. Extracurricular activity is not a motivation for them to improve their English. 5. Conclusion and Suggestion In conclusion, there are four major causes for foreign language anxiety of the mainland students: lack of preparation or encounter the new or unknown topics; interaction with the native speakers, communication barriers in terms of culture differences or low level of English competency; negative evaluation outcomes in internship, competition or presentations and seek for perfection. Half of the students like to use instrumental and extrinsic motives to motivate themselves in learning English, whereas the ones who have better English results like to motivate themselves with integrative and intrinsic motives. Positive learning experience works better for most of the interviewees in their primary and high school. In addition, anxiety usually serves as a facilitating force for mainland students to motivate themselves in learning English in college. It is normal for elite students to feel anxious when they encounter difficulties in learning because they excelled academically before entering the university. Coupled with the observation that most of these have strong competitive mindsets, the resultant pressure of competition with other students causes them to experience anxiety. Even in the face of different degrees and different kinds of anxiety, it is possible to still excel in English if sufficient passion in the language is present. In order to achieve this, it would be important to understand the source of the foreign language anxiety, how can individuals better motivate themselves, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 21 Published by SCHOLINK INC. and how anxiety can be utilized as a facilitating force in learning. There is room for further studies to address the following aspects. 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A clarification and application of Vygotsky‟s theory. Human development, 22(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1159/000272425 Williams, M., & Burden, R. (1997). Motivation in language learning: A social constructivist approach. Cahiers de l’APLIUT, 16(3), 19-27. https://doi.org/10.3406/apliu.1997.1201 Yihong, G., Yuan, Z., Ying, C., & Yan, Z. (2007). Relationship between English learning motivation types and self‐identity changes among Chinese students. Tesol Quarterly, 41(1), 133-155. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1545-7249.2007.tb00043.x Notes Note 1. See Appendix A. 12 Note 2. See Appendix B. 12 Note 3. See Appendix C. 12 Note 4. See Appendix D. 12 Note 5. See Appendix E. 12 Note 6. See Appendix F. 9 Appendix A Beijing Que Wenchen, Vicky 1) Can you share with me your past English learning experience? What motivates you at that time? Do you think there have been any changes in the motives for learning English after you came to Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland? I started to learn English at the age of 3 At kindergarten I am not interested in English at the first but after I can somehow understand the grammar rule and in secondary & high school, I became very good at English. I also learn English through TV series and songs and I think English is an effective tool to know the culture. A little bit change in motives. Before I came to Hong Kong, besides my personal interests in English, what motivates me is to get the good grade. After I came to Hong Kong, English is more like to get a good grade for every subject, it is more academically. 2) What motivates you to learn English in college? Can you share your English learning experience at college with me? After I came to college I didn‟t intentionally to learn vocab or grammar. It is more like integrated in daily life, like conversations with foreign friends. My motivation is to use English as a medium to express your idea both academic and socialization. 3) Specifically, there is a theory developed by Zoltan Dornyei and it is called the process-oriented model of motiavtion, it consists of three stages: first is choice motivation, meaning getting started and www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 24 Published by SCHOLINK INC. setting goals. Will you set goals to motivate yourself at the beginning of learning? What kind of goals? I didn‟t set any goals for myself. The second stage is called executive motivation. What will you do to maintain your motivation during the process? The third stage is called motivation retrospection. What kind of evaluation will you carry out to examine your motivation process? What motivates you and how are you gonna maintain your motivation for your future studies? It depends on personality. For example, I am the kind of people who don‟t like to push myself too much, I just get interested in anything that is interesting and useful. I think it is more suitable for those students who have high standards for themselves. 4) How often do you provide volunteering answers in English classes? Why you do that? Not very much. Because the lecture is about new knowledge, I am not confident about that knowledge. 5) How often do you use English in your extracurricular activities? Why you choose those extracurricular activities? Last semester I was in a dance team in international hall. I used English twice a week, but my motivation is because I like dance and want to make friends. 6) Under what circumstance, will you feel anxious about using English? Why? When I have to express something that I am not familiar with, like if I need to do an academic presentation, and then I have to express something that is very new to me, or those I only finish a week ago. For writing is because the deadline is very tight but it is okay for me to write English because you got time to think it over. 7) Specifically, there are five types of anxiety: speaking anxiety, reading anxiety, writing anxiety, listening comprehension anxiety and grammar anxiety, which affects you the most and why? Speaking, because I don‟t have time to think over the sentences, I sometimes cannot say a complete sentence in one time, in the middle of the sentence I can just get confusion unlike reading or writing. Listening comprehension, for example when I was doing my exchange in Canada, when a Canadian speak sth that I was not familiar with, with some idioms. I could not get it at that time. 8) Do you feel that there is certain moments that even you are anxious about using English, you still want to use it and excel the language? Can you describe that moment for me? In year 2, I was doing a group assignment with international students. I feel anxious because I cannot express myself at some time, but my group mates are very good and tolerant so I want to excel the language, for the team. 9) Do you think anxiety can better motivate you to learn English? Why? Of course, because without anxiety, I cannot push myself, anxiety comes from something that you couldn‟t do, it comes from some moments when your ability cannot meet your expectation. It is those moments that remind me for improvement. 10) Have you ever experience amotivation in learning English? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 25 Published by SCHOLINK INC. No. 11) Another motivation theory is called future-self theory. It includes three elements: The learner‟s vision of oneself as an effective L2 speaker, the social pressure coming from the learner‟s environment and positive learning experiences. Did you ever visualize your ideal L2 self? Sometimes, when I watch American TV series, I sometimes wish I could speak like them. clear. What kind of contextual elements influence you the most? During my high school, expectation from peer, teacher and family, is that kind of social pressure influence me the most. No explicit pressure from others in university. In Hong Kong is fine instead of US one, the Americans might think your English is not good, but Hong Kong people don‟t speak good English. Which element is most important to you to better motivate you to learn English? Positive learning experience. It consists of many aspects, e.g. a good English teacher, I fell in love with English in primary grade 4, and also positive learning experience comes from good grades, good results from competition. 12. What is your opinion on the relationship between anxiety and English performance? How about motivation and English performance? Which factors plays larger role and why? A bit anxiety is helpful. They are positive correlated. Anxiety can sometimes motivates you more, but my motivation does not come from anxiety. It most comes from positive learning experience. Motivation 13. What‟s your view towards the English native speaker‟s culture? I like their culture. Balanced view. Affective. 14. CAES result year 1 B+ year 2 B+ Appendix B Shanghai Hu Zhangyi, Helen 1. Can you share with me your past English learning experience? What motivates you at that time? Do you think there have been any changes in the motives for learning English after you came to Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland? I started to learn English in kindergarten. I went to local elementary school, so everyday is taught by Chinese and I did not join any extra English courses outside school. When I was in junior high, everyone has to take the exam, in order to get higher scores, I took English classes outside school, mostly on English grammar. In senior high school, again I went to local high school so there is no extra training for English. But I want to explore more outside Shanghai when I go to universities. So I was planning to learn more English and try gain more international exposures during my university life. So www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 26 Published by SCHOLINK INC. during my senior high school, I learn more vocabulary to expand my vocabulary. I just read some articles and memorize those new words which are more difficult and they are required by the university entrance examination. The key motivation is try to gain some international exposure. I don‟t want to stay in shanghai for my whole life. But I am not like so sure to go to aboard for study, just try to get more exposure. Pass exams and do better in exams in primary and junior high school. There is slight change. After in year 2, I was thinking that whether I should learn English in a business form of way, because at that time I started to apply internship and planned for career development. So it is not only for international exposure. 2. What motivates you to learn English in college? Can you share your English learning experience at college with me? At the very beginning, I think learning English is some basic thing I should do, write papers and to do to deal with course week. Later on I tried to be better at at English and tried to get the internship after year 2. 3. Specifically, there is a theory developed by Zoltan Dornyei and it is called the process-oriented model of motivation, it consists of three stages: first is choice motivation, meaning getting started and setting goals. Will you set goals to motivate yourself at the beginning of learning? What kind of goals? I do set goals for myself. I mean in senior high school. For example TOFEL, to finish that book. Later on I just aim to talk more fluently in interviews. The second stage is called executive motivation. What will you do to maintain your motivation during the process? Actually in senior high school, I think the way to maintain your motivation is to learn together with friends. I think is the best way I can find. My friends are not good at vocabulary and we have similar level so that we can improve together. But at college, I think I cannot find any good methods to maintain my motivation. I am trying. The third stage is called motivation retrospection. What kind of evaluation will you carry out to examine your motivation process? What motivates you and how are you gonna maintain your motivation for your future studies? Yes for high school, I think I have met my target. But at college I cannot maintain my motivation, but I think after exchange in US, I think I can speak more fluently. In college no clear feedback in college, after exchange in US. Helpful for most of those learners, not just for mainland students in HKU. 4. How often do you provide volunteering answers in English classes? Why you do that? I think quite often, if I am quite confident in the content of the answer. Even though sometimes I am not fluent in English, but if I am confident in the answer, I will do it. I think that is my personality. 5. How often do you use English in your extracurricular activities? Why you choose those extracurricular activities? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 27 Published by SCHOLINK INC. Not often, I still hang out with Chinese speaking friends. But in US, I have no choice in exchange. 6. Under what circumstance, will you feel anxious about using English? Why? It is definitely the interviews. If there are some difficult questions and I have to think it for a while and I have to use English in my sentences. I will be really anxious and I have to spend a long time thinking about the questions and make up the words. 7. Specifically, there are five types of anxiety: speaking anxiety, reading anxiety, writing anxiety, listening comprehension anxiety and grammar anxiety, which affects you the most and why? Speaking anxiety. I think as a foreign-language learner, listening and reading is something you are taking in, so you do not have any pressures. I can handle all those things. As for writing, as you are putting things out, you are allowed to have a specific period of time to write so writing anxiety is not a problem. But when you are speaking, people are expecting instant answers. So if you are struggling with your language, it really makes you anxious. Grammar anxiety, actually grammar does not matter when you are speaking with another person. But sometime I have to write in formal language, e.g. a report about to submit. And I think sometimes grammar can really make your sentences awkward. 8. Do you feel that there is certain moment that even you are anxious about using English, you still want to use it and excel the language? Can you describe that moment for me? Interviews. A year ago, I was interviewed for a program conducted by Citi bank & the faculty, there are two interviewers, one is university professor, and one is bank director. So during the interview we have to use English, I don‟t remember the topic but I have to use English to express my idea clearly. So it is very stressful. 9. Do you think anxiety can better motivate you to learn English? Why? Kind of. Because you will feel embarrassed when you cannot express your ideas in the foreign language during the interviews. And after that you have to tell yourself to work harder. Interviews are typical business students‟ anxiety. 10. Have you ever experience amotivation in learning English? No. 11. Another motivation theory is called future-self theory. It includes three elements: The learner‟s vision of oneself as an effective L2 speaker, the social pressure coming from the learner‟s environment and positive learning experiences. Did you ever visualize your ideal L2 self? I think yes. Clear. What kind of contextual elements influence you the most? I think it is the in-class discussion in the United States. You know in order to get higher grade you need to actively participate in the discussion with the native speakers. Which element is most important to you to better motivate you to learn English? Social pressure. Positive learning experiences works in my primary and secondary schools. Like if you have a very good English teacher you will work harder. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 28 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 12. What is your opinion on the relationship between anxiety and English performance? How about motivation and English performance? Which factors plays larger role and why? When I am anxious I will have poorer English performance, especially in interviews. But if you can handle English oral better, I think I will not be as anxious as before. In the exam, the relationship will be weaker because you still have time to write and think. The Process of learning English, I think anxiety can do a positive influence. But at the time when you are performing English, I think anxiety has a negative influence. Higher anxiety higher motivation for me. Motivation works better. 13. What‟s your view towards the English native speaker‟s culture? Like, balanced. 14. CAES result year 1 &2 B+ Appendix C Shenzhen Huang Xinyue, Christina 1. Can you share with me your past English learning experience? What motivates you at that time? Do you think there have been any changes in the motives for learning English after you came to Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland? I started learning English in P1, all the learning is quite easy at that time. In our exam we only need to write simple answer and I can got nearly fully-marks because the material was really easy. As I processed in the learning English, it became more difficult for me. I always struggle with the grammar thing and sometimes I think sometimes the sentence I construct is more like chinglish rather than the native speakers‟ language. So that is the in greatest challenges for me to overcome. And the oral exam, because we have few chances to practice and few interactions with foreigners. When I came to college, I started to realize I have the Chinese ancient. Some American or Canadian girls really need to pay attention to what I said and I was really frustrated at that time. English education in china was so weak to prepare myself for college study. So in my first year, my biggest problem is learning English. In the exam, I cannot understand the questions; sometimes the words just could not come up naturally so I need to reconstruct my sentences to answer in the exams. So I think that is one of the major problem for mainland students and I spent almost one year in overcoming the English problem and adapting the English environment in HKU. 2. What motivates you to learn English in college? Can you share your English learning experience at college with me? For previous studies, is to pass the exam and get a high score for university. But in college, English is a must to study well and to communicate people with diverse background. So it is more like a tool rather than a subject to learn. My understanding of English changes a lot after I came to university, I think www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 29 Published by SCHOLINK INC. English is not just a tool to communicate, but rather a value-added thing to bring you more opportunities. Especially in Hong Kong, we have multicultural firm, to get a good chance, you need to have good English. It is my biggest motivation to compete with those people with overseas background. 3. Specifically, there is a theory developed by Zoltan Dornyei and it is called the process-oriented model of motivation, it consists of three stages: first is choice motivation, meaning getting started and setting goals. Will you set goals to motivate yourself at the beginning of learning? What kind of goals? For me the goal is not very clear, my aim is just to present myself effectively to the audience. the second stage is called executive motivation. What will you do to maintain your motivation during the process? the third stage is called motivation retrospection. What kind of evaluation will you carry out to examine your motivation process? What motivates you and how are you gonna maintain your motivation for your future studies? Although I don‟t have specific goals, I will evaluate my English process, for example I will compare my English level with my previous studies in college. The articles I found really difficult to read in year 1, now I found it quite easy. I also prepared for IELTS and GMAT exams, during the preparation and have the self-check process. It will be really useful. Previously I was not aware of this kind of model, so I did not set a good goal to achieve. So if I know this model, I will probably adopt this. 4. How often do you provide volunteering answers in classes that is in English? Why you do that? I will only answer when I am very confident. I will prepare the answer several times and make sure it is right and then I will voice out my opinion. Because in most lectures, we have many chances to interact with professors, but you need to voice out your opinion in English. But I think each time when I answer the question I will do some preparations. 5. How often do you use English in your extracurricular activities? Why you choose those extracurricular activities? We only use English when we need to communicate with non-locals because we prefer use Chinese over English for convenient purpose. The reason why I join the volunteer work is to get to know people from different countries, because sometimes I think most of my friends are from mainland so I have too few chances to meet the foreigners. 6. Under what circumstance, will you feel anxious about using English? Why? If I cannot express myself in English clearly I will feel anxious. Sometimes when I am communicating with native speakers, they will ask me to repeat my sentence for second time. Because I am not native speaker, I will wonder can they understand what I am saying. So I will be anxious about this. For writing, the problem I have is to distinguish the formal language and casual ones, because we learn more formal English in high school, but the actual conversations may not be this formal, I will feel hesitate to use the formal English. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 30 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 7. Specifically, there are five types of anxiety: speaking anxiety, reading anxiety, writing anxiety, listening comprehension anxiety and grammar anxiety, which affects you the most and why? I think it is listening comprehension anxiety, if I cannot completely understand what the other person is saying, I cannot respond. Even I know how to structure the sentence and use the perfect grammar, I might not be able to carry on the conversation. The next will be speaking. Because I will hesitate my next sentence to speak, especially for English. I think native language you have no problem, but English you need to slow down a bit. 8. Do you feel that there is certain moments that even you are anxious about using English, you still want to use it and excel the language? Can you describe that moment for me? I think will be to show you are capable of communicating in English. For example, I was in a meeting in my company, it is a multinational bank so we have one person from A European country. But the other colleagues are from China and they want to speak in Chinese. I choose English to include this person in the whole conversation, when it comes to me I switch to English. 9. Do you think anxiety can better motivate you to learn English? Why? Yes. Anxiety will make you feel that you need to improve in English. Sometimes I feel relaxed because I only use English in class and I don‟t use English quite often. But I think during that period I have little improvements. So whenever I feel anxious I will try to find some solutions to improve. 10. Have you ever experience amotivation in learning English? I feel amotivation when I have difficulties in communicating with foreigners, especially when I was with a group of exchange students, I feel like I want to have more conversations with them but my English ability was quite low compared to them. So I feel very amotivated at that time. So after the event, I will come back to listen to some English videos and try to improve English. In 2 nd year, I think English is just a tool, is not something essential to master and I am not a English major. Basic English is enough, because in daily conversations, my friends are from mainland, and I also adapted to English environment, I can listen English meanwhile respond in Chinese. After joining the event, I feel my English level is so poor, so I want to learn English. 11. Another motivation theory is called future-self theory. It includes three elements: The learner‟s vision of oneself as an effective L2 speaker, the social pressure coming from the learner‟s environment and positive learning experiences. Did you ever visualize your ideal L2 self? Yes, I hope I can communicate with foreigners without any barriers. The self-image is very clear. What kind of contextual elements influence you the most? The social pressures are mostly from the native speakers. Whenever I speak with them, I feel quite nervous, am I use the right grammar, can they understand me these kind of questions. Which element is most important to you to better motivate you to learn English? At current stage it is the social pressures. I will feel the urgency whenever I talk to the native speakers. I seldom talk to foreigners I will not have the anxiety to improve. Positive learning experience is more important to me www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 31 Published by SCHOLINK INC. in primary schools because it is easy. 12. What is your opinion on the relationship between anxiety and English performance? How about motivation and English performance? Which factors plays larger role and why? For me, whenever I have anxiety, I will perform very bad. The presentation and speech will caused me anxiety, if I didn‟t get enough preparation, I will not be able to express what I am thinking. Anxiety motivates me to learn, so when I feel anxious, I can feel the pressure so I will work harder to improve English. Motivation still plays larger part, I don‟t feel anxiety unless I am very worried about my performance. Most of the time I will watch videos to improve. 13. What‟s your view upon English native speakers‟ culture? Based on my understanding, native speakers are generally more outgoing and talkative. They usually speak out their opinions and seldom express them indirectly. Personally I like Chinese culture better than English culture. Probably it is just because of status quo ad I am more used to Chinese lifestyle and way of communication. I respect the culture differences and seldom think of totally adapting to foreign culture. When I hang out with foreign friends, I can feel the difference but most of the time I just be myself. 14. CAES result year 1 B+ oral makes me most stressed year 2 A- more writing practice in high school Appendix D Hangzhou Qiu Yufei, Cecilia 1. Can you share with me your past English learning experience? What motivates you at that time? Do you think there have been any changes in the motives for learning English after you came to Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland? I learn from my mom, who taught me English at the age 6. I still remember my mom let me pronounce the word „tree‟. My mom motivates me at that time. I was in a foreign language primary school. I was trying to get good grades for primary school; the motivation is very similar for junior and high school. The switch in motivation happens in secondary school year 1. The English class is great and we have professional teacher, they are very good in motivating the students, and we really have fun in the learning English process itself. And I was trying to communicate in English in the environment. The trigger is my teacher and then I started to fell in love with the language learning process itself. I think the senior in my schools have to learn another language but my branch cannot learn a second language so I focus in English. And we started to watch English videos and movies and they have a list of English Movie. The affective factor, learning is all the purpose, not for getting higher grades or standout your peers. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 32 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 2. What motivates you to learn English in college? Can you share your English learning experience at college with me? It‟s all about the learning itself. Started from the Economic and finance textbook, because you have different vocabulary and I guess is a way of college way of learning English. I think CAES is designed deliberately to improve your English. But I think the essence of language learning is all about the internal motivation. So it didn‟t help to build the internal motivation for students as far as I know. Life-long goal of learning, not just English. Only the passion itself will motivate me. Getting a certificate or passing the exam is not at all my motivation. 3. Specifically, there is a theory developed by Zoltan Dornyei and it is called the process-oriented model of motiavtion, it consists of three stages: first is choice motivation, meaning getting started and setting goals. Will you set goals to motivate yourself at the beginning of learning? What kind of goals? Never set goals. The second stage is called executive motivation. What will you do to maintain your motivation during the process? The third stage is called motivation retrospection. What kind of evaluation will you carry out to examine your motivation process? What motivates you and how are you gonna maintain your motivation for your future studies? It sounds really nice for most of the students. They like to set goals at the very beginning of semester, but it is very common for them to give up the goals unless they are truly passionate. 4. How often do you provide volunteering answers in English classes? Why you do that? In CAES class, I did not want to participate. After exchange in the states, I became more proactive in discussion, just to make things easier for professors and audience, I will raise up my hand if no one is doing so. 5. How often do you use English in your extracurricular activities? Why you choose those extracurricular activities? I barely use English beyond class. Unless I interact with overseas students. 6. Under what circumstance, will you feel anxious about using English? Why? When I speak to a non-native English speaker but we have to speak in English. “Asian way of expression make the conversation quite awkward”. 7. Specifically, there are five types of anxiety: speaking anxiety, reading anxiety, writing anxiety, listening comprehension anxiety and grammar anxiety, which affects you the most and why? Speaking anxiety, when it comes to organizing your own language, whether is in English or Chinese. I am afraid of public speaking because there is little time for preparation and I cannot sum up my words, and it is also related to my second anxiety, the grammar anxiety, because when I am doing public speaking I know I am going to make mistakes, and I will get more nervous with this knowing that I am going to make mistakes. I just keep making mistakes like that. 8. Do you feel that there is certain moments that even you are anxious about using English, you still www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 33 Published by SCHOLINK INC. want to use it and excel the language? Can you describe that moment for me? Like in a networking event, I am afraid with my oral grammar mistakes but you still need to express yourself and entertain yourself and the participants in the conversations. Especially in English conversation with non-native speakers. 9. Do you think anxiety can better motivate you to learn English? Why? To a certain extent yes. If I am not perfect in grammar, I will try to improve. During sometimes I will download the speech of Obama and try to mimic the pronunciation and the tones of his speech. It makes me feel much better after practicing. Too much anxiety you will get depressed, but if it is too little so it doesn‟t matter. 10. Have you ever experience amotivation in learning English? No. because I still have the passion for the language learning itself. 11. Another motivation theory is called future-self theory. It includes three elements: The learner‟s vision of oneself as an effective L2 speaker, the social pressure coming from the learner‟s environment and positive learning experiences. Did you ever visualize your ideal L2 self? Yes, before bed time, I will make up some public speaking scenarios in my own mind where I was on the stage, and in my mind the me is always so fluent and not nervous at all in front of the public. But when I get up and even face myself I will face nervous. What kind of contextual elements influence you the most? When I am with a group of non-native speakers who can speak really good English. Peer pressure. When I encounter the lawyers and other professions in their fields, because I don‟t know the unknown terms in different professions, they are not in my vocabulary, e.g., medical terms, menu, government. Which element is most important to you to better motivate you to learn English? Perfect self. 12. What is your opinion on the relationship between anxiety and English performance? How about motivation and English performance? Which factors plays larger role and why? In daily life, anxiety is mostly positive for learning and for your motivation, but in certain occasion, for example in public speaking, anxiety will be a problem, in English exam, anxiety maybe ruin the exam for example in my IELTS oral test. Anxiety will act towards motivation, but too motivated, some people will get anxious. They have a positive correlation and it is a two way effect. Motivation plays a larger role in English performance. Positive contributes 13. What‟s your view towards the English native speaker‟s culture? Nowadays the English culture is highly commercialized and I try to avoid integrating into the English culture. A lot of them are quite ignorant; they think the best entertainment is in the commercial world, like the one describe in the book(amuse yourself to death). My Chinese cultural identity, and I am not changing it. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 34 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 14. CAES result year 1 B+ in the first year, the course is so poorly designed. year 2 A Appendix E Quanzhou Lin chenyueya, Lydia 1. Can you share with me your past English learning experience? What motivates you at that time? Do you think there have been any changes in the motives for learning English after you came to Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland? I started to learn English since I was 14, when I was in middle school, and I got a very good English teacher. We have many English extra curricular activities, we have to watch English TV shows and songs so I started to have interest in English. When I went to college we have to use English in daily life in college. First one is that I want to pursuit my career in international society, so English is very important in terms of work. Second is I have many foreign friends whether is from Hong Kong or other places, inspire me to want to communicate with them. 2. What motivates you to learn English in college? Can you share your English learning experience at college with me? In college, we have to take some compulsory English courses in HKU, the CAES, but they are more like examine English. So as I said before, before college English is the casual one, like casual talking. But in college I change to use more academic tones, and also the business English these kind of things. And also joining activities held by activities which require me to use a lot of English. First is career development and second is socialization. Passing the exam is not motivation. 3. Specifically, there is a theory developed by Zoltan Dornyei and it is called the process-oriented model of motiavtion, it consists of three stages: first is choice motivation, meaning getting started and setting goals. Will you set goals to motivate yourself at the beginning of learning? What kind of goals? It is like an accumulated process and I didn‟t really have any goals. The second stage is called executive motivation. What will you do to maintain your motivation during the process? Natural. The third stage is called motivation retrospection. What kind of evaluation will you carry out to examine your motivation process? What motivates you and how are you gonna maintain your motivation for your future studies? Do you find this Model good? The model is good and efficient and effective. As my natural way takes a lot of time and it is not very efficient. If we can apply a model to it, it might be more benefit to people. 4. How often do you provide volunteering answers in classes in English? Why you do that? www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 35 Published by SCHOLINK INC. I am not a very active student in class. I will participate more in tutorial when I am speaking with small groups. It‟s more comfortable. 5. How often do you use English in your extracurricular activities? Why you choose those extracurricular activities? Internship and activities held by university. I once participated in a program called „Way to Success‟, and it is a mentorship program. I am not interested in English improvement, but just curious in the events. Because the mentorship program can broaden my horizon and expand my networks. In daily life I didn‟t use English because I hand out with my Chinese friends. 6. Under what circumstance, will you feel anxious about using English? Why? The time I feel most anxious was once I was in a competition. It was like an academic competition that require us to use English to present and answer questions. The questions were held by the judges, the presentation was okay because I can prepare a script but when it comes to answering the question. What I worried about is not the way I am answering the questions but worried about I cannot understand the question. CFA Research Challenge. Competition. Q&A, sometimes I was too nervous I cannot understand the question. 7. Specifically, there are five types of anxiety: speaking anxiety, reading anxiety, writing anxiety, listening comprehension anxiety and grammar anxiety, which affects you the most and why? I guess it is listening comprehension anxiety. Both in competition and daily life. If you don‟t understand the question then it will be a big problem to communicate. Maybe Grammar anxiety. In terms of writing is fine, I can double-check. But in terms of speaking, I am not a native speaker, so I will stop for a while wondering whether I use the grammar correctly or not. Not proper terms. 8. Do you feel that there is certain moments that even you are anxious about using English, you still want to use it and excel the language? Can you describe that moment for me? When I was talking to the foreign friends, especially the native speakers. Maybe because of the cultural differences, I sometimes could not get their point, but I still want to talk to them and I still want to know more about them. 9. Do you think anxiety can better motivate you to learn English? Why? Depends. A certain level of anxiety can help. But if it is too much anxiety, it might actually stop you from learning English, because you can be worrying too much about using English. 10. Have you ever experience amotivation in learning English? When I was writing the CAES essays. Every time I finish my drafts, I came to the professor and they gave me positive feedback. But the final grade I got is not good. 11. Another motivation theory is called future-self theory. It includes three elements: The learner‟s vision of oneself as an effective L2 speaker, the social pressure coming from the learner‟s environment and positive learning experiences. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 36 Published by SCHOLINK INC. Did you ever visualize your ideal L2 self? Yes, it is quite clear. I have future-self image not just for English, but also for other languages. What kind of contextual elements influence you the most? When I have a discussion with my Chinese friends. The discussions involve serious topics but they can speak so well. Because we are all non-native speaker but they speaker better than me. So I can feel the real pressure. The other one is the job interviews, most of the time the interviews will be conducted in English, when the interviewers and interviewees have better English than me. Which element is most important to you to better motivate you to learn English? Future-self. 12. What is your opinion on the relationship between anxiety and English performance? How about motivation and English performance? Which factors plays larger role and why? It depends. Too much, no. A part of motivation comes from anxiety at least for me. It is like a component of motivation. Sometimes it depends. In formal occasions like our universities or work, is anxiety; but when it is causal setting, like talk with your friends, motivation works better. When you are using English as a tool for entertainment, for watching movies or talk show it will be more like motivation because you can enjoy these kind of processes. 13. What‟s your view towards the English native speaker‟s culture? I like to understand the cultures, not just English. It is important to understand the culture and that help a lot in English. I will like to mix myself with different cultures. Integrative 14. CAES result year 1 B+ year 2 A- peer pressure, all my friends got A. Appendix F Guilin He Bo, Molly Interview questions: 1. Can you share with me your past English learning experiences? What motivates you at that time? Do you think that there have been any changes in the motives for learning English after you came to Hong Kong from the Chinese mainland? I think as most of the mainland students, I was forced to get connected with English, we have the entrance examinations for middle school and high school, so I was forced to study. Usually for a language, you have to have an environment or self-incentive. The extra tutorial tutor motivated me at that time, he will use film or candy to motivate students as incentive. The pressure of exam also made me study harder in English. The film and candy give me the interest, but it is the pressure of exam that made me really pay attention to learn English grammar. Because my English was not really top at high school, maybe I put most of the energy on exam but not on writing or speaking, after I came to Hong Kong, English became a basic requirement, it is not just www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 37 Published by SCHOLINK INC. about knowing English, but being good at English. Because you have to present yourself in interviews or classes, especially verbal skills. 2. What motivates you to learn English in college? CAES is a kind of motivation, but you cannot just rely on CAES. As an adult, self-motivation is the most important aspect. Specifically, the kind of don‟t want to lose advantages in competition motivates me. Because good English can give you better opportunities: job interviews, job markets and job fair, because they are many foreigners, and you cannot speak Cantonese style English, you must use well-presented English. IELTS for exchange and master pursuits. 3. Specifically, there is a theory developed by Zoltan Dornyei and it is called the process-oriented model of motivation. It consists of three phases: 1. choice motivation – getting started and to setting goals Will you set goals to motivate yourself at the beginning of learning? What kind of goals? Thanks for pointing out because I do not really have a goal. Because I always believe I will improve through reading, but I am not sure what extent I can reach. 2. executive motivation – carrying out the necessary tasks to maintain motivation Will you divide the goal into different tasks to maintain motivation? What kind of tasks? Except for preparing for a test, because you will have a goal and you will work gradually towards that goal. It is hard to maintain motivation it is because deadline is still far away. I guess people will find some things to do first, pressure really works. I like reading, not only in your native language or English, it is still a pleasure, you know both of your English and your knowledge will be improved through reading the book. If I can finish the book, it can help me to maintain motivation. Sometimes, learning for exam can suppress my motivation. Another part is consultation. When you are doing the consultation, you will feel motivated because they will provide professional and useful advices (writing, proofread your writing, don‟t try to fix problems at once, paragraph by paragraph). 3. motivation retrospection, students‟ appraisal of and reaction to their performance Will you do that? What kind of evaluation will you carry out? I am afraid not, I will have the sense that: Do I really make progress? But I think the process is not complete. Do you find this kind of motivation theory will better motivate you to achieve your target? Yes, because having a goal is important and setting goals means knowing where you are, and it can remind yourself to motivate yourself to read more, better way to maintain the motivation or better goal for next time. 4. How often do you provide volunteering answers in English classes? Why you do that? Core course we don‟t normally have discussion, so I do not provide volunteer answers. Expect tutorial will count the grade, but even without that, I will contribute because other students are aggressive. For cc, grade for volunteering answers. It is more flexible and interesting about cc. Humanity-related or www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 38 Published by SCHOLINK INC. social science-related courses. Tutorial usually make up to 20% and you can get higher marks if you participate more. I also provide answers because I enjoy the course. It depends on my interest and the quality of tutor. Even I cannot present myself well I will still like to present. 5. How often do you use English in your extracurricular activities? Why you choose those extracurricular activities? Not quite often, I attended some university held program, like those held by CEDARS & GE, if they require English I will use, I guess twice a month, photography society to sell staff. 6. Under what circumstance, will you feel anxious about speaking or using English? Why? Usually when more people are listening to you, you are easy to get anxious. If I was in the position when people or native-speaker interrupts me, I will feel very anxious, but if they are the same level with me, I wont feel nervous. I will be anxious in presentation, because it is directly with your final grade, and you will get chur by your professors. 7. Specifically, there are six types of anxiety: Speaking Anxiety, Reading Anxiety, Writing anxiety, Listening Comprehension Anxiety and Grammar Anxiety, which one affects you the most and why? Reading anxiety. Because when you speak, you can explain yourself, but for casual reading, I am always afraid that I will fall asleep, what if I cannot get the meaning, what if I give up, I will feel guilty. Because I will think how can I did not get it? Because in reading, there wont be advanced words, but you cannot understand. When you do examination, you understand every single words, but you don‟t know what they mean. For reading, if you don‟t get enough input, you cannot produce output. For speaking, at least you can still speak a little. Then is speaking, because of public speaking. 8. Do you feel that there is certain moment that even you are anxious about using English, you still want to use it and excel the language? Can you describe that moment for me? The latest time is when we had a presentation, during the Q&A session, they had question for my part, so I will feel anxious but I still want to answer that. Presentation is anxious, want to answer it because my part is useful and meaningful. 9. Do you think anxiety can better motivate you to learn English? Why? Should be, if you don‟t have the anxiety you wont have the motivation to get this problem solved and to get better grades. How to get better grades? Do more proofreading and get more consultation. Because you get that kind of indirect learning from someone else. 10. Have you ever experience amotivation in learning English? Kind of, when you get really low grade in your assignment and it take up nearly 60%. Negatively affect my grade and emotion. 11. Another motivation theory is called future-self theory. It includes three elements: The learner‟s vision of oneself as an effective L2 speaker, the social pressure coming from the learner‟s environment and positive learning experiences. Did you ever visualize your ideal L2 self? Seldom, hardly, when you want to argue with someone, you www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/eltls English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies Vol. 4, No. 4, 2022 39 Published by SCHOLINK INC. must to speak as fast as the native speaker. What kind of contextual elements influence you the most? Classmates will influence me, your English level is exposed to others, both native-speakers and non-native speakers who can speak as good as native speakers. Peer pressure ranks next. Which element is most important to you to better motivate you to learn English? I guess it is social pressure. Because when you get positive feedback, you will be confident but you don‟t improve a lot. Negative pressure makes you want to improve more. I realize that when you get negative feedback, you will be depressed for a long time, but you will start to motivate yourself for improvements. 12. What is your opinion on the relationship between anxiety and English performance? How about motivation and the English performance? Which factors plays larger role and why? If the anxiety is not appearing on the process of learning, but the process of performance, it is negative, because you may easily get wrong and forget what you need to do. But it can be positive because anxiety forces you to get progress immediately. If you have a really important test tomorrow or next week, so you will increase your frequency of practicing and force yourself to get more practice. You have the motivation you can learn but I don‟t have enough motivation so I wish I can have more motivation on myself. They are positive related. It is hard to compare, you can‟t distinguish. Maybe anxiety makes better for me. Anxiety as form of motivation, my other motivation is enjoyment and great films and dramas. For language, they need you to speak, so I think motivation works better in language learning, you have the pure motivation which just encourage you to speak. So you are satisfied with the progress you made. But if English become a test or for official use, anxiety works better. Because it requires you to do more reading and reach higher level of English. Anxiety will upgrade your English level. 13. what‟s your view towards the English native speaker‟s culture? At this moment I am still at the stage of appreciation. I like their culture and I want to know more. Every culture has its attractive point and I don‟t want to rank them. 14. CAES result year 1 B &2 B-