Chinese college ESP learners show high amotivation-subscale, external-regulation, identified-regulation and intrinsic (knowledge, accomplishment) item means¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (4 entries) · associational r1–r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2016 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 4 of 4 entries) · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2021: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Amotivation items scored high (means above 3.8), which the author attributes to compulsory English requirements. → Liu 2016 q2 i? Three of four External Regulation items had means greater than 3.8, indicating strong motivation by external demand or reward. → Liu 2016 (2) q2 i? Two of three Identified Regulation items scored above 4, indicating internalized importance of ESP. → Liu 2016 (3) q2 i? All IM-Knowledge and IM-Accomplishment items scored above 3.8, suggesting internalized pursuit of knowledge and challenge. → Liu 2016 (4)

Evidence¶

Liu 2016¶

Liu, L. (2016). Why Do Chinese College Students Learn ESP: An Analysis of Language Learning Motivations within SDT Framework. English Language Teaching, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n4p92

q2 · i? · associational · r1

Descriptive statistics (Table 5) for the 23 questionnaire items from the 558-student survey; the author reports "the means of the three items within the Amotivation subscale are high" and links this to compulsory English credits.

"If the means higher than 3.8 are regarded as high score, than it can be stated that the means of the three items within the Amotivation subscale are high."

Liu 2016 (2)¶

Liu, L. (2016). Why Do Chinese College Students Learn ESP: An Analysis of Language Learning Motivations within SDT Framework. English Language Teaching, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n4p92

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive item analysis: "Three of the four items within the External Regulation subscale, have means grea ter than 3.8", which the author reads as participants being "greatly motivated by external demand or possible reward".

"Considering that External Regulation is the least self-determined form of motivation, thus th ese numbers indicate that th e participants are greatly motivated by external demand or possible reward."

Liu 2016 (3)¶

Liu, L. (2016). Why Do Chinese College Students Learn ESP: An Analysis of Language Learning Motivations within SDT Framework. English Language Teaching, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n4p92

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive item analysis of the Identified Regulation subscale: "two out of the three items have scores higher than 4", read as internalization of ESP's importance; the social-status item IDRQ13 had a very low mean (3.42).

"In terms of the Identified Regulation subscale, two out of the three items have scores higher than 4, which indicate that the participants are highly motivated to l earn ESP because they reali ze the importance of learning ESP"

Liu 2016 (4)¶

Liu, L. (2016). Why Do Chinese College Students Learn ESP: An Analysis of Language Learning Motivations within SDT Framework. English Language Teaching, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n4p92

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive item analysis of intrinsic subtypes: "all Intrinsic Motivati on-Knowledge and Intrinsic Motivation –Accomplishments items have scores higher than 3.8", interpreted as internalized knowledge pursuit and desire for challenge. IM-Stimulation was weaker, with two of four items above 4.

"all Intrinsic Motivati on-Knowledge and Intrinsic Motivation –Accomplishments items have scores higher than 3.8."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Introjected regulation was low among Chinese ESP learners except for an identity-maintenance item — related
• An SDT-based questionnaire yields seven distinct, reliable motivation subtypes for Chinese college ESP learners — related
• Chinese ESP learners in this sample were motivated in a mixed manner, and 'certificate motivation' was not supported — related
• Lack of knowledge of cognition, regulation of cognition, and intrinsic motivation hinder learners' metacognitive strategy use — related
• Teachers hold conflicting attitudes about whether gameful assessments support students’ intrinsic motivation and desire to learn — related
• Language barriers were the biggest concern for Chinese international students, who reported tripling their reading time in English — related
• Students perceive manageable challenge matched to their skills, with a sense of accomplishment, as an intrinsically rewarding element of fun in formal learning — related
• Item analysis showed high self-reported engagement and subscale differences in discriminatory power, with social engagement items weakest and cognitive engagement items strongest — related
• Children with ADHD show higher external regulation, introjected regulation and amotivation, and lower intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, toward learning than TD children — related