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The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics
[ Article ]
Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 25, No. 0, pp.185-202
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Jan 2025
Received 04 Dec 2024 Revised 28 Dec 2024 Accepted 24 Jan 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.25..202502.185

A Qualitative Analysis of Perceived Ideal L2 Self and L2 (de)Motivation: A Case of Korean Junior College English Major Students

Eunbi Kwon
Lecturer, Department of EnglishHanyang Women’s University 200, Salgoji-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea ebkwon2728@gmail.com


© 2025 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

This paper explores the L2 motivation and demotivation of English major students in a Korean junior college. The participants’ L2 (de)motivation was investigated through one of the constructs of the L2 motivational self system (i.e., the ideal L2 self). Data were collected in two rounds of one-on-one interviews with 59 and 31 students across four school years respectively. A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted to reveal whether the ideal L2 self existed within the learners. Also, the intensity of one’s ideal L2 self was found to be pertinent to self-internalization. That is, it depends on in what way and to what extent the participants recognized their ideal L2 selves and sustained them. Even though this paper focused solely on the L2 (de)motivation and ideal L2 selves of female English majors from a single junior college, it suggests ways to enhance college L2 learners’ L2 motivation by fostering their ideal L2 selves and better supporting their internalization as key pedagogical implications.

Keywords:

L2 (de)motivation, L2 motivational self system, ideal L2 self, college English major students, qualitative analysis

Acknowledgments

This paper is based on the author’s doctoral thesis.

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