Academic Motivational Orientations and Vocabulary Size of L2 Adolescent Learners

Abstract

While motivation has been widely embraced by both researchers and practitioners as a critical determinant of success in language learning, there are scarcity of studies that pay attention to the separate role of motivation in L2 vocabulary learning. The present study revisits the self-determination framework of motivational orientations to highlight the utility of the intrinsic/extrinsic distinction for predicting L2 learning outcomes, in our instance, vocabulary knowledge. Relationships were sought between L2 vocabulary size and motivation by conducting receptive and productive vocabulary size tests on 261 adolescent high school learners, with information on the learners’ degrees of academic motivation via the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire. There were significant differences between all receptive vocabulary proficiency groups for the subtypes of extrinsic motivation. In examining significant predictors of receptive vocabulary knowledge, identified regulation, the most autonomous form of extrinsic motivation, was noted. Further subject variables, such as gender and year of study also indicated the female students and high school seniors scoring relatively higher on the receptive vocabulary test. The results imply how vocabulary learning needs to occur in contexts that can promote positive sensations for more self-determined subtypes of motivation.