Exploring L2 Motivational Dynamics Among Chinese EAP Learners in an EMI Context From a Socio-cultural Perspective

Abstract

This paper reports the findings pertinent to the motivational dynamics in learning English for Academic Purposes (EAP), which are a part of a large-scale mixed-methods study. The study was aimed to explore the adaptation of a cohort of Chinese tertiary students when transiting to an English-as-Medium-of-Instruction (EMI) university from Chinese-medium schools in China. Data sources include a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews over a 10-month length of time. Analysis of the quantitative data revealed that the participants became much more strengthened in the overall and dimensional level of motivation after being engaged into EAP learning at the EMI context for two semesters. The qualitative results indicated that the consolidation of the participants’ motivation might result from the newly mediational roles of socio-cultural elements at the EMI environment pertaining to the learning discourses, cultural artifacts, important others and the study of content subjects with the target language. This study crystallizes the situationally constructed disposition of second language (L2) motivation which is responsive to context. The pedagogical implications for EAP teaching are also discussed.

Keywords

Chinese EAP learners L2 motivation changes socio-cultural perspective

Introduction

Second language (L2) motivation has been extensively explored in the past decades from diversified lens (Huang & Feng, 2019; You & Dörnyei, 2016). The establishment of socio-cultural perspective has recently come to prevail in L2 motivation research. It takes L2 motivation as a socially situated construct which is tightly associated with the social and cultural conditions (Sung, 2013). In tandem with this social turn is the dynamism approach in L2 motivation research (Ushioda, 2016). How L2 motivation emerges among individuals in particular socio-cultural context has been drawing attention in the new millenium (Oxford, 2020). Relevant research has shown that the emergence of L2 motivation results from the mediation of a multitude of social, cultural, and contextual factors (Ushioda, 2016). However, these findings are to be further validated in alternative learning environments like China who boasts to have the largest number of English language learners (Hennebry & Gao, 2021). Besides, much of the existing research on L2 motivation focuses either on English-as-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners (Sudina, 2021) or on those shifting from an EFL context to the English-speaking context (C. Li, 2014). Little attention, however, has been paid to the motivation among learners in EMI contexts, particularly those learning EAP at an EMI institution within an EFL context (Macaro et al., 2018).

Over the past two decades, educational policies and pedagogical practice like the EMI provision are taken as strategies aimed to motivate and sustain motivation of learners in their English learning (Fang, 2018; Mahmoodi & Yousefi, 2022). EMI practice in EFL contexts has been drastically expanding in the European Union nations (Lasagabaster & Doiz, 2017) and Asian countries like China (Jiang et al., 2019; McKinley et al., 2021). This practice is typically featured with English for academic purposes (EAP) teaching, small-sized class, and formative assessment, which are sharply different from the traditional EFL environment (C. Li, 2021a). These contextual differences have been proved critical in reshaping EAP learners’ beliefs about and attitudes toward English learning (C. Li, 2021a; C. Li & Ruan, 2015). While posing challenges to the learners, this immediate language learning experience plays a critical role in creating and maintaining the motivation to learn English among them (Dörnyei, 2009). As a central determinant of learning process and outcomes, it is legitimate to understand the development of L2 motivation to learn EAP under those EMI conditions within broader EFL contexts. In light of these gaps, this study thus tries to explore the changes in motivation for EAP learning among a group of students at an EMI institution of higher education in China.

Literature Review

Motivation for Foreign Language Learning

Early attempt to understand L2 motivation mainly followed Gardner’s (1985) socio-educational model and the cognitive-situational perspective (Deci & Ryan, 2008). The former conceptualized L2 motivation into instrumental and integrative categories, while the latter dichotomized it into intrinsic and extrinsic ones. These early theorizations took L2 motivation as a static construct in learners’ motives for learning the target language. They advocated to adopt normative techniques to explore learners’ motivational dispositions and their connections with individual variables such as autonomy (Ueki & Takeuchi, 2013), gender (You et al., 2016), learning strategies (B. Yu, 2019), language proficiency (L. J. Zhang & Xiao, 2006), and others.

Early studies were primarily grounded on the socio-educational framework in their exploration of L2 motivation in the EFL context (i.e., Lamb, 2004). Learners in the EFL context tend to be mainly instrumentally motivated in their English learning, primarily for the external drives such as passing an exam (J. Yu & Geng, 2020), obtaining a certificate (J. F. Chen et al., 2005), winning a scholarship (M. Liu, 2007), and acquiring social recognition (Hennebry & Gao, 2021). Nevertheless, the EFL learners are inconsistently reported to be integratively motivated. For example, while EFL learners are found to be instrumental in their motivation for English learning in Indonesia (Bradford, 2007), China (Kyriacou & Zhu, 2008), and Hungary (Csizér & Dörnyei, 2005) respectively, they are also reported to be integrative in their pursuit of English language proficiency (Lamb, 2004; L. J. Zhang & Xiao, 2006).

The inconsistent results indicate that an instrumentality-integrativeness dichotomy has become inappropriate to explain L2 motivation against the background of English increasingly becoming established as a lingua franca (Lamb, 2004; Xu & Gao, 2014). Instead, researchers suggest alternative approaches to reframe the construct of L2 motivation (Weger, 2013). For instance, considering the undistinguishability of instrumentality and integrativeness, Lamb (2004) suggests a “bicultural” identity by incorporating an English-speaking involved self and a local L1-speaking self. Dörnyei (2005) thus proposes the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) as an alternative to gauge language learning motivation in the EFL context.

In a large-scale survey, You and Dörnyei (2016) follow the L2MSS framework to explore Chinese EFL learners’ motivation for English learning. They find that, although instrumental orientation played a critical part in motivating the learners, other L2MSS components also jointly contributed to their motivational intensity. Ideal L2 Self indirectly empowers Chinese EFL learners’ motivation by means of mediating their attitudes to L2 learning (You et al., 2016). Echoing the call for reconstructing L2 motivation, Y. H. Gao et al. (2007) propose a seven-type taxonomy in their effort to characterizing the motivation for English learning among learners in the Chinese EFL context. This framework has been validated effective in later research (i.e., Y. Gao et al., 2014). This categorization relates to the present study in that it underscores the localized feature of L2 motivation while confirming the classic instrumental-integrative traits (Xu & Gao, 2014), and reflects a bicultural identity with a focus on the local L1-speaking self (Lamb, 2004).

Motivational Dynamics in EMI Context

Recent literature on L2 motivation reveals that, although previous studies following the traditional classic socio-educational and cognitive-situational approaches bear certain merits in presenting a complete picture of L2 motivation, they suffer from some critiques. Specifically, they are criticized for marginalizing the role of context (Al-Hoorie, 2017; Al-Hoorie et al., 2021; Serafini, 2020). Another shortcoming in previous studies is that they fail to take into account the dynamic disposition of and the influence of socio-cultural factors on the formulation of L2 motivation (C. Li, 2021a; Ushioda, 2016). These demerits echo the emerging tendencies that call for attention to the dynamic and responsive-to-context nature of L2 motivation (Huang & Feng, 2019; Ushioda, 2016).

L2 motivation in EMI context has been gaining scholarship in the past years. Existing studies have firstly explored the development of L2 motivation in the study-abroad settings of ESL contexts where courses are delivered following the EMI provision. The EMI instruction in the study-abroad environment is reported to be effective in enhancing L2 motivation of learners, a stronger ideal L2 self in particular (i.e., T. Chen & Chen, 2021; X. Gao, 2008; Q. Li, 2014). The increase in learner motivation mainly stems from the opportunities for using the target language to interact with the native speakers (T. Chen & Chen, 2021), and for creating collaborative learning experience (W. Chen, 2021). Motivational sources shift from passing exams in the EFL context to meeting the immediate communication needs in the ESL context (Jiang et al., 2019; J. Yu & Geng, 2020).

Extant research indicates a close association between L2 motivational development and learner perception of the alignment between their ideal self and context (Du & Jackson, 2021). Dynamics in L2 motivation might be caused by such socio-cultural determinants as significant agents (e.g., teachers), outside pressure, exams, group dynamics, and social experiences (Lai & Ting, 2013). However, whether and to what degree an EMI environment could contribute to an increase in motivation seems to rely on the learners’ perceived satisfaction of the study-abroad experience and their exercise of agency to reshape the immediate context to accomplish their ideal self (Du & Jackson, 2018, 2021).

The effect of EMI instruction on L2 motivation has also been explored in the content and language integrated learning (CLIL) environments in non-native English-speaking contexts (i.e., Somers & Llinares, 2021). Participation in CLIL could strengthen the enjoyment of learning and beliefs about its usefulness for future purposes among learners (Bower, 2019; Somers & Llinares, 2021), and increase learners’ motivation for English learning (Hennebry & Gao, 2021; Lázaro-Ibarrola & Azpilicueta-Martínez, 2021). By contrast, in some other studies CLIL is found not helpful in sustaining learners’ motivation for English learning (i.e., Lasagabaster & Doiz, 2017). These studies have yielded inconsistent evidence regarding the effect of a CLIL context upon L2 motivational development.

The previous efforts are of paramount significance in that they have validated the dynamic nature of L2 motivation in the EMI context. However, given the complex nature of L2 motivation (Shahbaz & Liu, 2012), the influence of socio-cultural factors on its change is to be further examined. This gap thus leads to an increasing call for a socio-cultural stance to examining the dynamic features of L2 motivation (Ushioda, 2016). This stance endorses that the realization of L2 learning comes from the profound interaction between the individual learners’ exercising mediational tools and the societal conditions (Swain & Deters, 2007). It reconceptualizes L2 motivation as a socio-culturally mediated phenomenon (Lamb, 2018). For instance, societal conditions like social values and beliefs attached to education and foreign language learning, and peer- and teacher-student interactions tend to play a considerable part in constructing and reshaping motivation to learn English among Chinese EFL learners (Gu, 2009). These studies indicate a possible link between L2 motivation and the mediational factors including socially situated discourses, artifacts (i.e., test techniques), learning conditions, and social agents like teachers, parents and peers (X. Gao, 2010; Lantolf, 2000).

In summary, the above literature review has indicated that more studies on the dynamicity of L2 motivation from a socio-cultural perspective are necessary in various contexts. Moreover, it is also revealed that relocation from a non-English-speaking context to an English-speaking environment may bring about shifts in motivation to learn English. Recently, there has been a growing prevalence of EMI in mainland China (X. Gao & Ren, 2019; Xie & Curle, 2022). However, little is known whether the inconsistent results regarding the effectiveness of EMI/CLIL in language learning reported outside China is similar in the Chinese EFL context (Wang & Curdt-Christiansen, 2019). Considering the variations in economy, culture, society, and education between China and those western regions, more research on the impact of EMI on language learning is thus called for (Macaro et al., 2018), in Asian areas like China in particular (Hu & Duan, 2019). Grounded on these considerations, it is essential to gauge how an EMI condition embedded within a macro EFL context might determine the construction of motivation in learning EAP among Chinese university students from a socio-cultural perspective.

Research Design

Research Questions

Since previous studies on L2 motivation were primarily cross-sectional (Sudina, 2021), the study reported here followed a longitudinal approach. It is part of a large-scale mixed-methods longitudinal study which examined the adaptation of a group of Chinese EAP learners into an EMI environment in a Chinese university (C. Li, 2013). It aims to explore the potential changes in motivation for EAP learning among the learners during a transitional session from traditional Chinese-medium settings into EMI instructional environment. Specifically, it addresses the following questions:

RQ 1: What are the possible changes in motivation to learn EAP among a group of Chinese learners in an EMI university in China?

RQ 2: What socio-cultural factors might have caused the changes in these learners’ motivation?

The Situated Setting

This study was set at an EMI university located in a metropolitan city of Eastern China. The EAP teachers there are selected internationally according to standards of its UK parent University in terms of qualification in the field of TESOL and applied linguistics, and international experience of education and teaching. A great majority of them either are native speakers of English or with experience of receiving education in the English-speaking counties. These teachers hold appropriate qualifications of TESOL and have rich experiences in EAP teaching. The EAP program offered by the university aims to provide rigid training of language knowledge and skills required for studying the content subjects in English. The program is encompassed of a number of modules related to EAP, skills, lectures, and tutorials. Those modules are delivered with interactive teaching beliefs and in small groups of class which usually have no more than 20 students. All the EAP-related teaching and learning materials are the same as those utilized in the UK parent university. Formative assessment is conducted to evaluate students’ performance. The evaluation is composed of midterm and final examinations, and of assessed essays/reports and speaking tests in tutorials/seminars. In addition, there are a rich variety of extra-curricular activities like English clubs, societies and contests offered to the students at the EMI university.

Participants

This study adopted random sampling method for the quantitative part (Dörnyei, 2007). The population for the quantitative part of this longitudinal survey involved 1,935 students from all over the country, with 1,026 participants for the first survey and 909 ones for the second survey. Among the 1,026 students of the first survey, there were 405 males and 621 females, with 953 of them coming from cities and 15 of them from countryside. Of these respondents, 605 of them ever studied in provincial key senior middle schools, while 306 of them in city key schools and only 65 of them in county key schools. They were aged from 16 to 21 years old, and averagely at 18.34. The average length of time spent learning English of them at the time of the first survey was 9.72 years. The participants for the second survey share similar background as those in the first survey. Of the 909 surveyed students, there were 496 males and 413 girls, with 833 of them originating from metropolitan cities and only 76 from rural parts. Five hundred thirty of them completed their senior middle school study at provincial key schools, 280 of them at municipal key ones, and 54 of them at county-key ones. They had averagely learned English for 10.07 years when they participated in the second survey.

The participants for the qualitative part of this study were selected by means of purposive sampling (Dörnyei, 2007). Upon completion of the first survey, 16 students were invited for a follow-up interview (Interview I). However, four of them decided to terminate their involvement into the second stage of this study due to their personal pressure for academic study. Therefore, for the purpose of balancing the number of interviewees for the two stages of research, another five participants were recruited (Interview II). All the interviewees majored in Engineering-related areas. A large proportion of them came from such large cities as Shanghai, Beijing, and others in southeastern part of China. They received their middle school education from prestigious county, municipal and provincial key schools.

Instruments

Existing research on L2 motivation is criticized for over-relying on self-reported questionnaire (Mendoza & Phung, 2019) and for not taking into account qualitative techniques (Mahmoodi & Yousefi, 2022). To address these methodological issues, this study adopted a mix-methods approach.

As previously explained in Section 2.1, L2 motivation needs to be reframed with both a globally English-speaking self and a locally L1-speaking self (Lamb, 2004; Weger, 2013; Xu & Gao, 2014). To this end, a 19-item questionnaire was designed mainly by drawing on sources from Y. H. Gao et al. (2004, 2007). Before finalizing the instrument, it was cross-translated between English and Chinese and cross-checked by a colleague with a PhD in applied linguistics so as to make it cater for the purpose of the present study. Then, four undergraduate students were invited for a pilot study in order to guarantee validity of the questionnaire. Modifications were accordingly made based on the feedback from the pilot study. The finalized questionnaire had two parts. The first part inquired the background information of the participants in terms of gender, origin and others. The second part assessed the participants’ motivation for English learning. The items regarding Intrinsic Interest (Items 1 and 2), Immediate Achievement (Items 3 and 4), Going Abroad (Items 5 and 6), Individual Development (Items 7, 8, and 9), Information Medium (Items 10 and 11), and Learning Situation (Items 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19) were adapted from Y. H. Gao et al. (2004, 2007). The items relating to Important Others (Items 12 and 13) were informed by Kyriacou and Zhu (2008). The items utilized a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The reliability of the instrument was measured by means of Cronbach Alpha. The Cronbach alphas of the questionnaire scale were .7017 for the first survey and .7352 for the second survey respectively. The two figures were above the acceptable threshold of 0.60 for the quantitative paradigm in research of applied linguistics (Dörnyei, 2007), thus showing good internal consistency and reasonable reliability.

Interviews have an advantage of not only revealing the changes in motivation to learn a second/foreign language among the interviewees, but also suggesting the underpinning reasons for those changes (Amuzie & Winke, 2009). For the sake of unveiling the reconstructing process of motivation to learn EAP among the participants, semi-structured interviews were performed throughout the research. An interview protocol was developed to elicit the behind reasons for the motivation to learn EAP among the learners. Before the official start of the survey, the interview protocol also went through a pilot study for guaranteeing the validity of the interview instrument for later data collection.

Data Collection

To answer RQ1 concerning changes in motivation to learn EAP at the selected EMI University, questionnaire survey was administered to the participants (Upon-arrival Survey) upon their registering for the EAP program in the beginning of the first semester of their freshman-year study. Then the same group of the participants was re-invited to fill in the questionnaire after one academic year so as to observe possible changes in their motivation to learn EAP at the university (After-arrival Survey).

The surveys were conducted during the intervals of class after consent was obtained from the research department of the university and the copies of the questionnaire were subsequently collected. Before responding to the questionnaires, the participants were first informed of the research objectives and of the instructions to answer the questionnaire items. They were also guaranteed that their response would be kept confidentially and utilized for the sole purpose of research. Removing the invalid copies of the questionnaires yielded 1,026 and 909 valid copies of the two surveys for later analysis respectively.

To seek answers to RQ2 regarding the reasons for the changes in the participants’ motivation to learn EAP at the university, sixteen students were selected by following a purposive sampling method and were semi-structurally interviewed alongside the two questionnaire surveys. Chinese, mother tongue of the interviewees, was utilized as the interview language, for the purpose of guaranteeing thorough and precise expression of views from the interviewees (Dörnyei, 2007). The time duration for the interviews ranged from 30 to 50 min, and all were audibly recorded.

Data Analysis

To answer RQ1 as regards the possible changes in motivation to learn EAP among the participants, descriptive techniques such as means and standard deviations were applied to first understand the profiles of the motivation of the respondents. Then Independent T-test was utilized to ascertain the variations of motivation among the participants after learning EAP at the university for an academic year.

The interview data were first transcribed verbatim, generating 103,080-word and 122,580-word transcripts for the first and second interview respectively. The transcripts were processed with ATLAS.ti by following the qualitative content analysis approach (Dörnyei, 2007). The analytical approach followed a sequence of initial coding of themes, identifying patterns, interpreting, and theorizing (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005). Any segment concerned was initially coded with a descriptive label. For example, the following thematic segment “I wanted to learn English well because I planned to study abroad for my master’s degree in the future, […]” was coded as the motive of “going abroad.” Execution of the above steps was followed until a scheme was developed. Then, secondary coding was initiated to move beyond the descriptive labeling and to capture more generic commonalities of the previously coded segments (Dörnyei, 2007). That is, the thematic patterns were to be identified at this step, and then repeatedly compared with those emerging from the initial coding. If necessary, further revision would be made based on the proposed analytical framework of the mediational factors (X. Gao, 2010). This iterative process finally identified the themes of reasons for changes in motivation for EAP learning among the interviewees.

For the sake of guaranteeing that the categorization of the themes was reliable, the author repeated the categorizing work with one-third of the transcript 5 months later when the initial categorization was completed. Then, the author compared the twice coded segments. The intra-coder coefficient was 0.860, which indicates that the categorization of the data was reasonably reliable (Miles & Huberman, 1994).

Results

Changes in Motivation Among the Participants

Table 1 reports motivation to learn EAP after the respondents stayed at the university for one academic year. A salient increase can be found in the means of the overall and dimensional motivation among the participants after they had studied EAP for a year in contrast to their motivational level upon their arrival at the university. A further examination over the data can reveal significant differences in the whole scale (p = .000, <.05), and in such subscales as Going Abroad (p = .000, <.05), Information Medium (p = .000, <.05), Important Others (p = .000, <.05), and Learning Situation (p = .000, <.05). The results reveal a statistically significant increase in the overall and the above dimensional motivation to learn EAP among the participants 1 year later. It seems that the 1-year EAP study might have significantly strengthened their motivation to learn English at the EMI university.

Table 1.

Overall and Dimensional Motivation to Learn EAP Among the Participants.

Category	Group	N	Mean	SD	P[Sig.(2-tailed)]
IIT	Upon-arrival	1,026	3.36	0.8836	.093
IIT	After-arrival	909	3.42	0.7805	.093
IAT	Upon-arrival	1,026	3.32	0.9609	.876
IAT	After-arrival	909	3.32	0.7911	.876
GAD	Upon-arrival	1,026	3.63	0.7109	.004
GAD	After-arrival	909	3.72	0.6372	.004
IDT	Upon-arrival	1,026	3.55	0.6747	.068
IDT	After-arrival	909	3.61	0.5931	.068
IMM	Upon-arrival	1,026	3.14	0.6379	.000
IMM	After-arrival	909	3.84	0.6043	.000
IOS	Upon-arrival	1,026	2.66	0.9413	.000
IOS	After-arrival	909	2.96	0.8502	.000
LSN	Upon-arrival	1,026	2.87	0.5011	.000
LSN	After-arrival	909	3.44	0.4527	.000
Overall	Upon-arrival	1,026	3.16	0.3657	.000
Overall	After-arrival	909	3.47	0.3545	.000

Note. IIT = Intrinsic Interest; IAT = Immediate Achievement; GAD = Going Abroad; IDT = Individual Development; IMM = Information Medium; LSN = Learning Situation; IOS = Important Others.

To further ascertain the changes in motivation to learn EAP after the participants had studied at the University for a 10-month academic year, Independent T-Test was run on item level (Table 2). The results show significant increase in nine motivational items. Of these items, Item 5 (p = .005, <.05) is related to the participants’ attitude toward learning EAP for going abroad in future, which falls into the motivational dimension of Going Abroad. This could be translated that their motivation for going abroad was significantly strengthened after staying at the university for 1 year. Another significant increase is found with Item 10 (p = .000, <.05) concerning their purpose of learning English to facilitate their learning of the academic subjects. This result implies a significantly intensified motivation of learning English as the medium of acquiring information among the participants. Besides, there is a significant increase in Item 13 (p = .000, <.05) pertinent to peer influence which belongs to the motivator of Important Others. This result indicates that the participants seem to be significantly more motivated by their peers when they studied EAP at the university for 1 year.

Table 2.

Independent T-test of Item-level Motivation to Learn EAP Among the Participants.

Item	Mean (Upon-arrival)	Mean (After-arrival)	t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
5	3.62	3.73	−2.833	1933	.005
10	2.64	3.95	−39.201	1933	.000
13	2.51	3.06	−12.361	1933	.000
14	3.54	3.63	−2.619	1933	.009
15	2.57	3.32	−20.721	1933	.000
16	2.24	3.75	−41.127	1933	.000
17	3.07	3.59	−13.714	1933	.000
18	3.39	3.56	−4.531	1933	.000
19	2.43	2.80	−9.254	1933	.000

Moreover, the respondents displayed a significant increase in Item 14 (p = .009, <.05), Item 15 (p = .000, <.05), Item 16 (p = .000, <.05), Item 17 (p = .000, <.05), Item 18 (p = .000, <.05), and Item 19 (p = .000, <.05) respectively, which fall into the dimension of Learning Situation. They attributed to tutorials (Item 14) and interaction with teachers (Item 18) that helped them maintain interest in EAP learning, and showed a keen interest in engaging themselves into such extracurricular activities as English debates and the Model United Nations (Item 19). They expressed that they learned EAP for better harnessing online resources provided by the university (Item 15) and facilitating the study of content subjects (Item 16). They also acknowledged the value of classroom activities like group discussion in developing their interest in EAP learning (Item 17).

Socio-Cultural Factors Causing Changes in Motivation Among the Participants

The analysis of the interview data revealed the following four themes that might have caused changes in the participants’ motivation for EAP learning at the selected university, namely, learning discourse, cultural artifacts, social agents and the study of content subjects in English.

The first mediational source responsible for the shift of motivation among the participants is learning discourse. Learning discourse relates to the mainstream values and perceptions about learning an additional language as well as the objectives that the learners aspire to fulfill in a particular society (X. Gao, 2010). The learning discourse embedded in China is featured with an educational value that carries colossal primacy to personal pursuit of social mobility (X. Gao, 2008). This discoursal orientation seems to have greatly influenced the respondents’ instrumental investment into English learning prior to their arrival at the university. It is voiced in the following excerpt: “My hometown is close to metropolitan Shanghai. English is absolutely an indispensable skill”(Paul, Lines 1129-1130, Interview I). English is a critical asset for many Chinese nationals, for those like Paul from metropolitan areas in particular, against the globalization background in modern China (X. Gao, 2008). This contextual reality thus shaped Chinese EFL learners’ instrumental motivation for learning English.

The discoursal condition at the EMI university, which differs from that of the traditional EFL surroundings whose priority is to drive the learners to rote learn English (C. Liu, 2013), prioritizes using English. This new role of using English to study content subjects seems to have profoundly influenced the respondents’ motivation at the University: “English is of particular importance for us to learn the content subjects in English in our second year of university[…]”(Michael, Lines 529–530, Interview II). Admission by the EMI university suggests a temporary success of acquiring good scores in the National English Matriculation. However, this does not lead to a reduction in motivation to learn English among the participants. Instead, this might be connected with the shift of the immediate need from improving English language proficiency for obtaining high marks in senior middle school to uplifting competence of using English as a tool to facilitate the study of content subjects at the EMI environment (T. Chen & Chen, 2021; Du & Jackson, 2021).

The second mediational source causing change in motivation among the participants pertains to cultural artifacts. Forms of cultural artifacts such as formative assessment of high stake exams, reference books and teaching materials exert a profound influence upon L2 motivation (X. Gao, 2010; Palfreyman, 2006). The semi-structured interviews of this study indicate that the learners in their pre-university education were mainly and dominantly driven by the National College Entrance Examination which adopts summative assessment. As Rachel commented, her English class in high school had no other activity but “a class of simulated exercises for the National English Matriculation (Rachel, Lines 1942-1943, Interview I).” Apparently, the National English Matriculation was a tremendous driving force in the interviewees’ motivation in senior middle school. This might be due to the authoritative status of the exam for Chinese students to pursue academic membership in China (Meyer, 2012). Thus, high stake exams like the National English Matriculation become an influential mediator upon formulating the instrumental motivation among the interviewees when they were in high school.

Differentiating from the summative assessment practice in the National English Matriculation and other major tests in traditional Chinese EFL class, formative assessment was executed in the EMI environment of this study. The formative assessment at the EMI university includes such components as classroom presentations, projects, essays, mid-term tests and final exam, which, as expressed by Roy, “make students pay much more attention to the daily study of English before the final examination” (Roy, Lines 1144-1145, Interview II). Evidently, the different assessment methods at the university from those at high school seem to mediate the motivation to learn English among those Chinese learners (Gan, 2009). The integration of the comprehensive English language skills into the formative assessment system positively impacts the respondents’ motivation to learn EAP at the university. To be successful in academic study, the learners need to deeply engage themselves into the various classroom activities such as group discussion and presentations which are the key elements of the formative assessment mechanism (W. Chen, 2021). Consequently, they were driven to more deeply invest into their English study from which a stronger motivation was thus nurtured within this new educational environment (Ashton-Hay, 2009).

Members of important others like teachers and peers are reported to be critical social agents in this study. Among them, English language teachers are often found to be influential persons in mediating learners’ motivation because of the former’ deeper involvement into the latter’s learning of English than other social agents. For example, as revealed in the interviews, the learners were often informed of the absolute importance of English course to their success in the National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) from their English teachers in high school. “Our English teacher just kept telling us the importance of English to our success in the Gaokao and to our future personal development (Jack, Lines 782-783, Interview I).” Jack’s words suggest the mediating effect of English teachers upon the instrumental value of learning English among the participants in their high school study. Because English is a required subject in the National College Entrance Examination, English teachers thus function as a big part in imposing the instrumentality of English onto the students (Thøgersen, 2002). Those teachers, in tandem with other social agents like family members, take their pedagogical advantage in elaborating on the significance of and in promoting the internalization process of this value into English learning among the learners (X. Gao, 2008).

Different from the pushing force of teachers on the learners’ motives for learning English in high school, the way for teachers to influence them was mainly through socialization at the EMI university. As expressed by some interviewees, the interaction with their teachers at the EMI university might have impacted their motivation at the university. For instance, Sarah had it that she would like to communicate with her EAP tutor and was encouraged to seek academic help from him if she needed. “Last time I popped into my English teacher’ office and chatted for a while. He said I am always welcome to talk to him if I have a problem…in doing the project, […], (Sarah, Lines 379-380, Interview II).” This interaction process nurtures the creation of scaffolding for students’ learning. This scaffolding is of particular importance for the learners’ adaptation into the EMI context where they might encounter challenges (C. Li & Ruan, 2015; C. Liu, 2013). Scaffolding strategies including tutorial sessions and office hours are suggested to guarantee teacher immediacy and constant socialization opportunities between teachers and learners, which might function as effective driving force in the learners’ motivation to learn EAP in the EMI environment (Pae, 2017).

Another social agent who might have mediated the participants’ motivation to learn English at the EMI university is peer, who is little reported in the interview in association with the learners’ English language learning experiences in high school. The interviews indicate that there were affluent opportunities for the interviewees to socialize with their peers through a rich variety of tasks including projects, written and oral reports, as well as extra-curricular activities. As Bane expressed as follows, a fellow who also took part in the Model United Nations Association seems to strongly motivate him to learn English much harder: “The member (of the Model United Nations) has excellent oral English and eloquent debating competence. I wish I could learn English that well too, […], (Bane, Lines 1097-1098, Interview II.” It is noteworthy that peer interaction is benevolent in establishing an atmosphere for socialization and collaborative learning (Rollinson, 2005), which provides opportunities for the learners to witness the better competence of their peers, take their peers as role models, and in turn stimulate them to pump more into their English study.

The mediating effect of studying content subjects in English is also acknowledged by the interviewees on their motivation to learn EAP at the university. Using English to study content subjects seems to have enhanced the learners’ instrumental motivation by offering more opportunities for them to get exposed to rich variety of linguistic input and technique terms in particular (T. Chen & Chen, 2021; Somers & Llinares, 2021). As commented by Eason, to study content subjects in English represents another way of learning English, which is facilitative for them to “better adapt to the English-medium environment at this university and to study in the UK in the near future (Eason, Lines 12-13, Interview II).” The beneficial effect of learning content subjects in English thus shaped the learners’ attitude of regarding English as a critical instrument in helping their content subject study when moving into the advance stage of their university education (Bower, 2019).

Additionally, the learning of the content subjects with English is reported to have cultivated the learners’ intrinsic interest in English learning. As Duke expressed in the interview, the learning tasks were diversified in their class of content subjects which he found to be very interesting but “…We seldom had opportunities to conduct activities like group presentations, discussions and projects in high school. […] (Duke, Lines 1349-1350, Interview II).” This might be related to the authentic communication opportunities created in the content subject class through the various forms of functional, goal-stimulated, and demanding activities like projects, reports and experiments. These meaningful activities involve the use of the target language for communication of authentic situations (Fazzi & Lasagabaster, 2021), but never appear in the learners’ pre-university English learning experiences. These tasks of the content subject class meet the needs and cater for the interest of the learners. Therefore, they are effective in formulating a friendly environment which is much appealing to the students (Lasagabaster & Doiz, 2017) and arouse their interest in learning EAP at the university (C. Li, 2021a; C. Li & Ruan, 2015).

Discussion

This study was aimed to explore the dynamicity in motivation for EAP learning among Chinese EFL learners when transiting from their post-secondary schooling to an English-medium context in their university education in China. It has yielded two major findings. Firstly, the results reveal that the respondents became significantly strengthened in the overall level of their motivation and in four motivational components related to learning English for studying/working abroad, for taking English as the medium of acquiring information, for the sake of important social agents, and for the specific learning situations. The statistically significant increase in the participants’ motivation at the EMI university lends support to previous studies that an EMI context could exert a positive influence upon L2 motivation (i.e., T. Chen & Chen, 2021; Hennebry & Gao, 2021; Lázaro-Ibarrola & Azpilicueta-Martínez, 2021; Q. Li, 2014). The motivational change identified in this study also sheds light on the dynamic nature of L2 motivation (Ushioda, 2016). Besides, the significant increase in the sub-motivational components such as going abroad, information medium, important others and learning situation found in this study indicates the situational disposition of L2 motivation (Lamb, 2018; Lantolf, 2000). This situationality is particularly reflected in the dimension of going abroad, which diverges from previous studies in the study-abroad context (i.e., Du & Jackson, 2018, 2021; Q. Li, 2014). This is because the learners in the present study would have opportunities in their third year to transfer themselves to the parent university in the UK.

The second major finding is that the change in the participants’ motivation for EAP learning resulted from the changing mediational effect of four aspects, namely, learning discoursal conditions, important social agents, cultural artifacts, and the study of content subjects in English at the EMI university. It has found that the discoursal conditions of learning at the university might be responsible for increasing the participants’ motivation for EAP learning in general, and for going abroad and information medium in particular. The adoption of English as the language of instruction and communication at the university seems to pose challenge to the learners, thus strengthening their motivation, and particularly information medium motivation to learn EAP. The change is evident of the mediation of learning discourse on learner motivation (Jiang et al., 2019; J. Yu & Geng, 2020). This finding validates the mediating effects of an EMI context upon L2 learning (C. Li, 2021b; C. Li & Ruan, 2015) and once again manifests that L2 motivation is a socio-contextually situated construct (Lamb, 2018; Ushioda, 2016).

Cultural artifacts are another major mediator that might have strengthened the participants’ motivation at the English-speaking university. The formative assessment there required the learners to actively engage themselves into various activities such as survey projects, oral presentations and group discussions. These assessment activities were often conducted in group and collaborative forms. These forms are conducive in nurturing a positive attitude toward and an interest in participating in these activities (Bećirović et al., 2022; Jagger, 2013). These activities then offer a good learning experience to the learners and improve their enjoyment of the class (Alamdari & Ghani, 2022; C. Li et al., 2022). The happy classroom learning experience might thus engender a stronger motivation for English learning among the learners (Alamdari & Ghani, 2022; Jacobs & McCafferty, 2006).

Important others are the third factor that might have caused the increase in the respondents’ motivation to learn EAP at the English-medium university. Teachers, as a crucial social agent, exert a greater impact upon learner motivation in contrast to other external factors (J. Zhang & Zhang, 2021). Teachers in this study remain critical agents in the respondents’ motivation when they transited into the EMI environment. They displayed their role through interaction like the tutorial system at the EMI university which might create a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for the English instructors to scaffold the students. The interacting process serves as supplementary motivational forces in the students’ EAP learning (Amiryousefi & Geld, 2021). Similarly, the rich opportunities to interact with other peers in a variety of classroom tasks and extracurricular activities at the EMI University contribute to a dynamic learning atmosphere (Rollinson, 2005), which might help the learners visualize personally relevant identities and thus promote their motivation to learn English (Magid & Chan, 2012).

This study has also found that studying the content subjects in English significantly strengthened the learners’ motivation to learn EAP. This result partially accounts for the increase in the motivational dimension of Information Medium among the learners after one academic year of EAP study at the English-medium university. This may be associated with the nature of an English-medium environment where English is assigned with the function of facilitating the study of content subjects, which shall be very demanding and difficult to the non-native learners of English (C. Li, 2021b; C. Li & Ruan, 2015). To survive those challenges in the English-medium context would thus become a strong motivator to the learners (X. Gao, 2010; C. Liu, 2013). Besides, the content subjects are related to the learners’ needs and interest in pursuing professional and disciplinary knowledge. The content, materials, and tasks for the study of the content subjects in English are authentic and associated with the learners’ academic needs (Fazzi & Lasagabaster, 2021). Therefore, the experience of learning the content subjects in English could create opportunities for the learners to develop an identity in their academic pursuit and enhance their sense of self as language learners (Amorati & Hajek, 2021).

Conclusion

This study investigated the changes in motivation for EAP learning among Chinese learners of English at an EMI setting in China. It has found that the participants became significantly more strongly motivated in terms of going abroad, information medium, important others, and learning situation. These significantly strengthened motivational orientations were found to be caused by a number of different socio-cultural mediators, including the discoursal learning conditions, cultural artifacts, important social agents, and the study of content subjects in English at the EMI context. These findings shed light on the view that L2 motivation is a socially situated construct (Lamb, 2018; Ushioda, 2016) and enrich the scope of research on L2 motivation by extending its subjects into EAP learners from a relatively micro EMI setting embedded within a macro EFL environment.

The findings are implicative for instructing English for academic purposes in English-medium conditions in China and beyond. The potential influence of an EMI learning discourse on learners’ L2 motivation indicates a feasibility of promoting EMI education within a macro EFL environment. Besides, the possible impact of artifacts and the study of content subjects in English on L2 motivation necessitate continuing support to learners at the transient stage from EFL learning into EAP learning. In addition, the mediating effect of teachers through socialization suggests the necessity of teacher development and teacher training with regard to the delivery of EAP program to students.

Finally, it should be pointed out that this study has its limitations in terms of quantitative data processing and research context. This study only utilized descriptive means to ascertain the dispositions and change in L2 motivation among the participants. Although descriptive techniques could help gauge the basic information of the learners’ motivation, inferential methods such as factor analysis and structural equation modeling are suggested in future. Furthermore, this study set its context at one EMI higher institution in China which might have its unique features that may be different from other universities. Given the rapid increase of EMI programs and universities in China and beyond, the findings are to be further validated with larger sample from more EMI institutions in future research.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The author sincerely thanks the editors and the reviewers for their instructive suggestions and service for the paper. His gratitude also goes to those student participants who took their precious time to take part in the questionnaires and interviews.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences Project, China’s Ministry of Education (grant number: 22YJA740016), the Key Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education Philosophy and Social Science Research Fund (No. 21ZD051), and the Teaching and Research Fund of Hubei University of Technology (No. Xiao2022018).

Ethics Statement

It is stated that this study involves no ethical issues with regard for animal and human studies.

ORCID iD

Chili Li

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