Structural Equation Modeling Analysis of Chinese Undergraduate English Language-Learners' Personal Factors and Contextual Factors Based on Self-Determination Theory

This study investigated the relationships among Chinese undergraduate English learners' motivation for learning English (i.e., students' internal choice, students' external pressure), integrative orientation (i.e., students' engagement with the target language culture or community), students' perceptions of psychological need satisfaction, English self-efficacy, classroom engagement, and their English academic achievement. The theoretical framework underlying this study is Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000a, 2000b, 2017). To investigate the relationships among the variables, a quantitative research methodology of a full structural equation model with single indicators was used. Although language learners' motivation for learning a second/foreign language is a well-studied construct, there is a paucity of studies to investigate whether or not Self-Determination Theory applies to Chinese collectivistic culture for understanding Chinese college English language learners' motivation for learning English. The purpose of this dissertation study was to investigate the relationships among Chinese undergraduate English language learners' personal variables (i.e., motivation for learning English, integrative orientation, English self-efficacy, classroom engagement, and English academic achievement) and contextual variables (i.e., students' perceptions of psychological need satisfaction) in a full structural model. The participants of this study were 1,378 Chinese undergraduate English majors from middle-level national public universities in the Southeast of China. Findings of the current study showed that Chinese undergraduate English language-learners, who were primarily regulated by internal choice (i.e., intrinsic regulation, identified regulation), were likely to perceive that teachers met their psychological-needs for intrinsic motivation, and to have greater intentions to engage in the target-language culture and community, which in turn predicted their learning-related beliefs (e.g., a high sense of English efficacy), learning-related behaviors (e.g., active involvement in learning activities), and English achievement. Nevertheless, students who were primarily regulated by externally-controlled reasons for learning English, including introjected regulation (i.e., performing a task to avoid feeling guilty), external regulation (i.e., performing a task for obtaining rewards), and parental persuasion (i.e., parents' influence toward learning English) were also likely to perceive that their teachers met their psychological-needs, which may have influenced their intention to integrate into the target-language culture and community. This dissertation study investigated Chinese undergraduate English learners' motivation for learning English as a foreign language and the consequent learning outcomes. Findings of this study broadened understandings of students' motivation for learning a language by showing how students' initial reasons for learning a language may influence their learning beliefs, classroom engagement, and language achievement. Keywords: Chinese undergraduate English majors, motivation, psychological need satisfaction, integrative orientation, self-determination theory