Understanding Directed Motivational Currents among Chinese EFL Students at a Technological University

Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs), as the latest theoretical development of second language (L2) motivation research, warrant more empirical investigations. In light of this, the present paper reports the results of a questionnaire survey on the features of DMCs among 245 English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners at a technological university in China. The collected data were analysed by descriptive means and Independent T-test. The results show that most of the participants ever experienced DMCs in their English learning. Their experiences of DMCs mainly occurred in classroom settings. They reported a high level of DMCs and showed a strong willingness to experience them again. In addition, English majors were significantly different from non-English majors in some aspects of their DMCs. The findings of this study will be pedagogically implicative for maintaining L2 motivation among EFL learners in China and other similar contexts.