Motivational patterns of emergent and fully bilingual children learning English and Japanese at an international school

Purpose: Based on self-determination theory, this study compared the motivation of emergent bilinguals and full bilinguals in English and Japanese learning at an international elementary school in Japan. Methodology: This study employed a questionnaire on motivational orientations in English and Japanese learning. Data and analysis: Participants were 104 children who had either English or Japanese as their first language or had an English and Japanese bilingual background. A mixed-measures analysis of variance and correlation analysis were performed on the survey data. Findings: Although the degree of internalization of motivation differed depending on whether students were emergent or full bilinguals, the pattern of their motivational intensity in learning English and Japanese was similar among the three groups. Specifically, the full bilinguals internalized motivation in English and Japanese learning equally, while members of both the emergent bilingual groups internalized motivation only in learning the main language of instruction, English. Regarding the respective motivational intensity in the learning of the two languages, autonomous motivation (intrinsic motivation and identified regulation) was significantly stronger in English learning than Japanese learning among the groups, except identified regulation in the emergent bilinguals with English as their first language, while controlled motivation (introjected and external regulation) was significantly stronger in Japanese learning than English learning. Correlation analysis between English learning and Japanese learning additionally showed that for the full bilinguals, intrinsic motivation in English learning did not correlate to that in Japanese learning, whereas such motivation was positively correlated among emergent bilinguals. Originality: This is the first cross-lingual study using self-determination theory to compare motivation between emergent children reciprocally learning their first and second languages. It also compares the motivation of emergent children to that of fully bilingual children learning two first languages. Implications: Different patterns of motivation among emergent and full bilinguals necessitate corresponding classroom strategies.