Primary EFL : Pupils\u27 Motivation to Learn English in Primary Schools in Japan

This paper attempts to reopen the discussion previously held on a research study that waslaunched in the late 90s to look at primary pupils\u27 motivation to learn English in Japan. The primary data was collected by employing a questionnaire technique in the survey approach at two state primary schools in Japan: 153 pupils in total in the last form (P6s aged 11-12) were selected as the representative samples of the schools. The main findings indicate that the majority of the primary school pupils have powerful instrumental L2 motivation, which is more precisely explored from the viewpoint of gender difference. At this premise, the main focus of this paper is firstly to give completeness to the original investigation, and secondly to provide alternative perspectives on the initial findings by adopting currently recognised conceptual framework on the L2 motivation, the L2 Motivational Self System. It is of note that this paper sheds light on possibilities ofadopting it to examine the L2 motivation among the primary pupils in Japan. This suggests that the Motivational L2 Self System seems to be applicable to disclosing certain features of primary L2 learners and achieve the further understandings on their L2 motivation