Directed Motivational Currents and Their Triggers in Formal English Learning Educational Settings in Japan

The purpose of this study is to describe the nature of Directed Motivational Currents (DMC) experience among Japanese learners of English, and to identify long-term motivational barriers college students studying English compulsorily have. The most significant findings of this study reveal the proportion of respondents who reported experiencing DMC periods of motivation while learning English, the time of the experience and most common triggers. This study demonstrates that in Japanese educational settings, external factors and outcome-led goals play a dominant role to maintain English learning perseverance in students. One of the reasons may be that the Japanese college students are not always intimately connected to their self-concordant goals and to an individual core sense of self. Project-based learning is proposed as the means the teachers in Japan can use to help students overcome these barriers and facilitate a long-term motivation in English language learning in tertiary settings.departmental bulletin pape