Accommodating to the Learning Environment: Secondary Control, Academic Motivation, and Language Learning Outcomes in Two Cultures.

• Author / Creator

  Chaffee, Kathryn E

• This study proposes to identify how secondary control, which involves adjusting the self to accommodate the environment, fits into the framework of Self-Determination Theory for both Canadian and Japanese second language students. It was hypothesized that secondary control via positive reappraisals of a negative situation (i.e., having an authoritarian language instructor) would moderate the relation between perceptions of the teacher and students’ motivation and affect. Correlational analyses of the questionnaire responses of 154 Canadian university students and 158 Japanese university students asking them about their experiences in a foreign or second language class revealed that the use of secondary control via positive reappraisals is associated with higher need satisfaction and more self-determined motivation in both Canada and Japan. Contrary to expectations, moderation effects of secondary control were not found. These findings indicate that secondary control via positive reappraisals can be a helpful strategy for maintaining students’ language learning motivation.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Secondary control
  • Language learning
  • Motivations

• Graduation date

  Fall 2013

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3DH48

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.