MOTIVATION PROFILES AND ASSOCIATIONS WITH PERFORMANCE AMONG CHINESE RURAL SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

Adopting a person-centered latent profile analysis (LPA) approach, the study drew on the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) to explore the motivation profiles of senior high school 12th graders in an impoverished hinterland region and examined their associations with foreign language (FL) performance. A total of 153 students across three classes completed a paper-based questionnaire measuring their motivational constructs, and their achievement was assessed through the English grades they achieved in a unified regional exam issued by the prefecture-level city education bureaus. Latent profile analysis identified three groups, labeled the high, moderate, and low-motivation clusters, respectively. The three groups presented distinct motivation profiles and FL performance outcomes. The high-motivation group achieved the highest scores in the English exam, followed by the moderate and low-motivation groups. The results provide new insights for pedagogical practices in FL teaching in rural regions.