EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING MOTIVATION AND PROFICIENCY

Abstract A foundation of second language motivational theory has been that motivation contributes to explaining variance in learning proficiency; however, empirical findings have mixed. This article presents an innovative approach exploring L2 proficiency and motivations teenage English learners Madrid, Spain (N = 1773). Participants completed a multiskill test, plus eight-scale questionnaire operationalizing constructs from Dörnyei’s Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, 2005). Data were analysed using Latent Variable Mixture Modeling, person-centered profiling approach. Results indicated five distinct classes students, characterized by differing motivation-proficiency profiles. The importance this study is the analysis does not assume homogenous relationship between traits levels across learner sample; whilst there undoubtedly connection two areas, it straightforward correlation, some extent discrepancies previous laying groundwork for further, more nuanced, investigation.