Transitioning from secondary school to an English-medium transnational university in China: a longitudinal study of student self-efficacy and motivational beliefs

ABSTRACT

This longitudinal study explores changes in self-efficacy and motivational beliefs for learners beginning to study via English-medium instruction (EMI) at a transnational university in China. Following first-year local Chinese students over their first semester of learning via EMI, the study focuses on changes in learner self-efficacy beliefs towards lecture listening alongside task value, intrinsic goal orientation, and extrinsic goal orientation. It draws upon questionnaire (N = 412) and interview data (n = 34) to show significant gains in student self-efficacy due to (1) enactive mastery experiences and (2) the development of strategies for mediating the impact of negative affect. A midterm drop in the strength of intrinsic goal orientations contrasted with a greater focus on extrinsic factors, indicating that as students transitioned to the EMI environment, short-term extrinsic factors were of greater importance. However, findings indicate a rebound in the importance of intrinsic factors due to stronger self-efficacy and self-appraisals of success in EMI study, indicating a relationship between efficacy beliefs and intrinsic value orientations. The results contribute to the currently limited research on learner motivation development during transition into EMI transnational higher education.

KEYWORDS:

• Englishmedium instruction (EMI)
• motivation
• self-efficacy
• China
• transnational higher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Science Foundation of Beijing Language and Culture University (supported by “the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities”) (Approval/Grant number 22YBB46).

Notes on contributors

Sihan Zhou

Sihan Zhou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a member of the EMI Oxford Research Group. Her research focuses on motivation, self-regulation, and lecture listening in EMI higher education in China, most recently appearing in journals such as Language Teaching, System, ELT Journal, Applied Linguistics Review, and RELC Journal.

Gene Thompson

Gene Thompson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Business at Rikkyo University and a member of the EMI Oxford research group. His EMI-related research focuses on the intersection between learner self-beliefs and behaviour, appearing in journals such as the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Studies in Higher Education, System, and Language Teaching Research.

Sirui Zhou

Sirui Zhou is a Lecturer in the Department of Foreign Languages, Beijing Language and Culture University, and Director of an English-Spanish-Chinese multilingual programme. Her research focuses on multilingualism and multilingual education in China.