Abstract
The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the influence of pedagogical intervention on the L2 motivation of Japanese university students. It consequently examines the sensitivity of the new questionnaire developed by Agawa and Takeuchi (2016c). A quasi-experimental study was conducted to compare two types of instructions: conventional instructions used in test-preparation courses (contrast group [CG]) and instructions based on self-determination theory (SDT) (treatment group [TG]). In the CG, 23 students worked on tasks similar to TOEFL and IELTS questions. In the TG, 24 students received instructions designed to satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The newly developed questionnaire based on SDT was conducted at the beginning and end of the academic year. The results indicated that, in the TG, the students’ needs were more satisfied after the intervention. They also showed that, after the treatment period, their self-determined forms of motivation significantly increased. Meanwhile, in the CG, neither the degree of students’ needs satisfaction nor motivation intensity showed a significant difference. These results suggest that fulfilling the needs could help enhance Japanese EFL learners’ motivation. The results also demonstrate the sensitivity of the new questionnaire in measuring changes in the needs fulfillment degrees and L2 motivation intensities among Japanese university students.
