The Role of Gender and Motivation on Speaking Skills: The Case of Chinese Students in an ESL Learning Context

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between Chinese foreign students’ English speaking competence, gender and their English learning motivations. A total of seven learning motivations are selected as the research objects, namely, instructional mental motivation, international motivation, ideal L2 self, intrinsic motivation, Self-regulation, Self-efficacy Beliefs and Self-concept. Based on the current situation that Chinese foreign students are studying in the UK and they have difficulty in speaking in their daily life and study, this study puts forward three research questions. At the same time, the data are classified and processed by SPSS, and finally relevant conclusions are obtained, and the proposed research questions are answered. This study finally finds that ideal L2 self, intrinsic motivation, self-regulation, and students’ English speaking ability are closely related, and there are also significant differences between gender and self-regulation.