Exploring the Moderating Roles of Emotions, Attitudes, Environment, and Teachers in the Impact of Motivation on Learning Behaviours in Students’ English Learning

For several decades, extensive research has been conducted on motivation in language learning. However, how motivation impacts learning behaviours with the moderation of factors related to emotions, attitude, environment, and teachers has not been reported. This study aims to examine the moderating effects of these four motivational factors to explain the inconsistent effects of motivation on English learning behaviours across studies. Drawing on self-determination theory, the study investigated 182 high school English learners and explored how the four motivational factors moderate the relationship between students' motivation and their English learning behaviours. We first examined how the four motivational factors predicted intrinsic/extrinsic motivation and how intrinsic/extrinsic motivation predicted English learning behaviours. The results reveal that the four motivational factors all positively predicted intrinsic motivation, while language attitude positively predicted extrinsic motivation. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations positively predicted English learning behaviours, with intrinsic motivation exerting a stronger influence. Language attitude did not moderate the relationship between motivation and English learning behaviours. However, the other three factors enhanced the positive relationship between motivation and learning behaviours. Notably, at the low level of teacher-related factors, the impact of extrinsic motivation on English learning behaviours was insignificant. Related implications are discussed.