Exploring the Connections Between EFL Learners’ Motivation, Engagement and Pragmatic Development in Self-Access Web-Based Instruction
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19487510 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sonia López-Serrano (0000-0001-7616-7710, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, corresponding author), Ariadna Sánchez-Hernández (0000-0001-6231-4927, Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Alicia Martínez‐Flor (0000-0001-8510-6872, Universitat Jaume I), Alicia Martínez-Flor (Universitat Jaume I) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 76 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-13 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Languages (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/languages11040076 |
| OpenAlex | W7154146060 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 61 |
The present study investigates the relationship between initial learner motivation, engagement, and pragmatic development within a self-access web-based instructional environment. Focused on the development of awareness and production of English email requests to faculty, the study involved 65 first-year English Studies students at a Spanish public university. Motivation was assessed qualitatively through open-ended responses which were classified as having Pragmatic orientation, Linguistic orientation, or No orientation. Engagement was captured multidimensionally via project-linked indices of behavioural, cognitive, and affective involvement. Findings reveal that initial motivation predicted greater overall engagement, including increased time invested and deeper cognitive processing. A distinct modality gap was identified: while engagement related positively to pragmatic gains, it exerted stronger effects on awareness than production. Most crucially, profile analyses revealed that sustained engagement can override initial motivational deficits. Learners who entered the module with no initial orientation but still engaged at a moderate level significantly outperformed unmotivated, disengaged peers and achieved gains comparable to those of more motivated students. These findings underscore the mediating role of engagement in pragmatic instruction and advocate for specific motivational and engagement assessments over general scales to better account for the effects of these individual differences in L2 pragmatic gains
Cognition · Goal Orientation · Orientation (vector space) · Pragmatics · Student engagement · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods · Second Language Acquisition and Learning
Exploring Engagement in Tasks in the Language Classroom
Second Handbook of English Language Teaching
Handbook of Motivation at School
Engaging Language Learners in Contemporary Classrooms
Teaching and Researching
Handbook of Research on Student Engagement
Explicit Learning in the L2 Classroom
Engagement in language learning
Measuring cognitive and psychological engagement
Exploring the role of noticing in a three-stage second language writing task
Toward an Understanding of Definitions and Measures of School Engagement and Related Terms
School Engagement
The Role of Consciousness in Second Language Learning1
Pragmalinguistic Awareness
The Interplay Between L2 Motivation and Proficiency in Predicting EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Engagement
Effects of written languaging on second language learning
Long-term effects of pragmatics strategy instruction
The Effects of Self-Access Web-Based Pragmatic Instruction and L2 Proficiency on EFL Students’ Email Request Production and Confidence
Pragmatic awareness and second language learning motivation
Metatalk in a Pair Work Activity
Engagement with language
Teaching email requests in the academic context
Researching language engagement; current trends and future directions
The role of individual differences in second language pragmatics
The Effects of Strategy Instruction on Chinese EFL Learners’ Pragmatic Awareness and Pragmatic Motivation
Acting, thinking, feeling, making, collaborating
The effects of two self-regulated learning interventions on Chinese EFL students’ self-regulated writing-strategy use, motivational beliefs, and writing performance
The effects of learner profiles on pragmalinguistic awareness and learning
Pragmatic learning and study abroad
Personal investment theory
Engagement in the foreign language classroom
Language learning motivation through a small lens
From Task Motivation to L2 Learning
The linguistic analysis of private writing
Please answer me as soon as possible
The language is very formal and appropriate
Developing Chinese EFL learners' email literacy through requests to faculty
| Highly cited | No |
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