Is the multilingual motivational self system a unified construct or an aggregation of language-specific selves?

With the acceleration of globalisation and the increasing prevalence of multilingual education, the traditional L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) has shown limitations in explaining the complex motivational configurations of multilingual learners. This study aims to examine the latent structure of the Multilingual Motivational Self System (MMSS), identify distinct motivational profiles among multilingual learners, and investigate the associations between MMSS and intended learning effort. Drawing on questionnaire data from 492 Chinese multilingual learners, the study employed confirmatory factor analysis, bifactor modelling, latent profile analysis, and structural equation modelling. The results showed that the MMSS should be viewed as an aggregation of language-specific selves Latent profile analysis identified three motivational profiles: LOTE positive experience-oriented profile, negative experience-dominant profile, and moderate and balanced motivation profile. Structural equation modelling indicated that the L2 and LOTE motivational self systems exhibited distinct patterns of association with intended learning effort. The ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self, and the positive L2 learning experience were significantly associated with intended learning effort, the ought-to LOTE self and the negative LOTE learning experience were significantly associated with intended learning effort. The findings confirmed the structural distinctiveness of language-specific motivation within the MMSS.