Language Learners’ Motivational Profiles and Their Motivated Learning Behavior

The aim of the present study is to define and describe second language (L2) learners’ motivational profiles by means of a statistical procedure that is relatively rarely used in L2 studies: cluster analysis. To achieve this aim, 5 broad dimensions of students’ motivational and attitudinal dispositions toward 5 different L2s were measured and analyzed, using survey data collected from 8,593 13- and 14-year-old Hungarian pupils on 2 occasions. Statistical calculations yielded 4 distinct motivational groups, and we interpret this classification within Dörnyei's L2 Motivational Self System. In the second part of the study we examine the combined effects and interferences of the different motivational profiles learners hold with regard to 2 different target languages, English and German.