“I Have So Many Ways to Motivate Myself”: A Qualitative Study of Saudi Female College EFL Learners’ Metamotivation and Regulation Strategies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1606.21Keywords:
metamotivation, promotion-prevention orientations, autonomy, EFL learners, qualitative researchAbstract
As motivation is increasingly viewed as a complex construct shaped by situational, social, and cultural factors, limited qualitative research has explored how Saudi female college EFL learners perceive and regulate their motivation. Addressing this gap, the study uses a metamotivational framework and qualitative design to examine learners’ reported strategies, preferences for promotion or prevention orientations, and how their awareness reflects their metamotivational knowledge. Based on 115 self-reported responses, thematic analysis revealed that learners’ responses were dominated by promotion-oriented strategies—focused on aspirations, achievement, and growth—while demonstrating limited awareness or use of prevention-focused regulation. Learners showed a multidimensional understanding of motivation and adopted an integrated, adaptive approach to regulation, reflecting motivational flexibility. However, their strategies were largely grounded in prior experience. Although the findings reflect perceived rather than observed behavior, learners reported using integrated strategies—such as interest regulation, goal orientation, value alignment, and self-reflection—to regulate their motivation in response to internal beliefs, emotional fluctuations, and external influences. These findings highlight a promotion-prevention imbalance and underscore the need to develop learners’ awareness of motivational quality. The study contributes to current metamotivation research among female learners in non-Western contexts and supports instructional practices that emphasize personal growth, autonomy, and guided reflection to help bridge the gap between learners’ experiences and their metamotivational knowledge in Saudi EFL education.
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