We Can’t Do It Unless We Put Our Minds to It : A Study on L3 Learners’ Motivation to Learn English

Sammanfattning: This study examines what motivates newly arrived students to study English while atthe same time immersed in and studying Swedish as a second language, both coresubjects and necessary to attend higher education. The question arises since manystudents fail to pass the English course in secondary school but at the same time manageto pass the course in Swedish as a second language. The study was performed with help of a questionnaire with close-endedquestions that was handed out to 30 students studying Swedish as a second languageand English as a third language, in upper secondary school. The motivational theoryused in the study was the L2 Motivational Self System, which is divided in threemotivational categories: the Ideal L2 Self, the Ought-to L2 Self and the L2 learningexperience, in this study referred to as the Ideal L3 Self, the Ought-to L3 self and the L3learning experience. The result shows that what primarily motivate these students are the L3 learningexperience. The study also shows that these students seem to see English as somethingthat is important only if they have an intention to travel, study or work overseas.