Motivation, Identity, and Emergence of Self: ESL Learners in Bridge Course at Aligarh Muslim University

Abstract

The study aims  at viewing  the  second  language learners enrolled in  the Bridge Course of English, at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).  The Bridge Course is of a year’s duration  and the objective  is to prepare the  learner with ‘institutionalised supplement  education and  wider employment avenues’. This  is  done  with the  aim to mainstream the  ESL learners  who have  Urdu as their  mother  tongue and  have learned Arabic as a foreign  language in Madarsa. Their need to learn a second foreign language, which is the global English, has been explored from the perspective of motivation and identity. The study attempts  to  probe  into the dimensions of  identity and emergence of self  among  learners. It has  been  substantiated with  quantitative and  qualitative  analysis by using SPSS version 17 software and one way ANOVA univariate test. The findings suggest that, compared to the learners’ having only instrumental motivation towards the target language, their possession of both integrative and instrumental motivation in line with their ideal self and ought-to self were invested more into the learning of target language.