A Study on the Motivation of an International Student Who Has Come to the UK to Learn English

This paper uses Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to study the motivation of a Chinese student studying English in the UK. Motivation, seen as the drive for sustained action towards a goal, is crucial in L2 acquisition, which can be slow and challenging. Using an interview with a Chinese international student, this study examines how motivation changes over time and explores the impact of social context on intrinsic motivation by fulfilling the basic psychological needs proposed by Deci and Ryan: relevance, autonomy, and competence. In addition, this study explored teaching strategies to enhance intrinsic motivation, such as interactive activities and differentiated assignments. However, the study was limited to a narrow sample of a single student and a short time frame, which affected the generality of the results. In addition, the study only considered two motivating factors, teachers and parents, and ignored the influence of other factors. The proposed teaching strategy is based only on the author's personal experience and lacks wider validation. Therefore, further practical studies are needed to determine the effectiveness of these methods. Despite its limitations, this study provides insights into L2 learning motivation and contributes to research on the motivation of Chinese learners for self-directed learning.