Systematic review of motivational orientation in English for specific purposes: Insights from a decade of research (2016–2025)

Over the past decade, research in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has experienced significant development, especially because its subject matters are diverse and learners are drawn from disciplines other than English itself. This makes conducting comprehensive review of motivational learning orientation in ESP crucial. Therefore, this review synthesizes current research in ESP, including theoretical frameworks, participant characteristics, and assessment instruments. The review followed PRISMA protocols, selecting 43 journal articles published from 2016 to 2025 from Scopus and Web of Science databases and filtered based on strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. Findings reveal that ESP motivation has been examined across diverse academic and professional domains, particularly in engineering, medicine, business, and social sciences, with university students as the predominant learners. The review further indicates that ESP motivation is conceptualized through multiple frameworks of Self-Determination Theory, the L2 Motivational Self System, socio-educational models, and other adapted contexts reflecting learner motivation's dynamic, multidimensional nature. In methodology, questionnaires remain the most widely used instruments, often complemented by interviews, observations, and other qualitative tools to enhance understanding. Overall, this review highlights a significant gap in ESP's motivational orientations and calls for research on such future aspects as global orientation, intercultural communication, and international posture as ESP learners pursue higher education and secure professional employment. Additionally, a mixed-method approach could likely obtain more comprehensive understanding of the individual perspective.