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Abstract
The emphasis of the present study is two-fold: (1) to identify the relationships between second language (L2) students’ writing motivation and the three components within the L2 motivational self system (the ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self, and the L2 learning experience) and (2) to examine the students’ individual variables with a focus on motivational factors within the L2 motivational self system. The results showed that L2 learning experience, along with the ideal L2 self, played a crucial role in predicting L2 writing motivation. The ideal L2 self also significantly influenced L2 learning experience, which in turn affected the L2 writing motivation. The findings also revealed that the L2 writing motivation of students enrolled in advanced writing courses’ was less influenced by the ought-to L2 self and more directly affected by L2 writing self-efficacy. The ought-to L2 self had a moderate impact on L2 writing motivation for the students whose performance was rated low but a weak impact for the students whose performance was high. Emotions were weakly and positively related to the students in the high-proficiency group, while the students in the low-proficiency group students showed a moderate but negative relationship with emotions. Based on the research findings, pedagogical implications for writing instruction practices, instructional strategies and guidelines, and suggestions for future research are presented.