Towards Safer Flight Operations: The Relationship Between L2 Motivation and L2 Achievement

The purpose of this paper was to identify the relationship between L2 motivation and L2 achievement, a pivotal topic in the aviation industry since it requires more and more proficient English-speaking pilots. Therefore, we aimed to find out the L2 motivational variables that affected L2 achievement in Aviation English courses. The sampling included 111 aviation students. L2 Motivational Self System Questionnaire and Achievement Motivation Measure were instrumented, and semi-structured interviews were conducted as part of our mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design. Our findings revealed a moderately positive correlation between ideal L2 self and L2 achievement; on the flip side, there was a weak negative correlation between ought-to L2 self and L2 achievement. What’s more, the L2 achievement of aviation students was found to be predicted by the ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self; however, achievement motivation failed to account for the L2 achievement of aviation students. The pedagogical implications were discussed in the relevance of L2 motivational variables to aviation students’ L2 achievement for an improved learning experience.