Abstract This paper is the first to examine the motivational disposition of Nepalese learners of L2 English. Based on an adapted version of the questionnaire in (Kormos, Judit & Kata Csizér. 2008. Age-related differences in motivation of learning English as a foreign language: Attitudes, selves, and motivated behavior. Language Learning 58. 327–355. Doi:10.1111/j.1467-9922.2008.00443.x.), we test the robustness and culture-specific applicability of well-known motivational antecedents to this learner population, and we investigate how the effects of these antecedents are mediated by the learners’ gender, age and regional aspects of the educational setting. In doing so, we offer novel ways of analyzing the data: Firstly, we employ random forests and conditional inference trees for assessing the relative importance of motivational antecedents. Secondly, we complement the traditional ‘scale-based approach’, which focuses on holistic constructs like the ‘Ideal L2 Self’, with an ‘item-based approach’ that highlights more specific components of such scales. The results are interpreted with reference to the L2 Motivational Self System (Dörnyei, Zoltán. 2005. The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum) and to previous studies on other Asian populations of L2 learners.

中文翻译：

---

尼泊尔二语学习者动机探析

摘要 本文首次考察了尼泊尔二语学习者的动机倾向。基于 (Kormos, Judit & Kata Csizér. 2008. 学习英语作为外语的动机的年龄相关差异：态度、自我和动机行为。语言学习 58. 327–355. Doi :10.1111/j.1467-9922.2008.00443.x.)，我们测试了众所周知的动机前因对这个学习者群体的稳健性和特定于文化的适用性，我们调查了这些前因的影响是如何通过学习者的教育环境的性别、年龄和区域方面。为此，我们提供了分析数据的新方法：首先，我们使用随机森林和条件推理树来评估动机前因的相对重要性。其次，我们补充了传统的“基于量表的方法”，该方法侧重于“理想的二语自我”等整体结构，并使用“基于项目的方法”来突出此类量表的更具体的组成部分。参考 L2 动机自我系统 (Dörnyei, Zoltán. 2005. 语言学习者的心理：第二语言习得的个体差异。Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum) 和先前对 L2 其他亚洲人群的研究来解释结果学习者。第二语言习得的个体差异。新泽西州 Mahwah：Lawrence Erlbaum）以及之前对其他亚洲二语学习者人群的研究。第二语言习得的个体差异。新泽西州 Mahwah：Lawrence Erlbaum）以及之前对其他亚洲二语学习者人群的研究。