Motivational theories highlight the importance of students’ confidence, where lower confidence can be limiting, and also students’ beliefs about academic writing, which may reflect goals as well as practices to achieve them. Nevertheless, relatively few studies have considered these areas across students with English as a first language (L1 students) and students with first languages other than English (L2 students). In order to gain new insights, 122 students of applied linguistics were surveyed. L1 and L2 students reported similar BA grades, but L2 students reported lower average MA grades, lower confidence for their MA studies in general, lower confidence for academic writing in English, less positive beliefs about effort/ability concerning writing (lower agreement with statements such as ‘If I put in enough effort I can produce good academic writing’), and higher beliefs that writing involved transmission (higher agreement with statements such as ‘The key to successful writing is accurately reporting what authorities think’). Across all students, reported MA grades and confidence for academic writing in English positively correlated with beliefs about effort/ability in writing but negatively correlated with beliefs that writing involved transmission. These findings suggest areas for attention to help ensure that all students can maximise their potential.

动机理论强调了学生自信的重要性，在这种情况下，较低的自信可能会受到限制，同时也强调了学生对学术写作的信念，这可能反映了目标和实现目标的做法。然而，相对较少的研究在英语为母语的学生（L1学生）和英语以外的其他语言的学生（L2学生）中考虑了这些领域。为了获得新的见解，对122名应用语言学专业的学生进行了调查。L1和L2学生报告的文学学士学位成绩相似，但是L2学生报告的平均MA成绩较低，他们的MA学习总体信心较低，对英语学术写作的信心较低，对写作的努力/能力的积极信念较少（与诸如“如果我付出了足够的努力，我会产生良好的学术写作”这样的陈述的共识较低），对写作涉及传播的更高的信念（与诸如“成功的写作准确地报告了当局的想法'）。在所有学生中，报告的英语成绩和对学术学术英语的自信心与对写作努力/能力的信念成正比，但与写作涉及传播的信念成反比。这些发现提出了需要注意的领域，以帮助确保所有学生都能发挥最大的潜力。以及对写作涉及传播的更高信念（与诸如“成功写作的关键是准确报告当局的想法”之类的陈述的更高共识）。在所有学生中，报告的英语成绩和对学术学术英语的自信心与对写作努力/能力的信念成正比，但与写作涉及传播的信念成反比。这些发现提出了需要注意的领域，以帮助确保所有学生都能发挥最大的潜力。以及对写作涉及传播的更高信念（与诸如“成功写作的关键是准确报告当局的想法”之类的陈述的更高共识）。在所有学生中，报告的英语成绩和对学术学术英语的自信心与对写作努力/能力的信念成正比，但与写作涉及传播的信念成反比。这些发现提出了需要注意的领域，以帮助确保所有学生都能发挥最大的潜力。