English is not enough: Motivational struggles of English majors in East Asia

Abstract

English language ability has traditionally been the advantage of English majors in East Asia, but recently, English alone is often not sufficient to guarantee a good job. This paper presents the findings of an 18-month interview-based panel study that explored this phenomenon‟s impact on students by investigating the L2 motivation of English majors (n = 59) from China, Japan, and South Korea at two Chinese universities. I share how students' career worries caused them to shift attention away from learning English and towards obtaining additional qualifications to enhance their employment chances. 'English is not enough' was a widespread opinion. I share implications of these findings and discuss how English departments in East Asia can adapt to the needs of English majors in the 21st century.