Attitudes and motivation for learning English: A cross-national comparison of Japanese and Chinese high school students

359 Japanese and 442 Chinese high school students were examined and compared regarding their motivation to learn English. Although Japanese students expressed a strong interest in English as a subject, they displayed a weaker interest on intrinsic motivation and a stronger one for extrinsic motivation as compared to junior high school students. Nevertheless, Japanese students who achieved better scores were not only eager to achieve better scores but also were much more interested in English as a language, the culture, and people. Chinese high school students' motivation did not vary so dramatically from their junior high school peers. They also were more pragmatically oriented towards the study of English, i.e., they thought English would be valuable and necessary for their future. Even if they do well, they believe they can do better with more effort to be successful in the future.