Exploring Chinese English Major Students’ Motivation And Perezhivanie In Pursuing Graduate Programs

With the expansion of higher education, pursuing graduate studies has become a mainstream choice, yet research on undergraduate-to-graduate transition motivations remains limited. Existing studies predominantly focus on causal mechanisms, whereas this research employs Vygotsky’s concept of perezhivanie to establish a dynamic paradigm examining cognition-emotion integration. This mixed-methods study investigates motivation and emotional experiences among three English major groups: entrance examination group, recommended admission group, and study-abroad group. An explanatory sequential design was implemented with 88 thirdand fourth-year students from a 985 Project university. Quantitative data from an adapted Academic Motivation Scale underwent reliability/validity tests, exploratory factor analysis, and ANOVA; qualitative data from six semi-structured interviews were thematically analyzed using Delve. Key findings revealed no significant inter-group motivational differences, though recommended admission group students demonstrated higher peer-influence susceptibility. Distinct motivational profiles emerged: recommended admission group prioritized achievement/family expectations, study-abroad group exhibited heterogeneous motivations, and entrance examination group emphasized career advancement. Crucially, qualitative analysis positioned the decision to further education as acognitive-affective complex– integrating rational calculus with lived experience (perezhivanie). While single-institution sampling limits generalizability, the results offer valuable insights into talent cultivation for understanding differential motivation in homogeneous environments. Future research should expand samples and employ longitudinal triangulation.