Previous studies on Chinese students' English learning motivation mostly followed Gardner and associates' classical model and its expansions, which originated primarily in North American and European contexts. The purpose of the present research was to achieve a bottom-up classification of Chinese university students' English learning motivation. The participants were 2,278 undergraduates from 30 Chinese universities. The instrument was a Likert-scale questionnaire which included 30 items regarding learning motivation, based essentially on a summary of open responses. Seven motivation types resulted from a factor analysis: (1) intrinsic interest; (2) immediate achievement; (3) learning situation; (4) going abroad; (5) social responsibility; (6) individual development; (7) information medium. These seven factors were further generalized as instrumental, cultural, and situational motivations. While bearing similarities with those in the classical and expanded models, these motivation types also demonstrated characteristics distinct of the context. The study offers a motivation framework for Chinese EFL context, as a refinement upon or revision of the generally adopted classical and expanded models. It may also have some implications for other Asian contexts.
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