English Ability and the L2 Motivational Self among Japanese University Students. Adrian LEIS, Wataru SUZUKI, and Akinobu ANDO Miyagi University of Education Abstract Motivation and students’ attitudes have received a lot of attention in second language acquisition (SLA) research. This area has been led for many years by Robert Gardner, and more recently Zoltán Dörnyei and his L2 Motivational Self System; a system that suggests learners are motivated best when they have an image of themselves using English in the future to aspire to. In this study of 638 Japanese university students, we used an online survey designed to understand the ideal L2 self to compare students who have intermediate-level English ability with those who have beginner-level English ability. The results indicated that the clarity of a student’s images of using English in the future is related to his/her English ability. This in turn, reflects on the student’s attitudes to English classes, English native speakers, and the effort he/she make in his/her studies. This has implications for teachers, especially in the early stages of English education where the roots of the ideal L2 self and future motivation for learning are laid. Key words: English ability, ideal L2 self, linguistic self-confidence, motivation Introduction Whenever teachers discuss the success or failure of their students to improve their English proficiency, the issue of motivation often comes up. There are numerous definitions of motivation. The psychological view centers on choice. Humans tend to be more highly motivated when they are able to manage their own decisions (Williams & Burden, 2009). Williams and Burden (2009) continue their definition stating that “Motivation may be construed as  a state of cognitive and emotional arousal,  which leads to conscious decision to act, and  which gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort  in order to attain a previously set goal (or goals). (p. 120).” From an SLA perspective, Gardner (1985, 2001a) puts emphasis on attitude, instrumental orientation and integrativeness being important for students to be motivated to improve their second language (L2) skills 1 . Gardner suggests that a desire to be closer to the L2 community will increase