This study endeavors to reveal senior high school students’ motivational orientations in attending cram schools, how they approach English learning there, and to what extent they find cram schooling facilitates their English learning. Questionnaires were distributed to 365 respondents, followed by four focus group interviews. Results show that instrumental and integrative motivation play crucial roles in students’ motivation for learning English at a cram school. Cram school learners mostly adopted passive role and rote learning, which was associated with surface learning approach. A large percent of participants believed attending cram schools was beneficial in helping them achieve higher grades in English exams and gain admission to a university. On the other hand, they did not find cram schooling to be as helpful in the enhancement of their competence or confidence in using English. In view of this, suggestions are highlighted as to how CEE should work out a more holistic evaluation to reflect English learners’ needs in communicating in English more competently and confidently.
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