Recent surveys and research on second language (L2)/foreign language acquisition help explain the challenges that postsecondary students in lower-level foreign language (FL) courses may experience. The present study extends this line of research by examining changes in students' affective profiles in a two-year Japanese program (n = 382) at an American university. The results indicated that students who reached the end of the program perceived more social, economical, integrative, and other value in learning Japanese than those at the beginning of the program. Results also showed that students appeared to expend significantly less effort in learning the language at the end of the program than at the beginning. This article urges FL instructors, especially those in lower-level courses, to carefully consider issues of motivation in these and other courses. (Contains 1 table, 3 figures and 5 notes.)