What influences who seeks foreign language tutoring? Using expectancy value theory, the present study researches the characteristics of university foreign language students in the language classroom (n = 258) and seeking tutoring (n = 29). Students' performance and mastery goal orientations, achievement task values, self-efficacy for foreign language learning, and academic variables were assessed and compared across groups. Foreign language students seeking tutoring were characterized by higher mastery and performance goal orientations and lower overall grade point averages, than those classroom students not seeking tutoring. Additionally, the generally high scores of all students on the motivational variables suggest that pessimistic views of foreign language students' self-efficacy and motivation may be unwarranted. (Contains 7 notes and 3 tables.)