MILE5000 Chap.4 Theories of L2 Motivation and the Self System
Theories of L2 Motivation and the Self System
Many theories, one organising scheme
The handbook chapter on motivation defines it as what explains the direction, vigour and persistence of actions in learning, and observes that the field has produced many theories that each view motivation from their own angle.
It organises them by a scheme in which motivation is a desire to be effective in three respects: value, concerning goals and outcomes; control, concerning the process and experience of learning; and truth, concerning curiosity.
From orientations to the self
The traditional account separated instrumental reasons for learning, such as a job, from integrative reasons, interest in and identification with the target language community.
Leading researchers have moved beyond it, and the bibliometric reading gives the reason usually cited: integrativeness explained little for English learners in foreign language settings. The L2 Motivational Self System replaced it with three components: the ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self and the learning experience.
The ideal self and the learning experience predict motivated behaviour strongly, while the ought-to self is often weak.
A refinement and a set of alternatives
A later model splits the self-guides by focus, promotion or prevention, and by standpoint, one's own or others'.
It predicts eager use of opportunities and elation-related emotions for ideal selves, and vigilant use and agitation-related emotions for ought selves. Alongside it sit self-efficacy, self-determination theory with its three psychological needs, and language mindsets.
The chapter's criticism applies to all of them: designs are homogeneous and experiments are rare.
What the literature looks like
The bibliometric review maps research using the self system from 2005 to 2021 and finds rapid growth, a typical study that is quantitative, cross-sectional and about English with university students in mainland China, and ten themes with no single dominant strand.
It reports that research on English and on multilingualism are growing together, and states its own limits, including the use of author keywords and a single coder.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Motivation as direction, vigour and persistence
- 02
Value, control and truth
- 03
Integrative and instrumental orientations
- 04
The L2 Motivational Self System and its evidence
- 05
The two-by-two model of self-guides
- 06
Self-efficacy, self-determination and mindsets
- 07
Growth and design of self-system research, 2005 to 2021
- 08
Themes and the multilingual trend
Worked example · free
Choose the theory that fits a research question
- 2Match the question to a dimension of motivation.
- 2Choose a theory and justify it.
- 2Name a measurable construct and how you would ask about it.
Key terms
- Integrative Orientation
- A reason for learning based on interest in, and identification with, the target language community.
- Instrumental Orientation
- A reason for learning based on practical gains such as employment or others' respect.
- Promotion Focus
- An orientation towards reaching a better state, associated in the refined model with ideal selves and eager use of opportunities.
- Prevention Focus
- An orientation towards avoiding a worse state, associated with ought selves and cautious, vigilant language use.
- Self-efficacy
- A learner's judgement of how well they can carry out a task, which the chapter places on the control dimension.
- Language Mindset
- A learner's belief about whether language ability is fixed or can grow with effort.
- Bibliometric Analysis
- A method that maps a research literature through measures of publication growth, design characteristics and keyword networks.
Theories of L2 Motivation and the Self System FAQ
Why has integrative motivation fallen out of use?
Leading researchers have moved beyond the integrative and instrumental distinction, and publications using it have almost disappeared from major journals. The usual explanation is that identifying with a native-speaker community makes little sense for learners of English as a global language, although smaller studies still use it where a specific community is attached to the language.
Why is the ought-to L2 self often a weak predictor?
Studies repeatedly find it weak or non-significant as a predictor of motivated behaviour, and some question its construct validity. The refined model suggests one reason: the original construct mixed one's own sense of duty with obligations imposed by others, and separating them by standpoint changes what the scale measures.
What is the most common kind of study in self-system research?
According to the bibliometric review, a quantitative, cross-sectional questionnaire study about English, with university students, in mainland China. Longitudinal research is much rarer, and the review calls for more of it, especially quantitative longitudinal work, so that motivation can be studied as something that changes.
Assessment move
Build a two-row table with the three self-system components across the top and fill each cell with one study from this guide that measured it and what it found. The gaps in the table, especially the learning experience, show which critiques and extension ideas are easiest to argue.
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