Another Look at the L2 Motivational Self System of Polish Students Majoring in English: Insights from Interview Data

Mirosław Pawlak

doi:10.31261/TAPSLA.4739

Received: 2016-07-05
Accepted: 2016-07-26
Published: 2016-08-10

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2016)

Another Look at the L2 Motivational Self System of Polish Students Majoring in English: Insights from Interview Data

Mirosław Pawlak

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.31261/TAPSLA.4739

Abstract

One of the most recent theoretical developments when it comes to the role of motivation in second language learning is the theory of the L2 motivational self system (e.g., Dörnyei, 2005). It has been proposed in recognition of the fact that learning a foreign language does not only involve acquiring a new communicative code, but also affects the personality of an individual, the difficulties involved in applying Gardner’s (1985) concept of integrativeness to foreign language contexts, as well as the mounting empirical evidence (e.g., Dörnyei & Csizér, 2002), demonstrating that key components of motivation, such as integrativeness, instrumentality, attitudes towards L2 speakers or manifestations of motivated learning behavior are intricately interrelated. As a result, the notion of integrativeness has been reinterpreted as the L2-specific aspect of an individual’s ideal self and the motivational system is believed to comprise the following three dimensions: (a) ideal L2 self, which is related to the abilities and skills that learners envisage themselves possessing, which may trigger a desire to reduce the distance between their actual and ideal selves, (b) ought-to L2 self, which is connected with the attributes that the learners believe are important in the eyes of significant others, and (c) L2 learning experiences, which is a context-related factor reflecting the nature of the immediate learning environment and learning experiences. This framework was applied in a qualitative study, the participants of which were 28 English majors in the last year of a three-year BA program who were interviewed about their motives for learning the target language. The analysis revealed that although motivational influences which have traditionally been regarded as important do play a role, there are a number of factors, such as family influence, instrumentality, knowledge orientation or international posture, that are also of vital importance.

Keywords:

motivation , theory of L2 Motivational Self System , ideal L2 self , ought-to self , English majors

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Pawlak, M. (2016). Another Look at the L2 Motivational Self System of Polish Students Majoring in English: Insights from Interview Data. Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.31261/TAPSLA.4739

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

The Copyright Holders of the submitted texts are the Authors. The Reader is granted the rights to use the material available in the TAPSLA websites and pdf documents under the provisions of the Creative Commons 4.0 International License: Attribution - Share Alike (CC BY-SA 4.0). The user is free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

1. License

The University of Silesia Press provides immediate open access to journal’s content under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Authors who publish with this journal retain all copyrights and agree to the terms of the above-mentioned CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

2. Author’s Warranties

The author warrants that the article is original, written by stated author/s, has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author/s.

If the article contains illustrative material (drawings, photos, graphs, maps), the author declares that the said works are of his authorship, they do not infringe the rights of the third party (including personal rights, i.a. the authorization to reproduce physical likeness) and the author holds exclusive proprietary copyrights. The author publishes the above works as part of the article under the licence "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International".

ATTENTION! When the legal situation of the illustrative material has not been determined and the necessary consent has not been granted by the proprietary copyrights holders, the submitted material will not be accepted for editorial process. At the same time the author takes full responsibility for providing false data (this also regards covering the costs incurred by the University of Silesia Press and financial claims of the third party).

3. User Rights

Under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, the users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit the contribution) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material) the article for any purpose, provided they attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor.

4. Co-Authorship

If the article was prepared jointly with other authors, the signatory of this form warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to sign this agreement on their behalf, and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this agreement.

I hereby declare that in the event of withdrawal of the text from the publishing process or submitting it to another publisher without agreement from the editorial office, I agree to cover all costs incurred by the University of Silesia in connection with my application.

References

Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Google Scholar

Csizér, K., & Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The internal structure of language learning motivation: Results of structural equation modeling. Modern Language Journal, 89, 19–36.
Google Scholar

Csizér, K., & Kormos, J. (2014). The ideal L2 self, self-regulatory strategies and autonomous learning: A comparison of different groups of English language learners. In K. Csizér & M. Magid (Eds.), The impact of self-concept on language learning (pp. 73–86). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Csizér, K. & Magid, M. (Eds.). (2009). The impact of self-concept on language learning. Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.
Google Scholar

Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Google Scholar

Dörnyei, Z. (2009a). The L2 motivational self system. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the self (pp. 9–42). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Dörnyei, Z. (2009b). The psychology of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar

Dörnyei, Z. (2014). Future self-guides and vision. In K. Csizér & M. Magid (Eds.), The impact of self-concept on language learning (pp. 7–18). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Dörnyei, Z., & Csizér, K. (2002). Some dynamics of language attitudes and motivation: Results of a longitudinal nationwide survey. Applied Linguistics, 23, 421–462.
Google Scholar

Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2009). Motivation, language identity and the L2 self. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Dörnyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited. New York and London: Routledge.
Google Scholar

Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language earning. The role of attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.
Google Scholar

Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972) Attitudes and motivation in second language learning. Newbury House: Rowley, MA.
Google Scholar

Henry, A. (2015). The dynamics of possible selves. In Z. Dörnyei, P. D. MacIntyre, & A. Henry (Eds.), Motivational dynamics in language learning (pp. 83–94). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Higgins, E. T. (1998). Promotion and prevention: Regulatory focus as a motivational principle. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 1–46.
Google Scholar

Lamb, M. (2009). Situating the L2 self. Two Indonesian school learners of English. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 229–247). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Lamb, M. (2012). A self system perspective on young adolescents’ motivation to learn English in urban and rural settings. Language Learning, 62, 997–1023.
Google Scholar

Lyons, D. (2014). The L2 self-concept in second language learning motivation: A longitudinal study of Korean university students. In K. Csizér & M. Magid (Eds.), The impact of selfconcept on language learning (pp. 108–130). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

MacIntyre, P. D., Clément, R., Dörnyei, Z., & Noels, K. A. (1998). Conceptualizing willingness to communicate in a L2: A situational model of L2 confidence and affiliation. Modern Language Journal, 82, 545–562.
Google Scholar

Magid, M. (2014). A motivational program for learners of English: An application of the L2 motivational self system. In K. Csizér & M. Magid (Eds.), The impact of self-concept on language learning (pp. 333–356). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Markus, H. R., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41, 954–969.
Google Scholar

Miyahara, M. (2014). Emerging self-identities of second language learners: Emotions and the experiential profile of identity construction. In K. Csizér & M. Magid (Eds.), The impact of self-concept on language learning (pp. 206–231). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Noels, K. (2003). Learning Spanish as a second language: Learners’ orientations and perceptions of their teachers’ communication style. In Z. Dörnyei (Ed.), Attitudes, orientations, and motivations in language learning (pp. 97–136). Oxford: Blackwell.
Google Scholar

Pawlak, M. (2016). Investigating language learning motivation from an ideal language-self perspective: The case of English majors in Poland. In D. Gałajda, P. Zakrajewski, & M. Pawlak (Eds.), Researching second language acquisition from a psycholinguistic perspective. Studies in honor of Danuta Gabryś-Barker (pp. 53–69). Heidelberg – New York: Springer.
Google Scholar

Piniel, K., & Csizér, K. (2015). Changes in motivation, anxiety and self-efficacy during the course of an academic writing seminar. In Z. Dörnyei, P. D. MacIntyre, & A. Henry (Eds.), Motivational dynamics in language learning (pp. 164–194). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Ryan, S. (2009). Self and identity in L2 motivation in Japan: The ideal L2 self and Japanese learners of English. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity andthe L2 self (pp. 98–119). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Taguchi, T., Magid, M., & Papi, M. (2009). The L2 motivational self system among Japanese, Chinese and Iranian learners of English: A comparative study. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 120–143). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Ushioda, E. (2001). Language learning at university: Exploring the role of motivational thinking. In Z. Dörnyei & R. Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second language acquisition (pp. 91–124). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
Google Scholar

Ushioda, E., & Dörnyei, Z. (2014). Motivation. In S. M. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 396–409). London and New York: Routledge.
Google Scholar

Waninge, F. (2015). Motivation, emotion and cognition. Attractor states in the classroom. In Z. Dörnyei, P. D. MacIntyre, & A. Henry (Eds.), Motivational dynamics in language learning (pp. 195–213). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Weiner, B. (1992). Human motivation: Metaphors, theories and research. Newbury Park, CA; Sage.
Google Scholar

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Google Scholar

Yashima, T. (2009). International posture and the ideal L2 self in the Japanese EFL context. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 144–163). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Yue, Z. (2014). Chinese university students’ willingness to communicate in the L2 classroom.:The complex and dynamic interplay of self-concept, future self-guides and the sociocultural context. In K. Csizér & M. Magid (Eds.), The impact of self-concept on language learning (pp. 250–267). Bristol – Buffalo – Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
Google Scholar

Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2016)
Published: 2017-01-26

ISSN: 2450-5455

eISSN: 2451-2125

10.31261/tapsla

Publisher

Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

Licence CC

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Submit

Another Look at the L2 Motivational Self System of Polish Students Majoring in English: Insights from Interview Data

Abstract

Keywords:

Mirosław Pawlak

Information