Original title: Towards a better understanding of the L2 Learning Experience, the Cinderella of the L2 Motivational Self System
Researchers often explain language-learning motivation through the kind of person learners hope to become or feel they ought to become. But the paper says another part matters too: how learners experience the learning process itself. Studies cited in the abstract find that this experience often predicts motivated behavior more strongly than the other measures. The paper uses the idea of student engagement to define it as learners’ perceived quality of engagement with language learning.
Imagine going to a cooking class because you hope to become a better cook. You may have that goal, but whether you keep trying also depends on how worthwhile and involving the classes feel. In this paper, the goal is like a learner’s future self, while the experience of the classes stands for the learner’s engagement with learning a language.
For language learners and teachers, motivation is not only about the future self a learner hopes or feels obliged to become. The paper argues that the quality of a learner’s engagement with the learning process itself deserves attention, because it is often the strongest predictor of motivated behavior.
The abstract proposes a theoretical definition and explains why the L2 Learning Experience may have been overlooked. It does not specify how to measure the proposed concept, test the framework, or explain which aspects of language learning engagement matter most.
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Towards a better understanding of the L2 Learning Experience, the Cinderella of the L2 Motivational Self System — Zoltán Dörnyei — Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching — doi:10.14746/ssllt.2019.9.1.2
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.