Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self

Due to its theoretical and educational significance within the language learning process, the study of L2 motivation has been an important area of second language acquisition research for several decades. Over the last few years L2 motivation research has taken an exciting new turn by focusing increasingly on the language learner’s situated identity and various self-perceptions. As a result, the concept of L2 motivation is currently in the process of being radically reconceptualised and re-theorised in the context of contemporary notions of self and identity. With contributions by leading European, North American and Asian scholars, this volume brings together the first comprehensive anthology of key conceptual and empirical papers that mark this important paradigmatic shift.

Table of Contents:
Contributors 1. Motivation, Language Identities and the L2 Self: A Theoretical Overview - Ema Ushioda and Zoltán Dörnyei 2. The L2 Motivational Self System - Zoltán Dörnyei 3. The Baby, the Bathwater and the Future of Language Learning Motivation Research - Peter D. MacIntyre, Sean P. MacKinnon and Richard Clément 4. The L2 Motivational Self System among Japanese, Chinese and Iranian Learners of English: A Comparative Study - Tatsuya Taguchi, Michael Magid and Mostafa Papi 5. Learning Experiences, Selves and Motivated Learning Behaviour: A Comparative Analysis of Structural Models for Hungarian Secondary and University Learners of English - Kata Csizér and Judit Kormos 6. Self and Identity in L2 Motivation in Japan: The Ideal L2 Self and Japanese Learners of English - Stephen Ryan 7. International Posture and the Ideal L2 Self in the Japanese EFL Context - Tomoko Yashima 8. Motivation and Vision: The Relation Between the Ideal L2 Self, Imagination and Visual Style - Abdullah S. Al-Shehri 9. Links Between Ethnolinguistic Affiliation, Self-related Motivation and Second Language Fluency: Are they Mediated by Psycholinguistic Variables? - Norman Segalowitz, Elizabeth Gatbonton and Pavel Trofimovich 10. Toward the Development of a Scale to Assess Possible Selves as a Source of Language Learning Motivation - Peter D. MacIntyre, Sean P. MacKinnon and Richard Clément 11. A Person-in-context Relational View of Emergent Motivation, Self and Identity - Ema Ushioda 12. Situating the L2 Self: Two Indonesian School Learners of English - Martin Lamb 13. Imagined Identity and the L2 Self in the French Foreign Legion - Zachary Lyons 14. The Sociocultural Interface Between Ideal Self and Ought-to Self: A Case Study of Two Korean Students’ ESL Motivation - Tae-Young Kim 15. The Internalisation of Language Learning into the Self and Social Identity - Kimberly A. Noels 16. Possible Selves in Language Teacher Development - Magdalena Kubanyiova 17. Identity and Self in E-language Teaching - Cynthia White and Alex Ding 18. Motivation, Language Identities and the L2 Self: Future Research Directions - Zoltán Dörnyei and Ema Ushioda Appendices of Research Instruments