Motivation Across the Language-Learning Career: A Double Case Study

Henry Foster, Bukkyo University, Kyoto, Japan

Foster, H. (2019). Motivation across the language-learning career: A double case study. Relay Journal, 2(2), 374-384. https://doi.org/10.37237/relay/020211

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Abstract

Motivation is a dynamic variable that changes temporally and in response to a myriad of factors internal and external to the learner. Qualitative, self-narrative data can provide insight into learner motivation and the contextual influences that act upon it. The present study investigates the motivational trends over time of two EFL learners, with a focus on the roles of possible selves. Data derived from language learning histories and semi-structured interviews was subjected to thematic and interpretive analysis. Findings indicate the importance to learner motivation of factors beyond the classroom and the teacher’s reach, emphasizing the need to foster learner autonomy, self-regulation and self-awareness.

Keywords: motivation, possible L2 selves, language learning history

 

Second language (L2) acquisition is a long and complex process that can easily span decades of one’s life, and has no clear ending. In most cases, the acquisition process requires considerable and sustained effort. Motivation is thus an essential component of the psychology of the language learner. It can be said that motivation influences the ultimate degree of success achieved in language learning more than any other learner-internal factor; a fact reflected in the sheer quantity of research that has been conducted on L2 motivation. Until about 2009, the great bulk of research on L2 motivation involved quantitative analyses on cross-sectional ‘snapshots’ of self-reported questionnaire data (Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015). However, as motivation is an individual, context-relational and dynamic variable (see e.g. Dörnyei, MacIntyre, & Henry, 2015; Ushioda, 2009; Verspoor, De Bot, & Lowie, 2011), there are limitations to the insights obtainable from large-scale questionnaire studies. The surge in qualitative and mixed-methods studies in recent years reflects the recognition that in order to gain a more complete picture of L2 learner motivation and its trajectory over time, there is also a need for research which focuses on individual participants in specific contexts.

The present study analyzes the language learning histories and transcripts from interviews with two participants in an attempt to gain insight into how their motivational states have evolved over time, and how motivation is related to learner experiences and contextual factors.

Motivation and Motivational Dynamics

Dörnyei and Ryan (2015) divide the history of L2 motivation research into three stages. The social psychological period (1959-1990) was characterized in particular by the work of Robert Gardner, whose model of second language acquisition is best remembered for the motivational concepts of integrativeness and instrumentality. The subsequent cognitive-situated period (the 1990s) saw something of a renaissance in motivational research, with a great diversity of approaches. One major effect of this period was a shift towards a more context-sensitive, situated view of language motivation. Out of this examination of context grew the third and ongoing socio-dynamic period (since 2000), which is characterized by attention to the dynamic nature of motivation and how it changes over time. A great deal of the research pursued in this stage has examined the construct of possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986), especially as framed in Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) L2 Motivational Self System. Dörnyei theorized a three-part system consisting of ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning experience, respectively representing the L2-user attributes an individual would like to possess, those that they feel they ought to possess, and the situational elements that affect their motivation as L2 learners.

There is a general consensus that in today’s world of globalization and World Englishes the Gardnerian notion of integrativeness—identifying and trying to assimilate with a specific and geographically defined ‘target culture’—is no longer relevant for many learners. Nevertheless, interest in and desire to participate in a real or imagined global community remain highly relevant. This globally-oriented attitude has been termed international posture by Yashima (2009), whose research has demonstrated a link between international posture, possible selves as a source of motivation, and L2 willingness to communicate.

Since the turn of the century, a growing trend in motivation research has been the incorporation of dynamic systems theory as an epistemological base. With this trend has come an abandonment of the notion of linear causality, a greater focus on individual learner motivation and how it changes over time, and an exploration of the complexity, interrelatedness, and ever-shifting nature of the multitude of factors influencing learner motivation. Henry (2015) proposed a tentative model of possible selves dynamics involving three processes: 1) up- and downward revisions of the ideal L2 self; 2) changes triggered by interactions with other self-concepts; and 3) changes in the vividness and elaboration of the L2-self image and in the availability and accessibility of the ideal L2 self.

Research Questions

To explore the motivational trends reflected in the participants’ stories of their learning, the following three questions were posed:

1. How does the motivation of each participant evolve and change over time?
2. To what extent can the participants’ motivation over time be explained in terms of possible selves?
3. What other motivational factors emerge as important in influencing the course of the participants’ L2 learning?

Participants and Methods

Participant selection was made using convenience sampling. Two students the researcher had easy access to were approached individually, the nature and aims of the study were explained, and informed, willing consent to participate in the study was obtained. The participants will be referred to with the pseudonyms Natcha and Kei. In order to gain an overview of their language learning careers, a language learning history (LLH) was elicited from each for their respective second and third (L3) languages, using a set of prompts (Appendix). LLHs were selected as the primary data collection tool because they “can reveal valuable insights about our learners’ needs, motivations, beliefs, goals and strategies” (Mercer, 2013, p. 164), they are dynamic and provide a view of how learner development changes over time (Benson & Nunan, 2005), and they give us access to the whole learner, including their lives beyond the classroom (Chik & Breidbach, 2011). Natcha is an upper-intermediate to advanced learner who is comfortable communicating in English, and working with her L1, Thai, would have required the services of a translator. She was therefore asked to write her LLHs in English. As a less proficient (intermediate) learner whose L1, Japanese, could be worked with directly by the researcher, Kei was asked to write his LLHs in Japanese in order to obtain as nuanced a narrative as possible. After collection, the LLHs were subjected to iterative thematic analysis (Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik, 2013). This involved breaking the LLHs into episodic units, repeatedly reading them, identifying recurrent themes, and coding them both descriptively, using Eclectic Coding (Saldaña, 2015), and in terms of motivational trends. In order to clarify researcher questions about the data and gain further insights, the analysis of the LLHs was followed by interviews with each participant. A preliminary set of questions was prepared for each participant, and interviews were then conducted using a semi-structured approach in which the researcher negotiated and discussed with the participant, encouraging them to expand on their answers (Hitchcock & Hughes, 1995). Natcha’s interview was conducted in English, while Kei’s interview was conducted in Japanese. Audio recordings of the interviews were transcribed in “play script” style (Harclau, 2011), meaning that hesitations, repetitions, non-lexical tokens, pauses, etc. were not included unless they were deemed essential to the speaker’s intended meaning. After initial analysis of the interview transcripts, follow-up interview questions were asked and answered by email to clarify salient details. Finally, further thematic analysis was conducted on the combined LLH and interview data.

Natcha’s language learning career

Natcha is a 26-year-old international undergraduate student from Thailand enrolled in the English department at a Japanese university. She began to study English (her L2) in nursery school from the age of three, and studied English as a regular subject throughout her primary, secondary and tertiary schooling in Thailand. During primary school she also attended Saturday English classes at a private school. In the 11th grade, she started studying Japanese (her L3) as well as English. In the 12th grade, she applied and was accepted to an international university in Japan where instruction is bilingual (Japanese/English), but opted instead to enter a Thai university. She left the university after three months, and then re-entered the following year and she studied geology for four years. In the summer of her 2nd year, she spent 3 months studying English in New Zealand, and during her 3rd and 4th years she took twice-weekly private Japanese classes. After leaving university, she came to Japan and studied Japanese for 1 year and 9 months in a language school before entering her present university as an undergraduate in the English department, where she is approaching the end of her first year.

Kei’s language learning career

Kei is a 23-year-old Japanese university student in his 4th year as an international business and economics major. He was first exposed to English (his L2) around the age of three. He occasionally joined an English class for children taught by his mother, and was also exposed to English on overseas family trips. At his primary school there were monthly English classes with foreign teachers, and in secondary school English was a regular school subject. At the end of his 2nd year in high school, he went to Australia for a two-week farmstay. At university, he has continued to study English, and has studied German (his L3) for one year.

Results and Discussion

Natcha

Research question 1. How has Natcha’s motivation evolved and changed over time? Even from the learning career described above, it is easy to see that language learning has figured prominently in Natcha’s life. However, her impetus for starting to study English was simply that it was a school subject, and she describes her attitude towards English in primary and secondary school in mostly negative and non-committal terms. She had “no passion” and “no goal” for English, and she prioritized fitting in over excelling at English, writing “if you try to speak like foreigner you might be made fun about your accent by your friend or people around you”. Her English classes became more difficult in secondary school, and as a result “my confidence and my passion kept going down”. The one positive statement she makes about her motivation during this period is that the first time she concentrated on studying English was in her private English classes, where the teacher provided incentive to students by giving them little presents to reward them for good scores—a clearly extrinsic motive.

When Natcha started studying Japanese, she was “not interested” until a new teacher just back from Japan took over her class. His achievements and teaching style “inspired” her. She felt “passion” for Japanese, but “hated to remember vocabulary”, and despite her classes there was “nothing left in my mind”. Nevertheless, as her decision to apply to the international university demonstrates, she clearly had language learning on her mind. On her decision not to attend despite being accepted with a scholarship, she wrote “I feared to go there because I had no confidence in my English”. The result of this decision was four years spent on a subject she was not really interested in. “Four years in the university was really worse. I hated study, kept skipping the class, slept in the class, and cheated on exams.” She continued to study English, with classes two or three times a week. English was not an unpleasant subject for her, but she did not put much effort into it.

A major turning point in Natcha’s story is her three months in New Zealand, an experience which seemed to improve her confidence and her willingness to communicate without worrying about making mistakes, both in English and in Japanese. After this point she talks about her motivation in more positive terms, and with her decision to come to Japan, her life has progressively come to be defined by language learning.

In summary, seen from the macro viewpoint of language-learning motivation across the span of Natcha’s life, what emerges is a progression from lack or loss of motivation and almost purely extrinsic motives to a generally upward trajectory of progressive self-confidence and investment in language learning, with her experience in New Zealand during university marking the turning point.

Research question 2. To what degree, then, can this motivational progression be explained in terms of possible selves? In primary school, Natcha dreamt of becoming a secretary working with “a foreign boss”; a fairly vague and distant ideal L2 self. However, she did not feel pressure to learn English beyond the desire to get a good grade, implying that her ought-to self was defined mostly by academic requirements. Her self-concept as a bad student in general during university likely had a negative effect on her ideal L2 self, as per Henry’s (2015) model of possible selves dynamics, which posits that changes can be triggered by interactions with other self-concepts.

Natcha’s experience in New Zealand marked a pivotal change in self-imagery; she became better able to imagine herself speaking confidently with foreigners, not only in English but also in Japanese. And at present, she has more clearly defined goals than ever: for English, “I set my dream to understand New York Times as a native”; and she sees her future self as an interpreter or secretary in a foreign—but not Japanese—company. A strong motivation for her present studies seems to come from her feared self, fulfilling one of Dörnyei’s (2009) conditions for making self-imagery functionally motivational. She wrote:

Study Japanese is like the final chance for me, if I fail again I will be a completely looser, and has nothing for my future, no jobs, no money, just nothing. So I cannot give up, only keep going on and do my best.

Yashima’s (2009) international posture also seems relevant for Natcha, who sees herself participating in ‘a foreign company’, but who does not have strong aspirations towards a particular country or culture. In fact, she specifies that she does not want to work in a Japanese company because she feels that communication and human relations are more straightforward in an English-speaking environment.

Research question 3. Another major motivational factor that emerges from Natcha’s data is the influence of key persons in her life. The first was Natcha’s 11th grade Japanese teacher, who ‘inspired’ her. Then during her stay in New Zealand, fellow foreign students from various countries had a strong effect on Natcha, prompting her  to “go out from my safe zone” in speaking English, and to make a regular habit of watching TV dramas in English. In Japan, negative reinforcement from her senior at her part-time job has had a positive motivational effect on Natcha: “He always said that ‘Your Japanese bad because you never try so hard. … when I look at you, you never do anything! … sometime I upset, but, yeah, after I upset I feel like ‘Yeah, that’s true.’”

Kei

Research question 1. How has Kei’s motivation evolved and changed over time? Kei’s relationship with English starts on a very positive note. He developed an interest in English from watching his mother communicate with foreigners, and enjoyed the communicative orientation of the kindergarten and primary school classes he had. Upon entering junior high school, however, English was transformed into a “boring” subject for him, focused on grammar and reading and with little opportunity for real communication. His “sole pleasure” during this period was occasional music- and song lyric-based activities. English in high school was even more difficult and less communicative. However, there was one highlight: a two-week stay at a farm in Australia, where he rediscovered the pleasure of speaking freely for practical purposes.

After the motivational doldrums of his secondary schooling, Kei began to enjoy English more at university. He felt he had more contact with the international English-speaking community via his various teachers and texts, and he had more opportunities to communicate and express himself in English. Thus there emerges a picture of an overall high-low-high motivational trajectory with a positive starting point, a nadir during secondary school, and a progressive upward rebound after entering university.

Research question 2. In terms of possible selves, Kei’s childhood L2 self-image was simple and based in his experience up to that point: he imagined himself communicating with his mother’s foreign friends. There is a notable lack of any indications of an ought-to L2 self at this stage. During secondary school, his ideal L2 self-image became a bit more elaborate, broadening to include the image of chatting with friends or teachers in English outside of class, or giving directions to foreign tourists. At this point, his self-imagery was still firmly grounded in his immediate experiences. This changed after his trip to Australia, however; his imagined community suddenly broadened to include global society in general, and he expressed the feeling that he has to learn English for use in that community. This represents a convergent tendency between his ideal and ought-to L2 selves. Since entering university, Kei has found it easier to imagine himself speaking English, perhaps indicating that his actual and ideal L2 selves have come closer together. At the same time, after taking a year of German, he has developed a new trilingual ideal L2 self-image. This may indicate a readjustment of the ideal L2 self away, to avoid it being too comfortably within reach; another of Dörnyei’s (2009) conditions for success.

Research question 3. Two other factors that seem to have affected Kei’s motivation are the influence of his mother, and his experience in Australia. Watching his mother communicate with foreign friends was the foundational experience of Kei’s language learning career, one that set the overall tone for how he imagined the role of English in his life. And his interactions with his Australian hosts served to revitalize that image at a time when English had become a boring chore for him.

Conclusion

Both Natcha’s and Kei’s language learning sagas demonstrate the dynamic and evolving nature of motivation. Across shorter timescales, relatively rapid fluctuations can be observed, while standing back and looking at the bigger picture renders a smoother, more stable trajectory over time. In the case of these two learners, the overall trend is positive; despite low points in the past, the future looks bright. It is also possible to derive insights that may apply more generally, such as the great potential that study abroad experiences and key persons (peers, family members, teachers) can have to make a positive influence on a learner’s motivation. At the same time, the importance of contextual and situational factors also looms large, underscoring the fact that only by taking such factors into consideration can you begin to properly understand the individual language learner’s psychology. A pedagogical lesson that emerges from these case studies is that while classroom study can provide a supportive and resource-rich site for language learning, the motivation to take advantage of that site often comes from beyond the classroom walls, or from factors beyond the teacher’s reach. It is therefore essential that we focus on helping learners to help and regulate themselves as they navigate their individual language learning journeys.

Notes on the contributor

Henry Foster is a lecturer at Bukkyo University in Kyoto, Japan.  He has an MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of Southern Queensland and is currently an Ed.D. in TESOL student at Anaheim University. His present research interests include motivation, learner beliefs, discourse analysis and narrative inquiry.

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