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Given much importance associated with willingness to communicate (WTC) in foreign language learning, many researchers have carried out studies to explore antecedents of second language (L2) WTC. To contribute to this research domain, this study sought to test a model of ideal L2 self, growth language mindset, boredom and WTC among English major students. In so doing, we recruited a total number of 437 undergraduate English major students from different universities in Iran, who were requested to complete an online survey containing the questionnaires of these four variables. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm the construct validity of the questionnaires. In addition, structural equation modelling was performed to test the hypothesised structural relations among the variables. Results showed that ideal L2 self and boredom significantly influenced (English as a Foreign Language) EFL students' WTC directly. Nevertheless, the growth language mindset influenced WTC indirectly, through the mediation of boredom. The findings suggest notable implications for teaching and learning EFL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, there has been considerable academic interest in the positive emotions of language learners. As a contribution to this field, the aims of this study were to identify foreign language pleasure (FLE) patterns and their relations with language learning motivation. A total of 145 Korean university students joined the study and their responses to surveys related to the FLE and L2 future selves were analyzed. It was found, first, that there were three underlying FLE factors named Teacher-facilitator enjoyment, Private-internalized enjoyment, and Social enjoyment. Second, these factors were mostly correlated with L2 future selves. It also indicated that ought-to L2 self and the first and third FLE factors were not related to self-perceived proficiency, unlike ideal L2 self and the second FLE factor, that is, Private-internalized enjoyment. Lastly, the result of mediation analysis suggested that private-internalized enjoyment serves as a mediator in the way ideal L2 self affected self-perceived proficiency. The implications based on the findings were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Vietnamese students' motivation for learning Mandarin Chinese during their study abroad in Taiwan and their construction of self in relation to this language learning motivation. A combination of several concepts of ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, instrumental motive, integrative motive, linguistic capital, and multiple self-aspects is used as a theoretical lens to gain insights into the students' Chinese learning motivation. The study employs a qualitative research approach in which semi-structured interviews with English-medium students from five Taiwanese universities were conducted. Findings reveal that the students' motivation for learning Chinese contributed to portraying their ideal and ought-to Chinese selves, which subsume their different instrumental and integrative motives for language learning. The ideal Chinese self they would like to become possesses Chinese linguistic capital, which would confer on them advantages pertaining to their study, career development and social relations. The students' ideal Chinese self also incorporates and reinforces their (desired) cultural, economic and social selves. Implications for supporting international students' motivation for out-of-class language learning and their construction of self at the institutional level are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on how a world of possibilities is opened up by language learners themselves, imagination has been regarded as an elusive but indispensable element in second language (L2) education. Drawing on notions of international posture (Yashima 2002), Ideal L2 Self (Dörnyei 2009), and imagined communities (Norton 2001), we theorised imagination from a psychological perspective and a sociocultural lens. Then we conducted a mixed-method investigation to examine the complex relationship between imagination and informal digital learning of English (IDLE). A total of 401 participants from a tier-one university in China answered the survey, and 15 participated in post-survey interviews. Quantitative data revealed that students’ international posture could positively influence their IDLE practices. The Ideal L2 Self could both contribute to IDLE and partially mediate the relationship between international posture and IDLE. Adding nuances to quantitative results, the analysis of the interview data highlighted three major themes––imagining possible selves, negotiating access, and investing in IDLE. These themes helped to make sense of the intricate ways in which EFL learners invest in IDLE trajectories by utilising the power of imagination to negotiate their desired memberships in imagined international communities. This study concludes with pedagogical implications and suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the relationship between the L2 Motivational Self System—namely, the ideal L2 self and the ought-to L2 self—and L2 Willingness to Communicate (L2 WTC) in the classroom (a typical place for English communication among EFL learners) and in the extramural digital setting (an emerging English communication channel increasingly used by young EFL learners). To this end, 417 Chinese EFL middle school students (ages 12 to 14) participated in the study. After controlling for demographic factors hierarchical multiple regression results showed that the ideal L2 self significantly predicted L2 WTC both in the classroom and in an extramural digital setting. Interview data (n = 4) also elaborated that students attempted to lessen the discrepancy between their current L2 self (e.g., EFL learners) and ideal L2 self-images (e.g., discussing the professional National Basketball Association in an American radio program) by becoming more willing to communicate in both communication environments. In addition to new research directions, these results offer pedagogical implications that the ideal L2 self can facilitate L2 communication orientation in in-class and out-of-class digital environments, both of which are typically venues for L2 communication among today's young EFL learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) has been extensively investigated among learners of English, this study explores through a crosslinguistic lens its applicability to learners of a language other than English (LOTE), in this case French. Quantitative survey analysis among 522 university learners of French and English in two European countries (Sweden and Poland) suggests that while the framework is relevant in the case of learners of French, other motivation constructs are also at play. The L2MSS supposedly subsumes various traditional motivational constructs (e.g. integrative orientation, instrumental orientation), yet there is evidence to suggest that these were perceived as distinct constructs in their own right, especially by the learners of French. Even a strong form of integrative orientation was found to play an active role among the learners of French who had spent time in a francophone country and had learnt the language for longer. As such, the article argues for a more comprehensive approach to second language (L2) motivation theory that is also sensitive to factors at play in the specific case of LOTEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there has been a surge of publication on L2 motivation studies, not much has been investigated regarding motivation to learn languages other than English. As a longitudinal interview study, the present study investigated two cases of Japanese university students focusing on the development of ideal L2/L3 self and ideal multilingual self. The results indicated that the development of ideal L2/L3 self was closely related to that of ideal professional self, and an elaborate ideal L2/L3 self helped learners persist and achieve high competence in the target languages. Furthermore, reading skills were considered especially important among the interviewees, which was not emphasised in contexts where learners have daily contact with the target languages. One of the interviewees was not negatively impacted by English and becoming multilingual, which seemed to be helped by a range of factors including ideal L2/L3 self, strong intrinsic motivation, and rich life experiences. The case demonstrated the possibility of developing an ideal multilingual self and becoming multilingual even in an era when English functions as a global language. Based on the results, theoretical and pedagogical implications that might be particularly helpful in foreign language contexts are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spread of technology in today's world has made contact across cultures easier than ever. The current study aimed at exploring the association between EFL learners' intercultural contact and their L2 motivational self system. The study also dealt with the relationship between the components of intercultural contact and those of L2 Motivational self system. The research participants completed two relevant questionnaires online. The results revealed that the major sources of intercultural contact among Iranian EFL learners were media and art. The results of correlational analysis showed a significant association between intercultural contact and L2 motivational self system and their components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-economic status (SES) has been consistently shown to influence students' educational achievement, but to date, few studies have investigated the role of SES in language learning motivation. This study aims to examine to what extent two indicators of SES, school location and parents' education, affect motivation of Polish 15-year-olds to study English. The questionnaire, completed by 599 participants, was based on Motivational Systems Theory [Ford, M. 1992. Motivating humans: goals, emotions, and personal agency beliefs. London: Sage Publications.] The results indicate that both school location and parents' education affect language learning motivation. Students from rural schools and those whose parents have a lower level of education tended to be less motivated than their peers from cities and those whose parents have higher levels of education. The differences concerned the goals the students adopted, their personal agency beliefs, emotional arousal processes, ideal L2 selves and self-regulation. This study highlights the need to raise teachers' awareness of the issue. From the methodological perspective, it stresses the necessity to ensure sample representativeness in terms of students' SES when conducting research on affective factors in language learning and calls for more research involving participants from lower SES backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study had two objectives: (a) to quantitatively investigate whether Japanese language learners of English have inclusive second language (L2) self-related motivations, and how inclusive L2 self-related motivations contribute to English learning effort and self-rated English ability, and (b) to qualitatively examine how Japanese learners of English incorporate parental expectations and values about English into their L2 self during each stage of their English learning experience, and how higher and lower English proficiency learners incorporate parental values and opinions into their L2 self. We found that an inclusive L2 self-related motivation explained the interaction between social/contextual factors and English learning effort or self-rated English ability. A gap was observed between higher and lower English proficiency groups regarding the degree of incorporating parental expectations, values, and feelings about English into their sense of L2 self. Having an inclusive L2 self successfully introduces different viewpoints into current self-related motivational frameworks within language learning contexts, which to date have only emphasised individual levels of self perspectives to the exclusion of inclusive self figures derived from social surroundings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses Ryan's Motivational Factors Questionnaire (MFQ) as a data collection tool to explore the motivational factors which distinguish groups of Korean university language learners based on English proficiency and degree of multilingualism. The data were analysed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA). The results of the EFA highlighted both similarities and differences to the constructs underlying the MFQ according to Ryan. For example, the EFA of the current study showed Ryan's construct of ‘ideal L2 self’ splitting into two distinct factors: ‘ideal L2 self - English for general future dreams’ and ‘ideal L2 self - cognitively activated imagery'. Ryan's ‘instrumentality’ construct also split into two factors. These splits highlight the need for more research to understand the sub-constructs that might occur in the psychological constructs of self. Using the results from the EFA, a MANOVA and subsequent DFA highlighted a range of factors relating to anxiety, cultural interest, attitudes towards English and the influence of the USA, which predicted group membership based on L2 English proficiency. Group membership based on multilingual status (i.e. intermediate or higher level knowledge of L2 English plus at least another second language) was predicted by factors relating to interest in foreign languages and public self-confidence in English. These results underscore the importance of examining participants’ background information (language proficiency and multilingual status) in conjunction with exploring motivational and related variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning outcomes are always the product of the interaction between individual learner agency and social structures. Recently concern has been expressed about unequal access to English, recognised as an important resource for social advancement, for rural populations in developing countries. This paper explores this issue by focusing on one element of learner agency (motivation) in a small group of young adolescent learners in rural Indonesia, who were sampled from a previous quantitative study. Through interviews with the learners and their parents, the study strives to understand the nature of their agency and the way it is shaped by contextual constraints and affordances. Results suggest that the learners do develop Ideal L2 selves though these tend towards fantasy, that they do exert effort to learn English, but this is not systematic or well-resourced, and that their parents are very aware of the limited support they can offer their children. While these constraints may help explain the rural learners' slow progress in English, the paper argues that spreading mobile technologies offer hope for improved outcomes in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]