The Impact of Self-Concept on Language Learning - Brossura

Brossura

ISBN 10: 178309236X ISBN 13: 9781783092369

Casa editrice: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 2014

Riassunto

This edited volume seeks to highlight the effects of self-concept on L2 learning and teaching by considering a wide range of theories as well as their practical application. The book is divided into four sections and includes: chapters discussing various approaches related to self-concept; empirical studies related to the selves of the learners; research from teachers’ perspectives on students' self-concept; and L2 motivational intervention studies associated with the development of self-concept of language learners. The volume contains a collection of studies from around the world (Central Europe, Canada, Asia and Australia) which were carried out using a variety of research methods and have a range of foci including adult and young learners, public and private education, foreign and second language settings, and teacher and learner motivation.

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Informazioni sugli autori

Kata Csizér is a Lecturer in the Department of English Applied Linguistics, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary where she teaches various L2 motivation courses. Her main research focuses on the socio-psychological aspects of L2 learning and teaching as well as second and foreign language motivation.

Michael Magid is an English Language Pedagogy Specialist at the English Language Institute of Singapore. As a pedagogy specialist, Michael is involved in the professional development of English teachers and conducts action research on language learning motivation and using drama as a pedagogical tool to teach English. In his work, Michael draws on his experience of teaching English at all levels in Canada, England, China and Japan as well as his background in Applied Linguistics.

Kata Csizér is a Lecturer in the Department of English Applied Linguistics, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary where she teaches various L2 motivation courses. Her main research focuses on the socio-psychological aspects of L2 learning and teaching as well as second and foreign language motivation.Michael Magid is an English Language Pedagogy Specialist at the English Language Institute of Singapore. As a pedagogy specialist, Michael is involved in the professional development of English teachers and conducts action research on language learning motivation and using drama as a pedagogical tool to teach English. In his work, Michael draws on his experience of teaching English at all levels in Canada, England, China and Japan as well as his background in Applied Linguistics.

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The Impact of Self-Concept on Language Learning

By Kata Csizér, Michael Magid

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2014 Kata Csizér, Michael Magid and the authors of individual chapters
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-78309-236-9

Contents

Contributors, 
1 The Self-Concept and Language Learning: An Introduction Kata Csizér and Michael Magid, 
Part 1: Theories Related to Self-Concept, 
2 Future Self-Guides and Vision Zoltán Dörnyei, 
3 At the Interface of the Socio-Educational Model, Self-Determination Theory and the L2 Motivational Self System Models Maya Sugita McEown, Kimberly A. Noels and Kathryn Everhart Chaffee, 
4 Re-imagining the Self as a Network of Relationships Sarah Mercer, 
Part 2: Self-Concept and Language Learning, 
5 The Ideal L2 Self, Self-Regulatory Strategies and Autonomous Learning: A Comparison of Different Groups of English Language Learners Kata Csizér and Judit Kormos, 
6 EFL Students' L2 Motivational Self System and Self-Regulation: Focusing on Elementary and Junior High School Students in Korea Tae-Young Kim and Yoon-Kyoung Kim, 
7 The L2 Self-Concept in Second Language Learning Motivation: A Longitudinal Study of Korean University Students David Lyons, 
8 Culture, Autonomy and the Self in Language Learning Kimberly A. Noels, Kathryn Everhart Chaffee, Megan Michalyk and Maya Sugita McEown, 
9 Investigating Adult Migrant ESL Learners' Language Learning Motivational Profile in Australia: Towards a Bicultural Identity Elke Stracke, Jeremy Jones and Nicolette Bramley, 
10 Investing in Experiential Capital: Self-Efficacy, Imagination and Development of Ideal L2 Selves Kay Irie and Damon R. Brewster, 
11 Self-Constructs in Language Learning: What is their Role in Self-Regulation? Janina Iwaniec, 
12 Emerging Self-Identities of Second Language Learners: Emotions and the Experiential Profile of Identity Construction Masuko Miyahara, 
13 Fear of the True Self: Social Anxiety and the Silent Behaviour of Japanese Learners of English Jim King, 
14 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 Zhen Yue, 
15 The Interaction of the L2 Motivational Self System with Socialisation and Identification Patterns and L2 Accent Attainment Nihat Polat, 
Part 3: Self-Concept and Language Teaching, 
16 The Effect of Motivational Strategies on Self-Related Aspects of Student Motivation and Second Language Learning Gabriella Mezei, 
17 ELT Motivation from a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory Perspective: A Longitudinal Case Study of L2 Teacher Motivation in Beijing Yuzo Kimura, 
Part 4: Intervention Studies, 
18 A Motivational Programme for Learners of English: An Application of the L2 Motivational Self System Michael Magid, 
19 Effects of an Imagery Training Strategy on Chinese University Students' Possible Second Language Selves and Learning Experiences Letty Chan, 
20 Applications and Implications of the L2 Motivational Self System in a Catalan EFL Context Jessica Mackay, 
Part 5: Future Research Directions, 
21 The Self-Concept and Language Learning: Future Research Directions Michael Magid and Kata Csizér, 

CHAPTER 1

The Self-Concept and Language Learning: An Introduction

Kata Csizér and Michael Magid

Introduction

A learner's sense of self plays a key role in academic achievement (Pajares & Schunk, 2005) and plays a more significant role in language learning since 'language, after all, belongs to a person's whole social being; it is a part of one's identity, and is used to convey this identity to other people' (Williams & Burden, 1997: 115). Recently in second language (L2) acquisition, scholars have focused on the importance of self-concept as a result of Zoltán Dörnyei's L2 Motivational Self System (e.g. Dörnyei, 2005; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011), which is based on Higgins's (1987) self-discrepancy theory, in which an L2 learner compares their current self-concept to their self-guides, which are their ideal self and their ought self. Self-concept may be 'conceptualised in global terms or in respect to specific domains and includes both cognitive and affective dimensions' (Mercer, 2011: 65).

The paradigmatic shift of L2 motivation research brought about by not only the interest of and research into self-related concepts in second language learning but as well as the apparent need of reconceptualising L2 motivation concepts and processes in light of the emergence of Global English resulted in a wealth of publications in recent years. One of the most comprehensive summaries of the developments of the new century was presented in Dörnyei and Ushioda's 2009 volume, also published by Multilingual Matters. Dörnyei and Ushioda (2009) called for papers discussing various aspects of L2 motivation as related to students' selves and identities, and as a result of their edited volume they concluded that 'motivation conceived as part of the learner's identity/self is a workable concept from several perspectives' (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009: 350). Research into identity and self-related issues in very recent years not only proved the above quote to be true but also created a research niche for a new wave of studies that aimed at finding out how self-related issues actually impact L2 learning in general and L2 motivation processes in particular. Our present volume contributes to this line of research by including theoretical works about the L2 Motivational Self System and self-guides and empirical investigations targeting both learners and teachers of English. A particularly important line in empirical research is that of the intervention studies, as these investigations measure the effects of strategy training on students' L2 motivation. Strategy training concerning students' selves can take many shapes: various motivational programmes, imagery training and self intervention programmes can prove to be successful in motivating L2 learning both in the short and long run in various learning contexts around the world.

A Brief Overview of this Book

This edited volume highlights the effects of self-concept on L2 learning and teaching by considering a wide range of theories related to self-concept as well as their practical applications. As far as the structure of the book is concerned, four main parts are presented: (1) chapters featuring various theories related to the self-concept; (2) empirical studies related to the selves of the learners; (3) teachers' perspectives on students' self-concept and (4) L2 motivational intervention studies associated with the development of the self-concept of language learners.

Part 1 begins with Zoltán Dörnyei's chapter highlighting the importance of and relationship between future self-guides and vision. He argues that vision and mental imagery should be considered as an essential part of motivation and language learning. The second chapter in this part written by Maya Sugita McEown, Kimberly A. Noels and Kathryn Everhart Chaffee details conceptual differences and similarities among the Socio-educational Model, Self-Determination Theory and the L2 Motivational Self System. The authors not only discuss theoretical considerations but empirical data are also presented to underline their arguments. Part 1 is concluded by Sarah Mercer's chapter, which investigates how self and one's network of relationships are linked. She has designed a conceptual model of the self, which contains personal and social aspects as well as takes time and context into consideration.

Part 2 of the book includes studies that set out to research how self-related concepts might contribute to the process of language learning. In terms of thematic categorisation, several chapters have dealt with how selves, L2 motivation, self-regulation and autonomy are related. Kata Csizér and Judit Kormos (Chapter 5) investigate possible relationships between motivational selves, self-regulation and autonomy. Tae-Young Kim and Yoon-Kyoung Kim (Chapter 6) research differences between elementary and junior high school students concerning their L2 Motivational Self System and self-regulatory processes. Kimberly A. Noels, Kathryn Everhart Chaffee, Megan Michalyk and Maya Sugita McEown (Chapter 8) add culture to the picture and consider how contextual aspects might factor into autonomy. The role of self-regulation is the topic of Janina Iwaniec's work (Chapter 11), which deals with a number of self-constructs and their relevance in regulating the learning process. Another interesting trend in this part of the book relates to students' identities. David Lyons (Chapter 7) puts forward a longitudinal study to map how self-concepts influence motivation. Elke Stracke, Jeremy Jones and Nicolette Bramley (Chapter 9) map bicultural identities in an Australian context. Kay Irie and Damon Brewster (Chapter 10) introduce the notion of experiential capital and its role in language learning. Masuko Miyahara (Chapter 12) writes about emerging self-identities and emotions as well as identity construction. Jim King (Chapter 13) discusses social anxiety and silent behaviour in a Japanese context. Zhen Yue's investigation (Chapter 14) provides complex and dynamic information on Chinese university students' willingness to communicate. Last but not least, Nihat Polat (Chapter 15) investigates how the L2 Motivational Self System relates to socialisation, identification and L2 accent attainment.

Part 3 contains studies from the teachers' perspectives. Gabriella Mezei (Chapter 16) presents a study on how teachers' motivational strategies impact students' selves and motivation. Yuzo Kimura's (Chapter 17) longitudinal case study puts teachers at the centre of interest and looks at how dynamically changing their motivation is.

Part 4 consists of three intervention studies that examine how self-related training enhances students' motivation. Michael Magid (Chapter 18) describes his motivational programme and presents his results concerning the effects of the programme through which students' Ideal L2 selves are strengthened. Letty Chan (Chapter 19) reveals results of her imagery training programme on students' possible L2 selves. Jessica Mackay (Chapter 20) discusses the practical implications of her Ideal L2 self intervention programme in a Spanish context. Part 5 presents future research directions on the impact of self-concept on language learning. These directions originate from the authors of the chapters outlined above and are both theoretical and practical in nature.

Based on the above brief summary, we are proud to present a book on L2 motivation, which not only includes studies from all over the world (Central Europe, Canada, Asia and Australia) but also contains many different research methods. In fact, we feel that one of the main strengths of the book lies in the high quality of varied research methods employed in the studies with both qualitative and quantitative data as well as longitudinal and cross-sectional investigations.

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, we would like to thank Zoltán Dörnyei for encouraging us to embark on this rewarding enterprise. Secondly, we feel deeply indebted to our contributors. Needless to say, we could not have done this without them! We would also like to thank those researchers whose work we could not include in the volume for answering our call for chapters and putting forth such excellent proposals. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to Multilingual Matters for agreeing to publish this volume. We thank the staff and editors for their highly professional work and support. We would also like to thank the reviewers for their valuable feedback.

CHAPTER 2

Future Self-Guides and Vision

Zoltán Dörnyei

Introduction

Recent theorising on second language (L2) motivation has introduced two new terms, 'future self-guides' and 'vision'. They refer to interrelated concepts that have partly emerged from a continuous line of research on L2 motivation that goes back to Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert's pioneering study in 1959, but which also added new twists to the traditional conceptualisations: future self-guides drew attention to the importance of one's self-concept in understanding motivational dispositions, while vision highlighted the potential significance of mental imagery – and especially future self-images – in energising goal-specific behaviour. This chapter describes the two concepts and discusses how they are related to each other.

Future Self-Guides

A person's self-concept has traditionally been seen as the summary of the individual's self-knowledge related to how the person views him/herself (Dörnyei, 2009). One specific aspect of this complex notion has been identified as particularly relevant to motivation researchers: the future dimension of the self-concept, that is, not so much how people view themselves in the present as how they imagine themselves in the future. In a seminal paper, Markus and Nurius (1986) labelled the mental representations associated with this future dimension as 'possible selves' and distinguished three main types depending on the overall quality of the imagined future selves: they can represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become and what they are afraid of becoming.

Projected future self-states have a strong motivational impact (cf. Markus & Nurius, 1987), and this motivational function was made explicit by Higgins's (1987, 1998) self-discrepancy theory. Higgins focused only on two types of possible selves, the ideal self, referring to the characteristics that someone would ideally like to possess, subsuming hopes, aspirations and wishes, and the ought self, referring to the attributes that one believes one ought to possess, subsuming someone's sense of personal or social duties, obligations or responsibilities. Higgins then argued that people have a feeling of unease when there is a discrepancy between their actual real-life self and their aspired future self. This psychological tension, in turn, spurs the desire for action towards reducing the gap, and it thus becomes a potent source of motivation. In this sense, possible selves act as 'future self-guides', reflecting a dynamic, forward-pointing conception that can explain how someone is moved from the present towards the future.

The L2 Motivational Self System

I have described elsewhere how L2 motivation research reached a stage when past traditions could be meaningfully fused with lessons learnt about future self-guides in social psychology (e.g. Dörnyei, 2009, 2010; see also Csizér & Dörnyei, 2005), resulting in a tripartite construct, the L2 Motivational Self System. This is partly an application of possible selves theory to second language acquisition contexts, proposing the L2 equivalents of the ideal and ought selves:

• Ideal L2 self: if the person we would like to become speaks an L2 (e.g. the person we would like to become is associated with travelling or doing business internationally), the ideal L2 self is a powerful motivator to learn the L2 because we would like to reduce the gap between our actual and ideal selves.

• Ought-to L2 self, which concerns L2-related attributes that one believes one ought to possess to avoid possible negative outcomes and which therefore may bear little resemblance to the person's own desires or wishes.

However, besides these two sources of L2 motivation – that is, the learner's internal desire to become an effective L2 user and social pressures coming from the learner's environment to master the L2 – the L2 Motivational Self System also includes a third main component to reflect the main findings of motivation research in the 1990s, which highlighted the motivational significance of the immediate learning situation in which the mastery of the L2 occurred:

• L2 learning experience, which concerns situation-specific motives related to the immediate learning environment and experience (e.g. thepositive impact of success, the rapport between teachers and students or the enjoyable quality of a language course).

Thus, the new approach concerned two future self-guides associated with imagined experience and a third constituent rooted in actual experience. Over the past five years, several studies have validated this broad tripartite construct (cf. e.g. the papers in Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2009, as well as Busse, 2013; Csizér & Lukács, 2010; Henry, 2009, 2010, 2011; Hiver, 2013; Islam et al., 2013; Kormos et al., 2011; Lamb, 2012; Magid, 2009; Papi, 2010; Papi & Teimouri, 2012), confirming the overall explanatory power of the model, with the ideal L2 self, in particular, playing a substantive role as a future self-guide in determining motivated behaviour.

Conditions for the Motivating Capacity of Future Self-Guides

A key aspect of the L2 Motivational Self System is the recognition that although future self-guides have the capacity to motivate action, this does not always happen automatically: in many cases, the desire to learn the L2 that has been generated by constructive future self-images fails to be realised in actual action. Therefore, Dörnyei (2005) has proposed a number of key conditions that need to be in place for future self-guides to be able to exert their motivational impact. Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011) offer the following list of the main prerequisites:

• The learner has a desired future self-image. People differ in how easily they can generate a successful possible self, and therefore, not everyone is expected to possess a developed ideal or ought-to self-guide.

• The future self is sufficiently different from the current self. If there is no observable gap between current and future selves, no increased effort is felt necessary and no motivation emerges.

• The future self-image is elaborate and vivid. People vary in the vividness of their mental imagery, and a possible self with insufficient specificity and detail may not be able to evoke the necessary motivational response.

• The future self-image is perceived as plausible. Possible selves are effective only insofar as the individual does indeed perceive them as possible, that is, realistic within the person's individual circumstances. Thus, a sense of controllability (i.e. the belief that one's action is conceivable and can make a difference) is an essential prerequisite.

• The future self-image is not perceived as comfortably certain to reach, that is, within one's grasp. The learner must not believe that the possible self will happen automatically, without a marked increase in expended effort.

• The future self-image is in harmony – or at least does not clash – with other parts of the individual's self-concept (e.g. a conflict between the ideal and the ought-to selves), particularly with expectations of the learner's family, peers or other elements of the social environment.

• The future self-image is accompanied by relevant and effective procedural strategies that act as a roadmap towards the goal. Once our vision generates energy, we need productive tasks into which to channel this energy or it will ebb away.

• The future self-image is regularly activated in the learner's working self-concept. Possible selves can be squeezed out of someone's working self-concept by other contenders for attention and will therefore become relevant for behaviour only if they are primed by frequent and varied reminders.

• The desired future self-image is offset by a counteracting feared possible self in the same domain. Maximal motivational effectiveness is achieved if the learner also has a vivid image about the negative consequences of failing to achieve the desired end state.

It has become clear over the past few years that these conditions are not just additional corollaries of the new conceptualisation of L2 motivation but also form an integral part of it because without them the three primary motivational dimensions lose their motivational capacity (for a discussion, see Dörnyei, 2009). Furthermore, it has also been realised that the summary of the necessary conditions carries considerable practical significance: the conditions outline in effect a principled novel approach for teachers to motivate their students by ensuring that the conditions are met, a point I will come back to in the concluding section of this chapter.

(Continues...)

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Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Multilingual Matters Ltd
• Data di pubblicazione: 2014
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 178309236X
• ISBN 13: 9781783092369
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 407
• Redattore: Csizer Kata, Magid Michael
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
• Persona responsabile: non disponibile