The case of a missing person? The current L2 self and the L2 Motivational Self System

ABSTRACT

In the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) motivation is conceptualized to be generated by discomfort associated with the learner's experience of a discrepancy between their current L2 self, and their ideal L2 self. However, in the L2MSS model, this discrepancy is not operationalized. A questionnaire containing measures of current L2 selves was administered to two cohorts of students learning English in Sweden, one in grade 7, and one in grade 9. Using structural equation modeling, results revealed that the discrepancy between the ideal L2 self and the current L2 self was greater for the grade 7 cohort. So too was the impact on a criterion variable measuring intended effort. Arguments for the operationalization of the self-discrepancy process in research designs are put forward. In studies tracking changes over time, it is suggested that the inclusion of a variable measuring the current L2 self could provide important insights into self-discrepancy trajectories, facilitate the investigation of motivational dynamics, and bring greater sensitivity to intervention-design.

KEYWORDS:

• L2 motivation
• self-discrepancies
• possible selves
• self-revision
• global English

Acknowledgements

In addition to the students and teachers at the seven schools, we would like to thank Pia Sundqvist for her assistance in collecting some of the data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Cecilia Thorsen is a senior lecturer in education at University West (Sweden). Her research interests include educational assessment and language learners' motivation. With Alastair Henry, she has researched L2 motivation in classroom contexts in the Motivational Teaching in Swedish Secondary English (MOTiSSE) project, and with Christina Cliffordson she has examined the dimensionality and predictive qualities of grades as measures of educational achievement.

Alastair Henry is a professor of language education at University West (Sweden). His research has focused primarily on L2 motivation and multilingualism. With Cecilia Thorsen he has researched L2 motivation in classroom contexts in the MOTiSSE project, and with Christina Cliffordson he has studied gender differences in L2 motivation.

Christina Cliffordson is a professor of education at University West (Sweden). Her research interests include the investigation of empathy and the development of ‘state-of-the-art’ quantitative methodologies in education research. Her work has been published in journals such as Intelligence, Educational Assessment and Educational Research and Evaluation.

ORCID

Cecilia Thorsen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7751-3942

Alastair Henry http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7789-9032

Christina Cliffordson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4722-009X

Notes

1 McConaughey won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Dallas Buyers Club. Accessed at: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/oscars-2014-matthew-mcconaughey-best-actor-oscars-2014-acceptance-speech-in-full-9164954.html

2 This figure is a projection based on the data reported by Dörnyei and Ryan (2015).

3 It should be noted that in possible selves research substantial use is made of questionnaires. However, these are of a type where participants rate possible and current selves of a generalized nature, and which involve broad psychological dimensions and personality characteristics (Packard and Conway 2006). Commonly, instruments invite participants to generate a list of possible selves and, in a second stage, to rate how likely it is that the most personally salient of these possible selves will happen in the future (see e.g. Cross & Markus, 19911991). Questionnaires employing closed-ended Likert scale items of an AMTB-type are hardly ever found (most likely since such instruments could only work for very narrow and specific target domains (Dörnyei and Ushioda 2009b)). Because in self-discrepancy research there are neither designs nor techniques for measuring the discrepancies between scores for current and ideal selves generated from closed-ended items, this has likely thwarted the development of an L2-focused instrument more typical of those used by researchers working in a self-discrepancy tradition.