Publication:

Intercultural learning and Dörnyei´s L2 motivational self system: a study on the relationship between the learning situation and the ideal and ought-to L2 selves

The role of motivation in EFL has consistently been cited as one of the most important factors in second language acquisition. In recent years, the long-standing integrative view (emotional connection to the culture of the L2 target culture) posed by Robert Gardner has been reframed to represent the multicultural, global world. Dörnyei ́s L2 Motivational Self System suggests motivation is related to the broader psychological concepts of the future ideal (who we wish to be as EFL speakers) and ought–to (the avoidance of negative outcomes) selves, and is affected by the learning situation (learning itself). In this study, the research concerned measuring changes regarding Spanish secondary EFL learners’ visualisations of their ideal and ought-to L2 selves as a result of the learning situation, which in this case was being exposed to a class-based intercultural learning intervention (chosen owing to its connection to integrativeness in contemporary terms). Despite it being expected that strength of ideal L2 self visualisations would increase while ought-to visualisations would likely remain static, results showed that both ideal self and ought-to self visualisations were high pre-test, and fluctuated minimally overall after the intervention for the experimental group.