Potential Changes in Saudi Students’ Motivations and Attitudes towards Learning English as a Foreign Language after Immersion in an L2 Learning Environment

This study traces potential changes in the motivation of Saudi students studying English as a second language (L2) in the UK. It investigates whether the beliefs and motivations of these students have changed during their learning experience, and identifies the pedagogical implications of such change for English teaching, not only to Saudi students in the UK but also to Saudi students enrolled in Saudi higher education institutions. It aims to identify the reasons behind changes in motivation as well as the impact these may have on students’ attitudes towards learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Data from questionnaires, interviews, and observations are used through three phases of the English academic programme. The study subjects are newly arrived Saudi students (three PhD students and 29 Master’s students) studying in four different universities in the UK under the fields of Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, and Translation. The conceptual framework is based on Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System Theory and Dörnyei & Ushioda’s motivation and L2 self-framework. Changes in motivation are usually accompanied by changes in students’ classroom involvement, attitudes towards the target language, and positive or negative impacts on the students’ outcomes and language competencies. Similar to other types of learning, L2 learning cannot take place in a vacuum. The present study has various contributions to the field of SLA. First, it validates earlier studies about the issue of motivation in linguistics, attitudes towards language, and changes in one’s self-identity as an outcome of language development. Second, it serves as an addition to the body of knowledge pertaining to motivation and attitude of Saudi students towards English as L2 and the important role of culture in this process. Further, it serves as an important contribution to how Saudi students’ L2 acquisition is understood using Dörnyei's L2 Motivational Self System.

Why am I learning English? Spanish EFL sports science university students´ motivational orientations through the prism of the L2 motivational self system

The study explores the motivational profiles of Spanish EFL sports science university students from the second language (L2) motivation self system (L2MSS) perspective to ultimately support Spanish higher institutions´ plans committed to improving employability and competitiveness. The study analyzes the relationships between L2 motivation, L2 proficiency, gender, and L2 contextual variables using data from 196 English as a foreign language (EFL) sports science university students. The data reveal that the ideal L2 self construct stands out as the most salient and powerful factor, while the ought-to and rebellious L2 selves are less significant and there are items loading on both of them at the same time. Thus, higher means for the ideal L2 self motivation correspond to higher levels of L2 proficiency and are supported by L2 learning contextual variables. The strongest ought-to L2 self was registered in students with mid-low L2 proficiency and a lack of L2 learning experiences. Meanwhile, the rebellious L2 self is clearly distinguishable only for students with high L2 proficiency. Pedagogical and curricular implications of these findings are that the ideal and the rebellious L2 selves could positively predict students´ L2 proficiency. Thus, new dynamics of education should explore language teaching methodologies that are more likely to enhance students´ ideal and rebellious L2 selves.

The Development of Positive Attributes of Character: On the Embodiment of Specificity, Holism, and Self-System Processes

Positive character involves a system of mutually beneficial relations between individual and context that coherently vary across ontogenetic time and enable individuals to engage the social world as moral agents. We present ideas about the development of positive character attributes using three constructs associated with relational developmental systems (RDS) metatheory: the specificity of mutually beneficial individual<-->context dynamics across time and place; holistic integration of dynamic processes of an individual with both context and all cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes; and integration of the character-system with other facets of the self-system. These features of RDS-based ideas coalesce on the embodiment of positive character development. We discuss the need for more robust interrogation of embodied features of the character development system by suggesting that coaction of morphological/physiological processes with cultural processes become part of a program of the integrated individual<-->contextual processes involved in the description, explanation, and optimization of positive character attribute development. We discuss moments of programmatic research that should be involved in this interrogation and point to the potential contribution of theory-predicated research about the embodied development of positive character attributes of to enhancing the presence of moral agency and social justice in the world.

When Facebook Becomes a Part of the Self: How Do Motives for Using Facebook Influence Privacy Management?

This study examines how three different motivations for using an SNS (i.e., self-expression, belonging, and memory archiving) influence multi-facets of privacy boundary management on the platform mediated by self-extension to it. In recognition of the fact that information management on SNSs often goes beyond the “disclosure-withdrawal” dichotomy, the study investigates the relationships between the three SNS motives and privacy boundary management strategies (i.e., collective boundary and boundary turbulence management). An online survey with Facebook users (N = 305) finds that the three Facebook motivations are positively correlated to users’ self-extension to Facebook. The motivations for using Facebook are positively associated with the management of different layers of privacy boundaries (i.e., basic, sensitive, and highly sensitive), when Facebook self-extension is mediated. In addition, the three motives have indirect associations with potential boundary turbulence management mediated by Facebook self-extension. Extending the classic idea that privacy is deeply rooted in the self, the study demonstrates that perceiving an SNS as part of the self-system constitutes a significant underlying psychological factor that explains the linkage between motives for using SNSs and privacy management.

Pieces of the puzzle: Stories from EFL Thai university students' language learning motivation, experiences, and self-identities in their imagined communities

<p>Despite the growth of English, the lingua franca of today’s world, most Thai undergraduates struggle to attain a high level of communicative skills in environments where English is a Foreign Language (EFL). This thesis explores and reinterprets Thai students’ language learning motivation, experiences, and their identity formation and development. The person-in-context relational view of motivation was used to complement Dörnyei’s theory of L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS). These frameworks were used to analyse the multifaceted aspects of individual and contextual influences on the participants’ L2 self and identity. This study employs a research methodology with a focus on a narrative qualitative approach. Quantitative data were collected from 356 first-year students at a public and private university in Thailand and four Thai students were purposively selected. These four participants were formally interviewed three to four times about their English learning motivation and experiences. The narrative data were generated by a series of individual interviews and supplemented by stimulated recall interviews, an English diary, and other person-family-and-social artefacts. Their L2 learning motivation and experiences from school to university were presented as unique individual narratives. The interview transcripts were then analysed across the cases to create themes. The findings indicated that the rote-memorisation, grammar-translation, and examination-orientated methods practised by their secondary and tertiary EFL teachers impacted the participants’ language learning motivation and the development of their L2 self-identities. The Thai participants prioritised speaking skills and felt highly motivated to attain communicative English for their future career. Their ideal L2 self appeared to be strengthened by their sustained efforts to communicate in English in both formal and informal learning contexts. Nonetheless, their ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self seemed to be interconnected and worked together in their motivational system. The participants regulated themselves by using motivational strategies in association with the promotion-focused and prevention-focused instrumentality to maximise their intended effort in learning English. The inclusion of self-efficacy into the L2MSS model yields insights into how the participants actualised their self system in their motivational orientation. They pushed themselves to gain more exposure to a variety of learning experiences in both face-to-face and virtual communication in their imagined communities. By investing their effort and time in majoring in English and Business English, they envisioned themselves after graduation improving their parents’ and extended family’s social status and well-being. Their ideal L2 self and transportable identities were developed to meet Thailand’s integration within the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). For instance, two participants at a public university were able to envision themselves studying English at a Malaysian university. Narrative approaches shed light on the participants’ individual motivational orientations and the effects of these on the formation and development of their L2 self and identity in the past, present, and future. This study allows teachers and educators to understand the interplay between in-class and out-of-class learning experiences and the implication of the local, social, and global learning experiences of EFL Thai learners that may have been unexplored and unheard.</p>

Pieces of the puzzle: Stories from EFL Thai university students' language learning motivation, experiences, and self-identities in their imagined communities

<p>Despite the growth of English, the lingua franca of today’s world, most Thai undergraduates struggle to attain a high level of communicative skills in environments where English is a Foreign Language (EFL). This thesis explores and reinterprets Thai students’ language learning motivation, experiences, and their identity formation and development. The person-in-context relational view of motivation was used to complement Dörnyei’s theory of L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS). These frameworks were used to analyse the multifaceted aspects of individual and contextual influences on the participants’ L2 self and identity. This study employs a research methodology with a focus on a narrative qualitative approach. Quantitative data were collected from 356 first-year students at a public and private university in Thailand and four Thai students were purposively selected. These four participants were formally interviewed three to four times about their English learning motivation and experiences. The narrative data were generated by a series of individual interviews and supplemented by stimulated recall interviews, an English diary, and other person-family-and-social artefacts. Their L2 learning motivation and experiences from school to university were presented as unique individual narratives. The interview transcripts were then analysed across the cases to create themes. The findings indicated that the rote-memorisation, grammar-translation, and examination-orientated methods practised by their secondary and tertiary EFL teachers impacted the participants’ language learning motivation and the development of their L2 self-identities. The Thai participants prioritised speaking skills and felt highly motivated to attain communicative English for their future career. Their ideal L2 self appeared to be strengthened by their sustained efforts to communicate in English in both formal and informal learning contexts. Nonetheless, their ideal L2 self and ought-to L2 self seemed to be interconnected and worked together in their motivational system. The participants regulated themselves by using motivational strategies in association with the promotion-focused and prevention-focused instrumentality to maximise their intended effort in learning English. The inclusion of self-efficacy into the L2MSS model yields insights into how the participants actualised their self system in their motivational orientation. They pushed themselves to gain more exposure to a variety of learning experiences in both face-to-face and virtual communication in their imagined communities. By investing their effort and time in majoring in English and Business English, they envisioned themselves after graduation improving their parents’ and extended family’s social status and well-being. Their ideal L2 self and transportable identities were developed to meet Thailand’s integration within the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). For instance, two participants at a public university were able to envision themselves studying English at a Malaysian university. Narrative approaches shed light on the participants’ individual motivational orientations and the effects of these on the formation and development of their L2 self and identity in the past, present, and future. This study allows teachers and educators to understand the interplay between in-class and out-of-class learning experiences and the implication of the local, social, and global learning experiences of EFL Thai learners that may have been unexplored and unheard.</p>

STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL OF TEACHERS' MINDSETS, SELF-EFFICACY, AND EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES AND IRANIAN EFL LEARNERS' WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE AND L2 MOTIVATIONAL SELF SYSTEM

This study aimed at investigating the interrelationships between EFL teachers' mindsets, self-efficacy, and emotional experiences and Iranian EFL learners' willingness to communicate (WTC) and L2 motivational self system (L2MSS). The participants of this study were 100 Iranian teachers and 501 students of the same EFL teachers, both male and female randomly selected from high schools. To fulfill the purpose of the study, teachers were asked to complete four questionnaires to measure their implicit theories of intelligence, efficacy, and emotional experiences including their burnout symptoms. Learners were required to complete two questionnaires to measure their willingness to communicate and L2 motivational self system. The results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) revealed a significant structural relationship among all variables. Results also indicated that motivation was the strongest direct predictor of willingness to communicate. WTC was also indirectly correlated with teachers' implicit theories, efficacy, and emotional experiences through the mediating effect of L2MSS.