Unpacking the role of Ideal L2 Self and Mindset in Explaining EFL Learners’ DMCs

Year 2023, Volume: 12 Issue: 4, 742 - 750, 10.10.2023

Özge Gümüş , Tutku Başöz

https://doi.org/10.14686/buefad.1318307

Cited By: 1

Abstract

Recent trends in the field of second language learning motivation have led to a proliferation of studies that scrutinize Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs). However, there remains a paucity of evidence on the individual difference variables that induce DMCs. In particular, research to date has not yet determined the role of ideal L2 self and mindset in explaining variations in the DMC disposition. This quantitative study aims to fill these gaps in the literature by exploring the role of ideal L2 self and growth mindset in explaining EFL Learners’ DMCs. The current study was conducted with a total of 176 preparatory class students enrolled in the department of English Language and Literature or English Language Teaching at various state universities in Turkey. The data were gathered using a composite survey instrument that includes the DMC Disposition Scale, the Mindset Instrument, and Ideal L2 Self Scale. The findings of the multiple linear regression analysis indicated that growth mindset explained 32% of the variance in EFL learners’ DMCs whereas ideal L2 self contributed to the prediction of DMCs, explaining 24% of the variance in participants’ DMC disposition. The results offer new insights into how teachers could exploit these motivational surges to promote learning in EFL settings.

Keywords

Directed motivational currents, ideal L2 self, growth mindset, EFL learners

İngilizceyi Yabancı Dil Olarak Öğrenen Öğrencilerin Hedefli Motivasyonel Akımlarını Açıklamada İdeal Yabancı Dil Benliği ve Zihniyet Rolünü Ortaya Çıkarmak

Abstract

İkinci dil öğrenme motivasyonu alanındaki son eğilimler, hedefli motivasyonel akımları inceleyen çalışmaların artmasına yol açmıştır. Ancak, hedefli motivasyon akımlarını etkileyen bireysel farklılık değişkenleri ile ilgili çalışmalar yetersiz kalmıştır. Özellikle de, ideal yabancı dil benliği ve gelişen zihniyetin dil öğrenenlerin hedefli motivasyon akımlarını yordamadaki rolü henüz belirlenmemiştir. Bu nicel çalışma, İngilizceyi bir yabancı dil olarak öğrenenlerin hedefli motivasyon akımlarını açıklamada ikinci dil benliği ve gelişen zihniyetin rollerini inceleyerek literatürdeki bu boşluğu doldurmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu çalışma, Türkiye’de çeşitli devlet üniversitelerinde İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı yada İngilizce Öğretmenliği bölümlerine kayıtlı 176 hazırlık sınıfı öğrencisi ile yürütülmüştür. Veriler Hedefli Motivasyonel Akımlar Ölçeği, Zihniyet Ölçeği ve İdeal Yabancı Dil Benliği ölçeğinden oluşan karma bir anket aracılığı ile toplanmıştır. Çoklu doğrusal regresyon analizi sonuçları gelişen zihniyetin katılımcıların hedefli motivasyonel akımlarındaki değişimin %32’sini açıklar iken, ideal yabancı dil benliğinin ise bu varyansın %24’ünü yordadığını göstermiştir. Çalışma sonuçları, öğretmenlerin yabancı dil öğrenme ortamlarında öğrenmeyi teşvik etmek için bu motivasyon dalgalanmalarından nasıl yararlanabileceklerine dair yeni bilgiler sunmaktadır.

Keywords

Hedefli motivasyonel akımlar, ideal yabancı dil benliği, gelişen zihniyet, yabancı dil olarak İngilizce öğrenenler

References

• Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 113–125.
• Boo, Z., Dörnyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). L2 motivation research 2005–2014: Understanding a publication surge and a changing landscape. System, 55, 147-157.
• Castella, K., & Byrne, D. (2015). My intelligence may be more malleable than yours: the revised implicit theories of intelligence (self-theory) scale is a better predictor of achievement, motivation, and student disengagement. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 30(3), 245-267.
• Creswell, J. W. (2005). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Pearson.
• Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Dörnyei, Z. (2006). Individual differences in second language acquisition. AILA Review, 19(1), 42-68.
• Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The psychology of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Dörnyei, Z., & Chan, L. (2013). Motivation and vision: An analysis of future L2 self-images, sensory styles, and imagery capacity across two target languages. Language Learning, 63(3), 437-462.
• Dörnyei, Z., & Chan, L. (2013). Motivation and vision: An analysis of future L2 self-images, sensory styles, and imagery capacity across two target languages. Language Learning, 63(3), 437-462.
• Dörnyei, Z., & Kubanyiova, M. (2014). Motivating learners, motivating teachers: Building vision in the language classroom. Cambridge University Press.
• Dörnyei, Z., Henry, A., & Muir, C. (2016). Motivational currents in language learning:Frameworks for focused interventions. Routledge.
• Dörnyei, Z., MacIntyre, P. D., & Henry, A. (Eds.). (2015). Motivational dynamics in language learning. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
• Dörnyei, Z., Muir, C., & Ibrahim, Z. (2014). Directed motivational currents: Energising language learning through creating intense motivational pathways. In Lasagabaster, D., Doiz, A., & J.M. Sierra (Eds.), Motivation and foreign language learning: From theory to practice (pp. 9–29). John Benjamins.
• Dweck, C. S. (1999). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Psychology Press. ISBN-13: 978-1841690247.
• Dweck, C. S. (2000). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. Psychology Press.
• Dweck, C. S. (2006) Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
• Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological Review, 95(2), 256.
• Dweck, C. S., Chiu, C. -y., & Hong, Y. -y. (1995). Implicit theories and their role in judgments and reactions: A word from two perspectives. Psychological Inquiry, 6(4), 267–285.
• Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1959). Motivational variables in second language acquisition. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 13(4), 266-272.
• George, D., & Mallery, M. (2010). SPSS for windows step by step: A simple guide and reference (10a ed.). Pearson
• Hanson, A. E., & Brown, C. M. (2020). Enhancing L2 learning through a mobile assisted spaced-repetition tool: An effective but bitter pill? Computer Assisted Language Learning, 33, 133–155.
• Henry, A., Davydenko, S., & Dörnyei, Z. (2015). The anatomy of directed motivational currents: Exploring intense and enduring periods of L2 motivation. Modern Language Journal, 99(2), 329-345. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12214
• Ibrahim, Z. (2017). Parameters inducing motivational surges in second language learning. UKH Journal of Social Sciences, 1(1), 24–33. http://doi.org/10.25079/ukhjss.v1n1y2017.pp24-33
• Jahedizadeh, S., Ghonsooly, B., & Ghanizadeh, A. (2021). A model of language students’ sustained flow, personal best, buoyancy, evaluation apprehension, and academic achievement. Porta Linguarum, 35, 257-275.
• Kim, T. Y. (2009). Korean elementary school students' perceptual learning style, ideal L2 self, and motivated behavior. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics, 9(3), 261-286.
• Kim, T.-Y., & Kim, Y.-K. (2014). A structural model for perceptual learning styles, the ideal L2 self, motivated behavior, and English proficiency. System, 46, 14-27.
• Kim, Y. K., & Kim, T. Y. (2011). The effect of Korean secondary school students’ perceptual learning styles and ideal L2 self on motivated L2 behavior and English proficiency. Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics, 11(1), 21-42.
• Kormos, J., & Csizer, K. (2014). The interaction of motivation, self‐regulatory strategies, and autonomous learning behavior in different learner groups. Tesol Quarterly, 48(2), 275-299.
• Lan, G., Nikitina, L., & Woo, W. S. (2021). Ideal L2 self and willingness to communicate: A moderated mediation model of shyness and grit. System, 99, 102503.
• Lou, N. M., & Noels, K. A. (2017). Measuring language mindsets and modeling their relations with goal orientations and emotional and behavioral responses in failure situations. The Modern Language Journal, 101(1), 214–243.
• Lou, N. M., & Noels, K. A. (2019). Language mindsets, meaning-making, and motivation. In M. Lamb, K. Csizér, A. Henry, & S. Ryan (Eds.), Palgrave Macmillan Handbook of Motivation for Language Learning (pp.537-559). Palgrave.
• Muir, C. (2016). The dynamics of intense long‐term motivation in language learning: Directed motivational currents in theory and practice (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Nottingham, Nottingham.
• Muir, C., & Dörnyei, Z. (2013). Directed motivational currents: Using vision to create effective motivational pathways. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 3, 357–375.
• Muir, C., & Gümüş, Ö. (2020). Directed motivational currents: An agenda for future research. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6(3), 501–519. https://doi.org/10.32601/ejal.834661
• Murray, G. (2013). Pedagogy of the possible: Imagination, autonomy, and space. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, (III-3), 377-396.
• Pallant, J. (2007). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using spss for windows (version 12) 2nd ed. Open University Press.
• Papi, M., & Teimouri, Y. (2012). Dynamics of selves and motivation: a cross‐sectional study in the EFL context of Iran. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 22(3), 287-309.
• Peng, Z., & Phakiti, A. (2020). What a directed motivational current is to language teachers. RELC Journal, OnlineFirst, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220905376
• Pietluch, A. (2018). Extraordinary motivation or a high sense of personal agency: The role of self-efficacy in the directed motivational currents theory. New Horizons in English Studies, 3, 45–56. https://doi.org/10.17951/nh.2018.45
• Ryan, S. & Dörnyei, Z. (2013). The long-term evolution of language motivation and the L2 self. In A. Berndt (Ed.), Fremdsprachen in der perspektive lebenslangen lernens (pp. 89-100). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
• Sak, M. (2021). Understanding the role of personality in explaining L2 learners’ DMC disposition. Foreign Language Annals, 54(2), 429-451.
• Selçuk, Ö., & Erten, İ. H. (2017). A display of patterns of change in learners' motivation: Dynamics perspective. Novitas-Royal, 11(2).
• Tabachnick, B.G., Fidell, L.S. (2013). Using multivariate statistics. Pearson.
• Taguchi, T., Magid, M., & Papi, M. (2009). The L2 motivational self-system among Japanese, Chinese and Iranian learners of English: A comparative study. In Z. Dörnyei, & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 9–42). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
• Ushioda, E. (2008). Motivation and good language learners. In C. Griffiths (Ed.), Lessons from good language learners (pp. 19–34). Cambridge University Press.
• Waller, L., & Papi, M. (2017). Motivation and feedback: How implicit theories of intelligence predict L2 writers’ motivation and feedback orientation. Journal of Second Language Writing, 35, 54–65.
• Yang, J. S., & Kim, T. Y. (2011). The L2 motivational self-system and perceptual learning styles of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Swedish students. English Teaching, 66(1), 141-162.
• Yeager, D. S., Johnson, R., Spitzer, B. J., Trzesniewski, K. H., Powers, J., & Dweck, C. S. (2014). The far-reaching effects of believing people can change: Implicit theories of personality shape stress, health, and achievement during adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(6), 867-884.
• Zarrinabadi, N., Ketabi, S., & Tavakoli, M. (2019). Directed motivational currents in L2: Exploring the effects on self and communication. Springer.