Trajectory of L2 Motivation Theories Development: Transition from the Social Psychological Views to the Socio-dynamic Perspectives

Subject Areas : Journal of Teaching English Language Studies

Saeed Safdari ¹ ( Department of English, Chalous Branch, Islamic Azad University, Chalous, Iran )

Received: 2023-04-16 Accepted : 2023-05-07 Published : 2023-06-01

Keywords:

Abstract :

This article reports on an attempt to investigate the developmental trajectory and route of L2 motivation theories from the early social psychological period to the current socio-dynamic perspective. While in the early days the individuals’ desire and tendency to integrate within the target language community was considered the most powerful motivating factor, the current global perspectives advocate a totally different stance and involve a variety of other cognitive, social, and contextual factors. The new views have brought about novel conceptualizations and unprecedented research methods. This theoretical shift is the outcome of decades of scientific endeavor and research that were continually empowered and supplied by the innovations of psychological motivation research. Four distinct periods of L2 motivation research are recognized with their own specific theoretical and methodological characteristics. In the present article, in addition to describing the developmental periods and their outputs in detail, the links and interconnections between them are discussed.Keywords: L2 motivation, social psychological period, cognitive-situated period, process-oriented period, socio-dynamic period

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