The dynamic nature of motivation in language learning: A classroom perspective

By M. Pawlak. 2012

90 citations recorded by the source corpus.

When we examine the empirical investigations of motivation in second and foreign language learning, even those drawing upon the latest theoretical paradigms, such as the L2 motivational self system (Dornyei, 2009), it becomes clear that many of them still fail to take account of its dynamic character and temporal variation. This may be surprising in view of the fact that the need to adopt such a process-oriented approach has been emphasized by a number of theorists and researchers (e.g., Dornyei, 2000, 2001, 2009; Ushioda, 1996; Williams & Burden, 1997), and it lies at the heart of the model of second language motivation proposed by Dornyei and Otto (1998). It is also unfortunate that few research projects have addressed the question of how motivation changes during a language lesson as well as a series of lessons, and what factors might be responsible for fluctuations of this kind. The present paper is aimed to rectify this problem by reporting the findings of a classroom-based study which investigated the changes in the motivation of 28 senior high school students, both in terms of their goals and intentions, and their interest and engagement in classroom activities and tasks over the period of four weeks. The analysis of the data collected by means of questionnaires, observations and interviews showed that although the reasons for learning remain relatively stable, the intensity of motivation is indeed subject to variation on a minute-to-minute basis and this fact has to be recognized even in large-scale, cross-sectional research in this area.

Subfields: Language and Linguistics, Literature and Literary Theory

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e47c0a95c9e949ebb3c61c5788b651f7414f254d

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Citations in the corpus

Investigating language learning strategies: Prospects, pitfalls and challenges (2019, background): “This is the case with motivational dynamics which are often studied with recourse to this paradigm (Dörnyei et al., 2015) but can also be approached from other theoretical perspectives (e.g. Pawlak, 2012).”
Investigating the nature of classroom willingness to communicate (WTC): A micro-perspective (2016, methodology): “…outlined here are reflective of these identified for the moment-by-moment changes in motivational intensity in studies investigating its dynamic nature (see Pawlak, 2012; Pawlak et al., 2014), an observation which is not unpredictable if we accept that WTC is very closely related to motivation.”
Dynamicity of perceived willingness to communicate, motivation, boredom and anxiety in Second Life: the case of two advanced learners of English (2019, background): “shortand long-term ones) both in the language classroom context (e.g. D€ ornyei, Csiz er, & N emeth, 2006; Kruk, 2016a; Pawlak, 2012; Poupore, 2013; Waninge et al., 2014) and in virtual worlds (Kruk, 2015b, 2016b).”
Motivational Dynamics in Language Learning: Change, Stability, and Context. (2014, background): “Similarly, Pawlak (2012) and Poupore (2013) traced the development of groups of learners for the duration of several classroom hours, and they, too, highlighted the dynamic nature of short-term motivation.”
Investigating individual trajectories in experiencing boredom in the language classroom: The case of 11 Polish students of English (2020, methodology): “…value from 1 (e.g. monotonous) to 7 (e.g. absorbing); yet again, the tool was a modified version of the instrument employed by one of the authors (Pawlak, 2012); ○ Part Four required the participants to write a short paragraph about the experience of boredom during the class (e.g. at what…”