Applying the lens of second language motivation research to interpret online learner amotivation and demotivation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26473/ATLAANZ.2023/004Keywords:
Amotivation, Demotivation, Online Learning Distance Student, Community of PracticeAbstract
The aim of this article is to inform deep, contextualized insight into understanding why internal and external factors caused the amotivation of an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructor’s attempts to acquire Korean online. Amotivation is a learner’s realization that either their current learning trajectory is too difficult or pointless, and demotivation is a specific trigger leading to amotivation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011). Patricia was one of 14 English L1 English speaking EFL instructors employed by a South Korean university to participate in my PhD in Applied Linguistics entitled Factors Affecting the Motivation to Learn Korean by EFL Professors Living Permanently in South Korea. She was the sole one-year longitudinal case study in this qualitative research and its only participant to self-study Korean online. I analyse her less than satisfactory experience through the theoretical lenses of Dörnyei’s (2009) L2 Motivational Self-System and Dörnyei and Ottό’s (1998) Process Model of Motivation.
References
Bhagat, K. K., & Chang, C-Y. (2018). A cross-cultural comparison on students’ perceptions towards online learning. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(3), 987–995. https://doi.org/10.12973/ejmste/81151
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 96–111). Greenwood Press.
Casanave, C. P. (2012). Diary of a dabbler: Ecological influences on an EFL teacher’s efforts to study Japanese informally. TESOL Quarterly, 46(4), 642–670. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.47
Cheng, A., & Lee, C. (2018). Factors affecting tertiary learners’ persistence in the self-directed language learning journey. System, 76, 170–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2018.06.001
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. Plenum.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). Self-determination theory: A consideration of human motivational universals. In P. J. Corr & G. Matthews (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of personality psychology (pp. 441–456). Cambridge University Press.
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 motivational self-system. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 9–42). Multilingual Matters.
Dörnyei, Z., & Kubanyiova, M. (2014). Motivating learners, motivating teachers: Building vision in the language classroom. Cambridge University Press.
Dörnyei, Z., & Ottó, I. (1998). Motivation in action: A process model of L2 motivation. Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, Vol. 4. Thames Valley University. https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1024190
Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teaching and researching motivation (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. Arnold.
Gearing, N. (2018). Factors affecting the motivation of EFL instructors living in South Korea to learn Korean. [PhD Thesis, Macquarie University]. Macquarie University Research Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.25949/19437488.v1
Gearing, N. (2019). Korean language learning demotivation among EFL instructors in South Korea. Studies in Second Language Learning & Teaching, 9(1), 199–223. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2019.9.1.9
Gearing, N., & Roger, P. (2018a). Ebbs and flows: Factors affecting the motivation of an EFL instructor in Korea to learn Korean. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 17(5), 292–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2018.1465343
Gearing, N., & Roger, P. (2018b). “I’m never going to be part of it.” Identity, investment and learning Korean. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development, 39(2), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2017.1323909
Gearing, N., & Roger, P. (2019). Where’s the vision? Rescuing integrativeness to understand the language learning motivation of English-speaking EFL instructors living in South Korea. System, 8(3), 122–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2019.03. 008
Hung, M., Chou, C., Chen, C., & Own, Z. (2010). Learner readiness for online learning: Scale development and student perceptions. Computers and Education, 5(3), 1080–1090. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.05.004
Kaur, I., & Joordens, S. (2021). The factors that make an online learning experience powerful: Their roles and the relationships amongst them. International Journal on E-Learning, 20(3), 271–293.
Kaur, I., Joordens, S., Porter-Bakker, L., Mahabir, J., & Mahabir, N. (2022). Interplay of motivating and demotivating factors in an online English language learning classroom in light of the self-determination theory continuum. International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence, 13(2), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJDLDC.309716
Kebritchi, M., Lipschuetz, A., & Santiague, L. (2017). Issues and challenges for teaching successful online courses in higher education: A literature review. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 46(1), 4–29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047239516661713
Kikuchi, K. (2015). Demotivation in second language acquisition. Insights from Japan. Multilingual Matters.
Koole, M. (2014). Identity and the itinerant online learner. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 1(6), 52–70. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v15i6.1879
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
Li, C., & Irby, B. (2008). An overview of online education: Attractiveness, benefits, challenges, concerns, and recommendations. College Student Journal, 42(2), 449–458.
Lin, B., & Hsieh, C. T. (2001) Web-based teaching and learner control: A research review. Computers and Education, 37(3), 377–386. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0360-1315(01)00060-4
Luyt, I. (2013). Bridging spaces: Cross-cultural perspectives on promoting positive online learning experiences. Journal of Educational Technology System, 42(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.2190/ET.42.1.b
McInnery, J. M., & Roberts, T. S. (2004) Online learning: Social interaction and the creation of a sense of community. Educational Technology & Society, 7(3), 73–81.
Norton, B. (1997). Language, identity, and the ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly, 31(3), 409–429. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587831
Norton, B. (2013). Identity, language and language learning: Extending the conversation (2nd ed). Multilingual Matters.
Norton, B. (2014). “Identity and poststructuralist theory.” In S. Mercer & M. Williams (Eds.), Multiple perspectives on the self in SLA (pp. 59–74). Multilingual Matters.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford Publications.
Paradowski, M. B., & Jelińska, M. (2023). The predictors of L2 grit and their complex interactions in online foreign language learning: Motivation, self-directed learning, autonomy, curiosity, and language mindsets. Computer Assisted Language Learning, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2023.2192762
Saadé R. G., He X., Kira D. (2007). Exploring dimensions to online learning. Computers in Human Behavior, 23, 1721–1739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2005.10.002
Sakai, H., & Kikuchi, K. (2009). Japanese learners’ demotivation to study English: A survey guide. Journal of the Japanese Association of Language Teaching, 13(2), 183–204. https://jalt-publications.org/recentpdf/jj/2009b/art3.pdf
Tsai, M. J., & Tsai, C. C. (2003). Information searching strategies in web-based science learning: The role of internet self-efficacy. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 40(1), 43–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/1355800032000038822
Ushioda, E. (2009). A person-in-context relational view of emergent, motivation, self and identity. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 215–228). Multilingual Matters.
Wang, W., & Zhan, J. (2020). The relationship between English language learner characteristics and online self-regulation: A structural equation modelling approach. Sustainability, 12(7), 3009. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12073009
