Since the beginning of the 21st century, heritage language studies have drawn unprecedented attention from language-related research areas. Despite the flourishing research on heritage language learning, relatively few studies have examined the motivational profiles of L1 English speakers engaged in heritage language learning. Theoretical…

For language learners who aspire to become multilingual, commitment involves a personal journey. Defining persistence as a preoccupation with goal-focused action directed to a desired future state and drawing on research from cognitive psychology and the mental time travel paradigm, this article presents an identity-based framework of persistence…

While interest in multilingualism is growing, in the field of motivation little research has examined the role played by learners' multilingual selves in constructing their motivation to learn a foreign language other than English (LOTE). Based on a dynamic model of the L2 Motivational Self System, this study explores how Chinese undergraduates'…

Although motivation is an extensively discussed topic, minor languages deserve more research attention. This qualitative multiple case study explores motivation to learn Czech as a second language in Beginners' Czech language courses for Erasmus students in the Czech Republic through the lens of the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS), searching…

Drawing on Markus and Nurius's (1986) theory of possible selves and Higgins's (1987) theory of self-discrepancies, Dörnyei (2005, 2009) developed the L2 self-guide, a construct explaining the generation of motivation for language learning. Because Dörnyei focused on convergences in the source theories, L2MSS researchers have come to regard…

The research in this volume takes account of the context of policy promoting Chinese as a second language (CSL) in several countries and regions, (Australia, East Asia and South-East Asia), and the wider social context of multilingual and multicultural societies. Furthermore, this book reports results of two research studies which investigated how…

In this article, we highlight the important achievements of the editors and contributors in this special issue. We argue that this collection of studies on individual differences (IDs) advances the field in terms of theoretical diversification, methodological improvement, and pedagogical innovation. We also contend that a renewed interest in ID…

This mixed-method study explores the motivational mindsets towards the learning of LOTEs of two groups of Italian preadolescents (aged 10-14) after Romance Intercomprehension (RIC) training in a school context. Reference is made to the notions of self-efficacy, the extrinsic/intrinsic spectrum and the emergence of a desired plurilingual identity.…

Research on the relationship between students' language learning motivation (LLM), language learning strategies (LLS), self-efficacy beliefs (SEB), and achievement in non-European languages has been both limited and overwhelmingly cross-sectional, often with little attention paid to their multilingualism. Combining complex dynamic systems and…

This study explored the language learning motivation of a small group of five university students in the UK through the constructs of Dornyei's L2 Motivational Self System and Henry's notion of 'the ideal multilingual self'. The five participants, all successful language learners at school, chose to specialise in modern languages at university and…

In the last ten years, positive emotion in foreign language learning has been increasingly investigated in many research areas, including Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE). FLE has been defined as a positive emotion felt when an individual's psychological needs are met. This study investigates the relationship between perceived levels of Subjective…

This volume presents research on oracy development in early language learning, with a particular focus on the pedagogical implications for growingly plurilingual classrooms. The chapters offer empirical results from diverse international contexts which reveal common and differing experiences of teaching methodologies and assessment practices,…

This study explores language learners' motivation from the perspective of vision, a concept that has specifically been identified as one of the next challenges for motivation research. Having conceptualized vision as a powerful motivational component of the language learning process, and focusing on the learner's individual perspective, we…

This study responds to calls for more research on motivations for learning languages other than English (LOTEs) in the new era dominated by global English. In particular, it focuses on the role of societal contextual factors surrounding the status of English and the status of the LOTE as an L2/L3, as factors which may offer a more nuanced…

The main aim of the article is to identify Slovenian children's attitudes towards foreign languages (FL), their motivation for learning languages, the influence of different significant others (teachers, parents, peers) on their language attitudes, and the ways they perceive languages which they are exposed to. The focus is on FLs in general…