With rapid globalization, it is an urgent task for universities in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context to provide practical English education. Particularly, one that enables students to participate in the global society as well as the global business market. The challenge for these universities is to achieve this goal with limited class…

Goals are central to understanding how students learn a second language. Much of the existing research on goals in the field of language learning has focused exclusively on achievement goals, particularly mastery and performance goals. However, exclusively focusing on achievement goals precludes language researchers from exploring other important…

Second language (L2) motivation research has been thriving for the past decades by emphasizing L2 motivation theories and describing the motivated learner, while relatively few studies have dealt with how to motivate students in a systematic way. Approaches in these studies either included investigations into the role of different motivational…

It has been largely argued that intrinsic motivation is the best and most effective in sustaining language learning. Deci and Flaste (1996) posit that motivation must come from within. While this might be possible and effective in contexts where learners have a personal interest in learning a language, it is not always the case for those learning…

Fun facts--facts that are interesting, unusual, and often little-known--are a popular form of entertainment throughout the world. There are countless books, TV quiz shows (Jeopardy!), board games (Trivial Pursuit), and museums (Ripley's Believe It or Not!) dedicated to trivia and the unusual that fascinate people of all ages. Short oral…

People have several different reasons to learn a foreign language; people often learn a language for practical reasons while others have a particular love for the language and its people. Language teachers are often very aware of the career benefits that language proficiency can offer, but learning the language is just an abstract undertaking…

Motivation is repeatedly found to be a determining factor for achievement in language acquisition at school. Decades of Self-determination theory (SDT) research has shown that students exhibit higher levels of engagement and positive learning behaviours when their basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy and relatedness are satisfied,…

If oral communication in a second language (L2) is considered a skill to be prioritized, it is also particularly anxiety-provoking for L2 learners. This is why their willingness to communicate, predicted in particular by the emotions experienced, has been the focus of recent studies to examine its evolution and factors likely to interact with it.…

Peter MacIntyre's 35-years of research in SLA, psychology of language learning, and communication was systematically reviewed in six sections driven by subjective guidelines developed for the purposes of the present survey. To operationalize the objectives of the sections, an impressionistic methodology was created for analysis, according to which…

Directed motivational currents (DMCs) encapsulate a unique motivational phenomenon. DMCs are highly positive, potent motivational experiences which can carry individuals or groups forwards to achieving valued goals at both a remarkable rate, and with a perceived feeling of seemingly 'effortless effort'. Although research into DMCs began under a…

With roots in social psychology, second language (L2) motivation has largely been investigated using self-report techniques. Studies drawing on observational data gathered in contexts where learning takes place are rare, and understandings of how motivation evolves in classroom interactions remain limited (Boo, Dörnyei, & Ryan, 2015). In a…

Learning a foreign language incorporates cognitive, communicative, emotional, and social aspects. Some of these aspects have to do with the structure of the language being studied; some others deal with social and psychological issues that influence the environment where the learning process takes place. This reflection paper addresses various…

It is a common belief that engagement and motivation are crucial factors in learning and especially in language learning. In particular, increasing motivation can lead to the mobilization of students' personal, cognitive, emotional and behavioral resources and, consequently to better learning results. As digital technology has become more…

The theoretical emphasis within the L2 Motivational Self System has typically been on the two future self-guides representing possible (ideal and ought-to) selves, leaving the third main dimension of the construct, the L2 Learning Experience, somewhat undertheorized. Yet, this third component is not secondary in importance, as evidenced by…

The current situation on the global education market bears the need for new approaches to learning Russian as a foreign language. The innovation concerns both professors and students' activity. The success in comprehension of scientific language is largely dependent on students' motivation to study the vocation-related language. The article covers…