As Dörnyei et al. (2006) suggest, we are in the era of globalisation, with English becoming the language of the world (see section 3.7 and 3.8 for detailed information). Today, a growing number of English learners and speakers represent the language of the world rather than any specific English speaking country. Dörnyei et al. (2006) claim that this makes it difficult to define a well specified target community for English language learners, and in turn this has a remarkable impact on L2 motivation theory, because this makes Gardner’s traditional concept of integrative motivation ineffective. Therefore, Dörnyei (2009) considers that the ideal L2 self provides a better explanation for integrativeness, and international community is the imagined community for the future selves of English language learners (see section 3.11 for detailed information).
One of the important studies related to the international community and the ideal L2 self has been conducted by Yashima (2009), in a Japanese context, with 191 high school students. Yashima (2009) proposes an international posture, which refers to a tendency to relate oneself to the international community rather than to any specific L2 group. English is a language which connects us to an international world, and to people with whom we can communicate in English. Therefore, identification of English solely with Americans or the British is no longer applicable.
Yashima’s (2009:157) results indicate that an international posture can be classified into two aspects: (1) an attitudinal/behavioural propensity, which is
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related to interacting with foreigners, openness to foreigners, and participation in international activities; and (2) knowledge orientation, which is related to interest in foreign affairs and having opinions on international affairs. She states that intrinsic motivation does not correlate to the identified variables as strongly as extrinsic motivation does to international posture. Therefore, it is acceptable to say that international posture reflects the self determined types of extrinsic motivation more than reflecting intrinsic motivation.
In another study, Ryan (2009) shows that cultural interest and ethnolinguistic vitality have higher scores than in Dörnyei et al.’s (2006) Hungarian study. Dörnyei et al. (2006:15) define ethnolinguistic vitality as a particular ethnic group’s distinctiveness as a collective entity. They further explain that “ethnolinguistic vitality is defined by three sociostructural factors: status factors (economic, political, social, etc.), demographic factors (size and distribution of the group), and institutional support factors (representation of the ethnic group in the media, education, government, etc.)” (Dörnyei et al., 2006, p.16). As Ryan (2009) shows, the correlation between cultural interest and intended learning efforts in a Japanese context is p < 0.001, r= 0.52, and for the Hungarian data it is p < 0.001, r= 0.18. The correlation between ethnolinguistic vitality and intended learning efforts in the Japanese context is p < 0.001, r= 0.30, and in Hungary it is p < 0.001, r= 0.18. This suggests that, for learners, the identification of target communities is important. However, the piloting shows that the UK as the target community did not work well. Therefore, the study includes only the international community and the US. The correlations between intended learning efforts, the US and the international community show that English as an international language is more important to the participants.
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In a similar study, Shahbaz and Liu (2012) suggest that international orientation appears to be an important variable for participants’ L2 motivation. The correlation analysis results suggest that intended learning efforts have a strong correlation with international orientation, as well as with the ideal L2 self of the participants. This result verifies the suggestion in the L2MSS that, for English language learners’ ideal L2 self, the international community is the target community, rather than any native English speaking country.
Lamb (2012), in the regression analysis of his study, finds that the ideal L2 self and international posture contribute significantly to the criterion measure of motivated learning behaviour. According to this result, Lamb (2012:1014) suggests that the participants believe in the usefulness of English as an instrumental value for their future selves, international posture, work as openness, and an interest in learning English. Similarly, Csizer and Kormos (2009) find in their model that the ideal L2 self is related to international posture, and this again shows that the international community is the target community for the future selves of English language learners, rather than any other specific native English speaking countries.
Another Hungarian study has been conducted by Csizer and Kormos (2008), whose aim was to research the differences in motivational and intercultural contact measures, and also the predictors of motivated learning behaviour among English and German learners. The participants were 13 to 14 year old primary school children. The results indicate that positive attitudes toward learning English derive from its global language role, and towards German from its role in the region. For intercultural contact, Csizer and Kormos (2008:35) define five dimensions: direct spoken contact; direct written contact; indirect
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contact; foreign media usage; and the perceived importance of contact. Due to the global role of English and the fact that Hungarian learners are exposed to more films, books, internet materials and magazines in English, in terms of ethnolinguistic vitality, learners have more positive attitudes toward learning English than learning German. The findings from the study also reveal that the perceived importance of contact and foreign media usage contribute significantly and in a large proportion to the intended learning efforts of the participants in the regression analysis. Csizer and Kormos (2008) comment that, in a foreign language learning setting, indirect contact is more important than direct contact. Ethnolinguistic vitality and the global position of a language as a foreign language are more important in affecting the motivational characteristics of language learners.
As the studies demonstrate, researchers have sought to define the importance of ethnolinguistic vitality for languages in the learning process. International contact and posture stand as the target community for the English language, and they are instrumentally important for the future selves of learners. Based on the studies presented here, two research sub-questions arise:
Are the ideal L2 self and integrativeness related to international contact and posture or attitudes toward English speaking countries?
Are the ideal L2 self and instrumentality promotion related to study and work in different parts of the world?
3.13.7 Studies conducted to understand the relationship between the ideal L2 self and imagination
Dörnyei (2009) claims that the imagery component of future self guides is a powerful motivational tool, therefore imagination promotes the ideal L2 self
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images and strengthens students’ vision (see section 3.11 for detailed information). Al Shehri (2009) has conducted a study with 200 Arab students to research the relationship between visual learning style, imagination, ideal language selves and motivated behaviour. The results show that there is a strong correlation between the criteria of the ideal L2 self, visual learning styles and imagination. Therefore, imagination and the ideal L2 self stand out as the main motivational factors for learners. In addition to this, the results support Al Shehri’s (2009) hypothesis that visual learners might be better at developing well-defined ideal selves, according to the strong correlation between visual style and the ideal L2 self.
In this section, I would like to ask this research sub-question: Is there a relationship between the ideal L2 self and imagination?
3.15 Summary of the section
In this section, several important studies related to the L2 have been presented. These studies are important to the understanding of what researchers are doing to understand the effectiveness of the L2MSS.
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Chapter 4 - Methodology