System 107 (2022) 102817

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System
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/system

Research on language learning motivation in school settings

in System
Fang Zhang a, Jinquan Wang b, *, Hennebry-Leung Mairin c
a
College of Literature and Media. Dongguan University of Technology, 1, Daxue Road, Songshan Lake, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, 523808, PR
China
b
College of International Studies Yangzhou University, 196 W. Huayang Road, Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, 225127, PR China
c
Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania, Newnham, Tasmania 7250, Australia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This review of System’s scholarship on school-based language learning motivation focuses on 12
Motivation papers on learners and teachers in secondary school settings. Of 190 studies on motivation
System published in the Journal from 1990 to 2021, 24 have had a focus on secondary school contexts.
School settings
The 12 focus studies are drawn from these. The review highlights theoretical and methodological
shifts that have characterized the field of language learning motivation and considers the extent
to which these are manifested in the Journal’s scholarship, specifically pointing to a growing
concern for approaches that account for the complex, dynamic, and situated nature of motivation.
Studies on language learning motivation in school settings have addressed a range of aspects
including motivational change, the interplay between instructional approaches and motivation,
the role of sociocultural context in shaping and directing learner motivation, teacher cognition on
motivation, and teachers’ motivation for language teaching. While acknowledging the extensive
body of literature on language learning motivation among adult learners, the review concludes
with suggestions for ways in which the still rather limited knowledge about school-based moti­
vation could be extended and enriched.

1. Introduction

System prioritizes the publication of research with clear implications for language pedagogy, specifically ‘applications of educa­
tional technology and applied linguistics to problems of foreign language teaching and learning’. The breadth of this remit allows the
Journal to showcase cutting edge research with significant implications for theory and practice across a wide range of topics germane
to language learning and teaching. In recent decades, one of many ‘problems’ of foreign language teaching and learning of interest to
teachers, and therefore researchers, is how to generate and maintain and sustain motivation for language learning. Motivation plays a
significant role in language learning success (Liu & Thompson, 2018) and yet motivational challenges are ubiquitous (Lamb, 2017).
Teachers of languages other than English face challenges associated with the global spread of English (Lamb, 2017). Meanwhile, the
same phenomenon results in increased pressure on English teachers in other contexts to raise standards while working with students
who increasingly ‘expect to be entertained as well as educated’ (Lamb, 2017, p.301).
Arguably the biggest motivational challenges present themselves in the school sector, specifically secondary school. Across school

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: zhangfang@dgut.edu.cn (F. Zhang), jqwang@yzu.edu.cn (J. Wang), Mairin.hennebryleung@utas.edu.au (H.-L. Mairin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2022.102817
Received 4 May 2022; Accepted 5 May 2022
Available online 10 May 2022
0346-251X/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
F. Zhang et al. System 107 (2022) 102817

subjects, and across contexts (e.g. Gnambs & Hanfstingl, 2016 (Austria); Lau, 2010 (Hong Kong); Wang et al., 2017 (US); Wijsman
et al., 2016 (Holland); student motivation is seen to decline across the secondary school years (Wang & Eccles, 2012), and language
learning is no exception (e.g. Chambers, 2019; Graham et al., 2016; Pfenninger & Lendl, 2017). Understanding what drives learners to
engage and persist with behaviours that support or threaten learning is a crucial matter for educators to design and develop learning
contexts and pedagogical approaches that provide motivational conditions supporting effective learning.
Since the 1990s an interest in pedagogical implications has been a central concern for researchers in the field. In the last three
decades language motivation research has endeavoured to outline recommendations for pedagogical interventions that disrupt
maladaptive motivation patterns and improve learning behaviours and outcomes (Al-Hoorie, 2018). Increased recognition of the
important role of motivation in learning has been reflected in dynamic and productive discussions around language learning moti­
vation theory and this hive of activity has itself resulted in a surge in publications as documented by Boo et al. (2015).
Boo et al.’s (2015) review of 335 studies published between 2005 and 2014 on language learning motivation, drawn from four
relevant databases, shows a rapid increase from 33 studies published in 2005/06 to 138 published in the year 2013/14. Given this
surge in interest and the increasing motivational challenges in the secondary school sector, it is surprising that studies on language
learning motivation in the school context are as limited as they are. This is even more surprising given that secondary school learners
arguably represent the most suitable age group for instructed SLA (Boo et al., 2015) and that school learning experiences are significant
also in shaping adult motivation for learning (Kaplan & Flum, 2009). Understanding motivation in the school context has important
implications for learning throughout the life trajectory. And yet, Boo et al.’s (2015) review reports that almost 75% of the 335 studies
were focused on tertiary and other contexts, with 6% conducted in primary school settings and 20% in the secondary sector. As the
authors point out, while gaining research access to school-aged participants does present distinct challenges, the under-representation
of secondary school pupils in language motivation research is far from ideal.

2. Studies on language learning motivation in System

The number of studies focusing on language learning motivation published in System has grown exponentially, reflecting the wider
trend in the field. A Scopus search indicates 190 studies published by the Journal from 1975 to 2021. Reflecting a significant increase
in research interest in language learning motivation, the past decade has seen 126 papers (two thirds of all language motivation
studies) published in the Journal on language learning motivation, averaging 14 studies per year and demonstrating a significant
increase from previous decades. Indeed, while one third of studies on motivation in System were published in almost four decades from
1975 to 2012, two thirds of motivation studies were published in the last nine years reflecting the strong surge in interest.
For the purposes of our review, we narrowed the search to studies published from 1990 to 2021, resulting in 169 studies. This time
period captures the turning point from motivation research as a psychological endeavour to an educational concern. We also filtered
studies to include only those reporting original empirical work, thus excluding reviews. Of the remaining 155 studies, 24 (15%)
explored aspects of language learning motivation in high-school settings. Three of these were published between 1990 and 2009 and
the remaining twenty-one between 2010 and 2021 (See Fig. 1). Meanwhile, 17 (11%) focused on primary school settings, 4 from 1990
to 2009 and 13 from 2010 to 2021. This pattern broadly reflecting Boo et al.’s (2015) findings and indicates that only around one
quarter of language motivation studies published in System in the last 3 decades have sought to understand the motivations of
school-aged language learners. We further narrowed our focus on high-school settings, considering that it is during this stage of ed­
ucation that motivational decline begins to manifest (Graham et al., 2016), thus creating a particular imperative to understand the
nature of motivation and its interactions with context.
Theoretical dynamism in L2 motivation research has been accompanied by methodological shifts. Language motivation research
has been characterized by quantitative psychometric approaches, typically adopting questionnaires consisting of multi-item scales that
tap into diverse motivational constructs. Psychometric approaches have been significant in identifying patterns and relationships,
commonalities and divergences, across large datasets and this in turn has generated considerable theoretical dynamism in the field.

Fig. 1. Motivation studies in school-settings 1990–2009 and 2010–2021.

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Relationships between motivation and various contexts, teaching approaches, or target languages have been explored through t-tests
and ANOVAs allowing group comparisons (e.g. You & Dörnyei, 2016). Further, a particular contribution has been the identification of
the constituent components of motivation primarily through the use of factor analysis (e.g. Thompson & Erdil-Moody, 2016). Cor­
relation analysis, regression analysis, and structural equation modeling have been used to statistically examine associations between
motivation components, contextual factors, and criterion variables (e.g. L2 achievement). Notwithstanding the important contribution
of quantitative approaches, allowing us to generalize across L2 learner populations, they fail to yield insights into individual moti­
vational perspectives or to generate detailed understandings of how these evolve in dynamic interaction with surrounding
social-environmental factors.
Recognition of the limitations of quantitative approaches has resulted in a paradigm shift towards qualitative methods in
researching language learning motivation (Boo et al., 2015). This shift can be attributed to three primary factors. Firstly, the first
decade of the 21st century saw repeated calls for qualitative approaches to account for the complex and situated nature of motivation.
Particularly influential in this regard was Ushioda’s person-in-context relational view of motivation (Ushioda, 2009). A second, related
factor was the increasing attention to notions of self and identity as integral to theorisation of motivation and concomitantly the fact
that these concepts are best captured through narrative has seen a marked emphasis on such approaches. The third factor has been the
rise of ecological models of second language acquisition and the increasing interest in complexity theory and dynamic systems theory.
Motivation studies published in System reflect this shift. From 1990 to 2009 66% of studies adopted quantitative approaches,
specifically survey, to motivation. 24% were mixed methods studies and only 10% were qualitative. Between 2010 and 2021, this
shifted to 51%,
21%, and 28% respectively, showing a marked increased in the use of qualitative methods (See Fig. 2). Reflecting attention to
notions of self and identity and dynamic rather than static views of motivation, narratives and journaling methods have become
markedly more frequent in motivation studies published in the journal since 2010.

3. Featured studies on high-school school learners’ motivation

Of the 24 high-school motivation studies published since 1990, as seen in Table 1, 14 adopt quantitative approaches, 4 have been
qualitative, and 7 have adopted mixed methods, typically entailing the combination of survey and interview. Given the relatively small
number of studies in high-school settings, it is difficult to talk about trends and shifts. It is possible to suggest, however, that the
methodological shifts that are visible in the field more broadly have not made their way with the same clarity into research in school
settings. Indeed, this is further emphasized by the fact that 15 of the 17 elementary school studies also adopted quantitative survey
approaches.
This section considers 12 articles on L2 motivation in high-school settings, published in System between 1990 and 2021. This
selection represents just over 50% of studies on language motivation in high-school settings published in the journal. We selected these
studies to ensure that languages other than English were represented alongside English and to reflect direction and shifts in the field. In
this sense, the selection includes a range of methodological perspectives as well as diverse theoretical perspectives.

4. Languages and language learners

In a recent review, Guo et al. (2021) reported that of 1974 full-length articles published by System before 2020, only 10.5% were
focused on languages other than English.
They argued that this is problematic given System’s commitment to ‘the learning and teaching of all languages … as second or
foreign languages in all countries’. Our review raised similar concerns (See Table 2). Of the 24 high-school studies, 17 were on the
learning of English as a foreign language. Four studies were on the learning of Chinese as a foreign language (1) and as a second

Fig. 2. Methodological spread in motivation studies 1990–2009 and 2010–2021.

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Table 1
Methodological spread in secondary school motivation studies, 1990–2021.
Time Period Research approach

1990–2021 Quantitative Qualitative Mixed

13 4 7

language (3). Of the three remaining, Kangasvieri and Leontjev (2021) drew comparisons between the learning of English and the
learning of languages other than English, and Oxford et al. (1993) focused on the learning of Japanese as a foreign language. Molway
(2020) was conducted in the context of French as a foreign language in the UK but focused on the development of a student perception
survey rather than on motivation for learning French per se. While LOTEs seem slightly better represented within this group, the
emphasis on English reflects earlier comments on the dominance of the teaching of English as a second or foreign language in school
curricula and in international exchanges (Fang & Widodo, 2019; Rose et al., 2020).
Oxford et al. (1993) was the first high-school motivation study to be published within the review timeframe. The study explored
factors influencing language achievement when instruction is delivered through satellite TV and in that sense could be considered one
of the pioneers of research on online learning. Sixty-six female and forty-one male high-school students of Japanese in the US were
surveyed. The students came from grades 7–12, though the majority were in grades 10 and 11. Using a range of quantitative tools,
biographical data was collected, as well as data on students’ motivation, language use outside the classroom, strategy use, learning
styles preferences, and Japanese language attainment. The findings pointed to the significance of motivation in language learning,
identifying it as the most significant predictor by far of language attainment, with language strategy use also emerging as an important
predictor. The authors identified a positive interplay between these two predictors. Importantly, however, they also observed in­
teractions between motivation and other variables such as gender, learning styles, and previous language learning experience. In doing
so, the study conceived motivation as emerging from a complex interplay of learner traits. Given the importance of learner charac­
teristics in predicting language learning success, the authors called for further research to investigate ways of supporting motivation
and promoting strategy use in language classrooms. The distinct nature of Japanese with its Kanji characters was particularly pertinent
in relation to strategy use. Instrumental and integrative aspects emerged as motivationally important, as did learners’ perceptions of
whether Japanese would be personally useful for them. In light of their findings, the researchers recommended that teachers support
motivation through useful and interesting activities that students perceive as relevant to their own personal goals. Also, positive
feedback, sensitive error correction and a relaxed classroom environment were recommended as conducive to motivation.
Oxford et al.‘s study aligned with concerns at the time to understand the role of motivation in predicting language attainment. The
groundwork laid in such studies allowed the field to move on to more nuanced explorations of factors that may mediate this rela­
tionship, but also to understanding the nature of motivation in its own right and in its interplay with important learner outcomes.
In recent decades, greater emphasis has been placed on understanding the language learning experiences of minority learners. In
places where language policy plays a pivotal role in educational equity, this is particularly important. Such explorations among school-
aged learners are few and far between in System, but there are two notable exceptions both conducted in Hong Kong among students of
South and Southeast Asian backgrounds. Gu and Cheung (2016) used structural equation modelling to examine whether parental
encouragement can promote the ideal L2 self, and whether the association between ideal L2 self and intended effort is mediated by
acculturation to the mainstream culture in the host society and/or acculturation to the heritage culture. In line with previous studies,
the study supported the positive relationship between the ideal L2 self and L2 learning effort. Furthermore, parental encouragement
emerged as a significant predictor of the ideal L2 self positively predicting students’ acculturation both to the host culture and to their
own heritage culture. Acculturation to the mainstream culture was seen to mediate the impact of ideal L2 self on intended effort and
directly influenced intended effort. The study findings arguably align with ecological views of motivation in that they indicate that
learners’ identification with their cultural contexts plays an important mediating role in the relationship between ideal L2 self and
intended effort. Additionally, while a shift away from Gardner’s work has to some degree sidelined the role of parental encouragement,
Gu and Cheung’s findings point to its significance in the case of ethnic minority children. These findings are theoretically important but
are also suggestive of clear implications for practice supporting stronger partnerships with parents to support their children’s L2
learning.
Also examining the motivation of ethnic minority learners of Chinese in Hong Kong, Lai and Tai (2020) used structural equation
modeling to examine how different social media activities (passive consumption of content versus active contribution of content)
impacted on motivated effort for learning Chinese in Hong Kong. Like Gu and Cheung (2016), Lai and Tai (2021) were interested in
factors influencing ethnic minority learners’ ideal L2 self, specifically the role of bicultural harmony and blendedness. To this end they
drew on Bicultural Identity Integration as the conceptual framework for the study. Using a questionnaire, they surveyed 565 secondary
school students from south and southeast Asia in Hong Kong. The results indicated that both types of social media activities positively

Table 2
Languages researched in secondary school motivation studies, 1990–2021.
Languages researched N

English 17
Chinese: foreign language (1); second language (3) 4
LOTEs 3

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contributed to language learners’ current and aspirational L2 self-concept and in doing so supported language motivation, whereas
they were connected with different bicultural identities. Passive consumption predicted bicultural harmony while active contribution
predicted bicultural blendedness; the researchers identify these as the affective and behavioural dimensions of bicultural identity.
Based on their findings, Lai and Tai (2021) argue that the findings may be different in another sociocultural environment where the
immigrants had limited physical contacts with local people. And this study only discussed the importance of bicultural identity for
language learning motivation in the immigration context instead of the general situations. Nevertheless, the positive influence of
particular social media activities on language learning were confirmed, hence this study is expected to provide a reference for future
research on the interactions between social media use and foreign language learning motivation.
The final example in this section, Kangasvieri and Leontjev (2021), is a rare example of L2 motivation research conducted in the
Finnish context. The study sought to conceptualize motivation from the perspective of L2 self-concept (the way students currently see
themselves as language users) and examined its relationship with parental encouragement, peer pressure, societal expectations, and
grades. The study compares these relationships within the learning of English and within the learning of LOTEs noting that motivation
for LOTEs is typically lower and that learning of LOTEs often receives less parental and peer encouragement. Structural equation
modeling was used to analyse the structure of these relationships from survey responses of 1206 ninth-grade Finnish students (aged
15–16). The fact that the data was analysed separately for English learning and for LOTE precludes any statistical comparison between
the two groups, nevertheless the study yielded useful insights. Within both groups, grades correlated most strongly with students’
current L2 self-concept. Both groups also showed a strong correlation between self-concept and societal expectation. However, while
the English group showed a weak correlation with parental encouragement and with peer encouragement, these correlations were
notably higher among the LOTE group. Within studies on secondary school motivation published in the Journal, this is one of the few
attempts to include foreign languages other than English. The study sheds light on important differences in the influence of society and
significant others on L2 self-concept in English versus LOTEs. The study also provides insight into teachers’ role in enhancing students’
current L2 self-concept which is expected to help promote learning motivation and even learning outcomes.
Based on their findings, the researchers recommend that teachers seek to mediate and guide students’ L2 self-concept as a means of
motivating students, suggesting that this would in turn generate a virtuous cycle between learning outcomes and students’ L2 selves.
The study makes a significant contribution because it comes from a context that is under-represented in L2 motivation research,
focuses on a learner population that is also under-researched in L2 motivation research, and conceptualizes motivation through a less-
frequently adopted lens of L2 self-concept. The study addresses an important gap, namely that while much emphasis has been placed
on learners’ future L2 selves, conceived through the ideal and ought-to L2 selves, little is known about the current L2 self. Under­
standing these current selves is important not only for classroom teachers but also for dynamic theorisations of L2 motivation. Fully
understanding the ideal L2 self and the changes it undergoes requires knowing where the learner is starting from.
The review indicates that the number of studies published in System on the learning of languages other than English in school
settings has been limited. The reasons for this phenomenon are likely to be varied and complex, but two possible causes may be
particularly attributable. Without a doubt the teaching and learning of English eclipses that of languages other than English and this in
turn has implications for where researchers choose to turn their attention. Further compounding this, the challenge of access to schools
and the increasing complexities of ethical procedures may motivate some researchers to look to other research sites. We return to these
issues in outlining future directions. Also clear is the powerful potential of understanding motivation through the lens of identity and
the selves. While some have questioned the applicability the L2 self construct to school-aged learners (e.g. Huang & Chen, 2016, chap.
4), the studies here suggest otherwise. Indeed, these studies suggest that in this life stage where the self and identity is particularly
dynamic, understanding the interplay between learner selves and micro-, meso-, and macro-contextual factors is fundamental to
understanding their language learning motivation.

5. Language teachers

Of the 24 studies conducted in secondary school settings, 3 focused on teachers; one (Guilloteaux, 2013) explored Korean EFL
secondary school teachers’ beliefs about motivational teaching strategies; a second (Song & Kim, 2016) examined Korean EFL sec­
ondary school teachers’ motivations through an Activity Theory perspective; and a third (Yang, 2018) focused on the beliefs about
themselves and about their students’ motivation of secondary school teachers of Chinese in the UK.
Guilloteaux (2013) employed two survey questionnaires to evaluate the importance that 268 South Korean EFL teachers attached
to a selection of 48 motivational strategies, as well as the frequency of use in classroom teaching. The researcher attempted to examine
the cross-cultural validity of Dörnyei and Csizér’s (1998) findings in the Hungarian context. The two questionnaires (Importance/­
Frequency of Use) were constructed based on Cheng and Dörnyei (2007)’s Taiwan survey with similar Confucian orientation. The
findings revealed that certain macro-strategies may transfer across cultural contexts, while strategies for facilitating positive classroom
climate and adaptive group dynamics were deemed less important by the Korean teachers. Significantly, the perceived important
strategies were largely underused in the teaching practice. Guilloteaux suggests that, rather than being due to any inherent
ethno-cultural difference, this may be in part attributable to a lack of skills in this regard, and in part to the pressures placed on teachers
by the wider sociocultural context. Among the 25 secondary school studies, this was the only one to focus on motivational language
teaching practice. The importance of context in mediating motivational practice and possible learner motivation emerges here again.
Furthermore, the findings underline the calls that emerging over the past decade for studies on teacher motivational practice to go
beyond perceptions and self-report data, in order to ascertain what actually happens in classrooms and how this impacts on learner
motivational outcomes.
Yang’s (2019) study of UK secondary school Chinese language teachers’ examined their beliefs about themselves and their

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students’ motivation. The study adopted a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews. It speaks to important gaps in the
literature, focusing on teachers of a language other than English, on language teaching and learning in the secondary school setting,
and on language teaching and learning in an Anglophone setting, the UK. This last aspect is significant because language learning
motivation is known to be particularly problematic in such settings where the need for a language other than English is heavily
questioned.
Five native Chinese teachers (NS teachers) and four non-native Chinese teachers (NNS teachers) were interviewed regarding their
perceptions of themselves as teachers in English and of their students. Motivation emerged as a significant theme in the interviews.
Specifically, teachers identified intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as important factors in students’ CFL learning, with some teachers
noting that intrinsic motivators seemed to play a particularly important role for their English pupils. The researchers note that while
‘traditional Chinese teachers’ tend to assume that their students will be highly motivated and hardworking, this was not the case
among the teachers in the UK who were keenly aware of the importance of promoting and sustaining learners’ intrinsic motivation.
Indeed, students’ motivation emerged as a significant factor influencing teachers’ beliefs about what they should teach and how they
should teach it. The sample size of this research was small and, as the authors point out, longitudinal studies that examine possible
changes in teachers’ beliefs would be warranted. Investigating how changes in students’ motivation interplay with changes in
teachers’ beliefs may provide useful insights into motivation as a dynamic system. It would also be important to consider how teachers’
beliefs about their learners’ motivation translate into their practice, if indeed it does. Nonetheless, the study offers insights into
teachers’ cognitions on L2 motivation in a secondary school setting.
While Guilloteaux (2013) and Yang (2019) focused on teachers’ beliefs about motivational practice and learners’ motivation, Song
and Kim (2016) explored motivational changes in two EFL teachers in South Korean high schools and adopted Activity Theory to
understand the factors influencing their motivation. Through a qualitative approach, the research conducted semi-structured retro­
spective life-story interviews with two experienced EFL teachers. Teachers were asked to visualize their motivational change looking
back over just over a decade of teaching, to use graphs to plot these changes and then to discuss the graphs with the researchers. In both
cases, the teachers experienced periods of demotivation or amotivation. The findings noted that contextual factors, beliefs about
effective teaching methods and the responsibilities of a teacher mediated their (de)motivation, and that these beliefs and motivation
levels changed as the teachers transitioned to different school districts. Particularly important to their motivation was the degree of
alignment between their beliefs and values and those of their professional setting. As well as environmental factors, teacher agency was
significant in their motivational changes. By drawing on activity theory, the researchers were able to shed light on the role of personal
agency in generating different motivational outcomes between the two teachers despite experiencing similar contextual elements.
Language teacher motivation has attracted substantially less research attention than learner motivation, and all the more so in the
secondary school setting. Moreover, the use of activity theory allowed Song and Kim (2016) to generate unique insights into how
teachers’ beliefs and values change in given contexts and how this relates to motivational fluctuations. In doing so the study provides
an account of motivation as a complex dynamic system and points to the potential of Activity Theory in such endeavours.
The studies reviewed in this section shed light on teacher variables that are known to play a significant role in influencing teacher
practice, as well as playing an important part in teacher retention. Attempts to support teachers’ motivational practice are unlikely to
succeed if they are not aligned with teachers’ existing beliefs and values (Borg, 2003; Kubanyiova, 2012). As such, exploring language
teachers’ beliefs and cognitions about learners’ motivation is an important step towards understanding motivational teaching practices
as they unfold in the classroom context (Hennebry-Leung, 2020; Lamb, 2017).

6. Language learning motivation as situated and dynamic

Language learning motivation research has experienced rapid growth and with this have come significant theoretical shifts and
methodological developments. Theoretical shifts have reflected also those in the wider field of language education and applied lin­
guistics, leading to a view of motivation as complex, situated, and dynamic. The studies in this section are selected because they
illustrate this shift in thinking and particularly look to understand how aspects of learners’ ecologies interact with their motivation for
language learning.
Lamb (2004) reflects and contributes to an important conversation that was ongoing in L2 motivation research at the time and that
has had significant influence on the shape of the field today. Lamb’s study set out to explore the extent to which Gardner’s notion of
integrativeness could be seen as relevant to high school learners of English in Indonesia, given the increasing influence of globalization
in that context. Through surveys, interviews and observations, Lamb (2004) explored the English language learning attitudes and
motivations of Indonesian secondary school learners, aged 11–12 years old. The findings indicated that English and English learning
had a significant presence in the students’ lives. In relation to its overarching aim, the study found that while aspects of integrativeness
were evident in students’ responses, it was related more to a process of identification within the learners’ self-concept than it was to an
external L2 community as had originally been conceived by Gardner. Reflecting the emergence of bicultural identities as an artefact of
globalization (e.g. Arnett, 2002; LoCastro, 2001, pp. 2969–2989), Lamb’s (2004) participants also showed evidence of striving towards
a bicultural identity, both as a member of their own ethnic group and as a global citizen.
Though focused on the Indonesian context, the study raised important questions about the need for theories that would better
respond to changing realities and the shift from English being associated with particular Anglophone countries to being identified with
the forces of globalization. In that sense, the study aligned closely with emerging questions about the relevance of Gardner’s inte­
grativeness and instrumentality to contexts where learners could expect little contact with L2 speakers or their culture. Moreover, it
responded also to questions around the relevance of these constructs for understanding the L2 motivation of young learners. This
research enhances our knowledge of ‘integrativeness’, motivation and identification in three ways. Firstly, aiming to reveal the

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motivation of studying English, Lamb gathered extensive data through such stages as questionnaire, interviews and observations. The
quantitative data and qualitative material serve as valuable references for similar studies: this sort of approach can be effectively
applicable to other studies of foreign language learners’ motivation and belief. Secondly, analysis of the results revealed that the
aspiration to ‘integration’ ceases to be interpretative in a number of EFL settings due to the loss of English’s connection to a specific
English-speaking culture in favour of the strong power of globalization. The young participants seemed to be working to achieve a
bicultural identity. Motivation was a matter of process rather than a constant character, as such it needed to be observed for a long
interval. Finally, it is without doubt that the teaching practice and material are supposed to be enriched or varied as peoples’ view of
integrative motivation evolves.
The only study to consider the role of social class in the language learning motivation of secondary school learners was Kormos and
Kiddle’s (2013) study in Santiago, Chile.
Drawing on survey data from 740 high school students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds in Santiago, Kormos and Kiddle
(2013) examined variation in motivational variables, self-regulatory strategies, and autonomous learning behaviours as a function of
social class. They propose that the general impact of stratification on motivation for language learning can be interpreted in the light of
the following aspects: theoretical, pedagogical and contextual dimensions. Findings indicated that social class does indeed have
medium to large effects on motivational variables, with self-efficacy being the most strongly impacted. Importantly, the study showed
that social class had a medium effect on learners’ ideal L2 self, in other words on their future vision of L2 learning success. In line with
more recent studies (e.g. Hennebry & Gao, 2021), this underlines the role of context, in this case socio-economic, in fostering or
inhibiting the emergence of L2 selves. Further extending this, Kormos and Kiddle (2013) report that the most important differences in
motivation, self-regulation and learner autonomy transpired between upper-middle and high social class students on the one hand and
low and lower middle class students on the other hand. These differences were understood as resulting from inequality inherent in the
Chilean school system.
Given the gatekeeping role that language learning plays in many sociocultural contexts around the world and the potential for it to
create new opportunities for learners from lower social classes, it is perhaps surprising that this interplay has not garnered greater
research attention. Furthermore, given the low levels of motivation often evidenced among students in under-privileged contexts,
understanding factors that contribute to this is an educational imperative. Kormos and Kiddle (2013) stands out as the only study
published in System between 1990 and 2021 that considers the relationship between social class and motivational outcomes, but such
research is surely integral to theorising L2 motivation as contextual and to understanding learners as persons in context. Moreover, it
seems essential to a research agenda that seeks to address inequality in education.
In the drive towards more complex understandings of L2 motivation, the possible interplay between learners’ values and their L2
learning motivation has received surprisingly limited attention (Lepp-Kaethler and Dörnyei (2013) being a notable exception). Among
school-aged learners such investigations are even fewer yet exploring this possible relationship would extend our understanding of L2
motivation as interacting with the larger whole of the individual rather than a discreet trait. Indeed, given that motivation is an in­
dividual difference, understanding this possible relationship is at the heart of understanding its individuality.
Drawing on the L2 motivation self-system, Farid and Lamb (2020) explored the motivation of 376 teenager students in three
boarding schools (pesantrens) of Indonesia. The research adopted a sequential explanatory design, using a survey and interviews to
examine Muslim secondary school students’ English learning motivation and to investigate the possible influence of Islamic religious
identity. The findings point to a clear religious element in students’ motivation across the three schools, with English being seen as
potentially useful for proselytization. Yet, the salience of diverse components of the L2 motivational self-system varied across the three
institutions, highlighting the situated nature of motivation. Qualitative data offered insights into how students related their purpose for
learning English with their religious future guides, suggesting that religious vision can and supporting previous arguments that religion
can be a powerful motivational force for many. The researchers went as far as to suggest that this religious relevance of learning English
may play a useful role in engaging otherwise ambivalent English language learners. The study points to the role that religious future
self-guides can play in students’ purposes for language learning, and in so doing highlights the need to consider how a broader and
fuller understanding of learners’ internal lives may interact with their L2 motivation. The study also highlights the usefulness of the
L2MSS for understanding the interplay between learners’ broader envisioned identities and their L2 future selves. Furthermore, it
points to the role of learners’ broader ecological systems in shaping their language learning motivation.
Park and Hiver (2017) adopted a mixed methods approach to identify the motivational profiles of secondary school language
learners in a project-based learning language classroom and the process of change these profiles undergo. Hypothesising that
project-based learning (PBL) provides a learning framework that supports language motivation, the study consisted of a 7-week
intervention with 38 first-grade middle school learners of English in South Korea, with no prior experience of PBL. Motivational
data was gathered through a beginning-and-end survey, reflective journals in each week of the intervention, and in-depth semi-­
structured interviews with 3 students at 3 points during the intervention. The findings indicated not only distinct initial motivational
profiles among participants but also clear patterns of change along the intervention. The PBL approach was seen to enable the con­
struction of new ideal L2 selves, and consolidation of existing ones and its distinctive characteristics were argued to be strongly
associated with motivating learners and indeed support self-regulation.
In exploring secondary school learners’ ideal L2 selves, the study contributes to debates about the relevance of the L2 motivational
self system for understanding school-aged learners’ motivation. The study is a also rare example of intervention research in L2
motivation research in general and in secondary school settings in particular. This latter characteristic makes it particularly significant
contribution to attempts to translate L2 motivation theory into real classroom applications that support teachers and students. Indeed,
the fact the mixed methods approach allowed the study to generate useful insights in this regard, accounting for the learners’ unique
experiences of the learning design. Finally, positing that motivation is dynamic and that its dynamism unfolds in the context of

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situative processes, the study situates individual factors within the ecology of the PBL instructional approach and considers motiva­
tional changes that may emerge as a function of this. The study also raises interesting pedagogical consideration around the potential
suitability of PBL for supporting the development of ideal L2 selves, given the approach’s inherent concern with processes of devel­
opment and trajectories of learning.
Also viewing motivation as dynamic, Song and Kim’s (2017) study took a longer view of motivational change. Their study of
secondary school EFL students in South Korea, constitutes a rare exploration of the process of demotivation and remotivation. As in
their 2016 study of teacher motivation (see above), the researchers once again adopted a retrospective method, asking students in
grade 11 to map changes in their English learning motivation from kindergarten to high school. From an initial 64 participants, 15 who
demonstrated declining motivation and 13 who evidenced a decline followed by an increase, participated in a further open-ended
questionnaire and follow-up interview. The results identified junior high school, namely the first years of secondary school, as the
time students were most likely to become demotivated. External drivers such as teaching methods, uninteresting textbooks, changes in
study methods, difficulty with studying English, and decreasing English scores. Importantly, the study also highlighted that demoti­
vated students struggled to see the relevance of EFL to their future goals and were therefore more susceptible to negative social
pressure. Contrary to previous studies that emphasized the importance of internal factors in the process of remotivation, Song and Kim
(2018), found that external factors, such as teaching methods, study methods, test scores, and classmates were also important for their
participants. A pivotal point for participants in the process of remotivation was when their future goals aligned with studying English.
The importance of goals is well-documented in the L2 motivation literature and in education more broadly. However, Song and Kim
(2018) were able to compare remotivated students with those who remained demotivated, contrasting the vagueness of goals among
this latter group. This has clear and specific pedagogical implications pointing to the need to support students in developing learn and
specific goals, but also to the need for language teaching to take account of and respond to learners’ personal goals. Also important is
the need for a more coherent pathway between pedagogies in the primary school and those in the secondary.
Song and Kim (2017) point out that the unique life-stage Korean high school learners are in with regard to decision-making about
future careers is likely to have resulted in particular susceptibilities to demotivating factors. This highlights further the need for L2
motivation research to more fully explore secondary school learners L2 motivation, seeking to generate understanding about the
specific contexts and life-stages these learners find themselves in and the implications of this for motivation.
The studies in this section all adopt a view of language learning motivation as dynamic and situated. In each case, they consider the
influence of micro- meso- and macro-contextual factors on language learning motivation, while motivational change is also a focus of
some of the work considered here. Together the studies underline the need to understand language learning motivation as emerging
from learners’ wider ecologies Along with the diversity in study design, the range of methods used across these studies, including
journals, interviews, visual representations, surveys, observations, highlights the need for methodological diversity in order to capture
the complex, situated, and dynamic nature of motivation.

7. Future directions

Based on the above review, we would like to recommend the following directions for language learning motivation researchers to
consider:

1. Greater attention to language learning motivation in school settings

Given the critical stage of education school-aged learners are in, the important role motivation plays in language learning success,
the potential benefits of learning a language in these earlier years, and the cognitive differences between these learners and adult
learners, greater research attention on language learning motivation among school-aged learners is merited, indeed needed. Such
research might particularly focus on understanding how complex classroom and school ecologies interact with learners’ motivation. In
a critical review of the L2 motivational self system, Dörnyei (2019) suggests that the L2 learning experience might be reconceptualized
as the perceived quality of the learners’ engagement with various aspects of the language learning process, including the school setting
and learning tasks. Future research might usefully take note of this suggestion as a means of directing L2 motivation research towards
more concrete consideration of school and classroom settings.
Also important would be generating insights into the interplay between learners’ motivation and their micro, meso, and macro
contexts as a means of understanding motivation, classrooms and schools as embedded within wider sociocultural forces and
structures.

2. Diversifying methodological approaches

Methodological diversification has to some degree accompanied theoretical developments in language learning motivation, as seen
in some of the studies reviewed that have adopted longitudinal, retrospective, or intervention approaches and methods to generate
new insights and to capture the dynamic and situated nature of motivation. Nevertheless, one off questionnaires, interviews, or a
combination of the two continue to be the status quo in school-based motivation research. Longitudinal designs are unusual within this
population as is the use of language learning journals and autobiographies, but these have particular potential for rich understandings
of contextual influences and of motivational change over time. Moreover, there may be merit in various methodological innovations
yet to be fully explored in language motivation research. MacIntyre (2012), for instance suggests that the idiodynamic method har­
nesses technological potential to offer a means of accessing and exploring the interplay of various dynamic systems in real time. This

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has rarely been done in L2 motivation and may be particularly useful for understanding motivation in the classroom context (c.f. Chang
& Zhang, 2020). On the other hand, Dörnyei (2014) proposed retrodictive qualitative modelling as a response to challenges posed to
language motivation research by complex dynamic systems theory perspectives. Rather than working to predict outcomes, retrodictive
qualitative modelling works backwards from observable outcomes to trace why certain system components, such as individual
learners, manifest certain outcomes and not others (e.g. motivated or not). There is rich scope for methodological innovation in
motivation research in school settings. The examples given here, and many more besides, have potential to provide accounts of learner
motivation that reflect the complexity of classrooms and that are therefore of particular use to classroom practitioners.
Furthermore, language motivation researchers may consider methods that move away from self-report data. Writing on this,
Ushioda (2019) highlights the potential of combining ethnographic observation data with self-report data, or of analysing real-time
discourse data where learners are engaged in target language interactions with the teacher or with one another. Notwithstanding
the time and skill required for such approaches, they have the potential to yield unique and significant insights not available through
other means.

3. Understanding the role of teachers in language learning motivation

Language teacher cognition has become an established subfield of applied linguistics (Borg, 2006). Yet, research into teachers’
cognitions on language learners’ motivation and on motivational language teaching practice has not kept pace. Understanding cog­
nitions and practices around motivation is fundamental to any endeavour to inform effective language teaching practice. While recent
years have seen increasing attention to what teachers do in terms of motivational practice, why they do what they do is
under-researched. Uncovering teachers’ cognitions on motivational language teaching practices and identifying effective pathways for
supporting and enriching these cognitions would be an important component of a research agenda that shapes motivational language
teaching practice.
While language teacher motivation in general has attracted research attention, that of language teachers in the school setting would
merit greater attention. Teacher motivation impacts on learning outcomes, student motivation, the effectiveness of teaching practice,
and teachers’ own psychological well-being and personal fulfilment (Carbonneau et al., 2008; Han & Yin, 2016; Butler & Shibaz, 2014;
Retelsdorf and Gü nther, 2011). Thus, there is an imperative for dynamic and complex understandings of the interaction of cognitive,
contextual, and social factors that shape, promote or constrain language teacher motivation (Kubanyiova, 2019). Developing
context-informed language teacher motivations constitutes an important step in accounting for the role of affect in existing teacher
cognition conceptual frameworks (Gkonou et al., 2020). Furthermore, understanding the robustness of teachers’ actual and possible
professional selves and identifying the influences that shape them may yield important insights for equipping teachers for resilient and
perseverant practice in the face of challenges.

4. Authentic and full collaboration with school practitioners

Studies that emerge from authentic and full collaboration between academic researchers and school practitioners are likely to make
a unique and significant contribution to language motivation research that positively impacts on language teaching and learning in
school settings. Ushioda (2019) argues that the extent to which the research done on language learning motivation is genuinely
designed to engage with the people who might benefit from our work is limited. Indeed, schools in many contexts are, rightly we
believe, pushing back against traditional models of the researcher and the researched and access to schools for such studies is proving
increasingly difficult to gain. Researchers may need to rethink models of collaborative research, to bring teachers and students into the
process as co-designers and co-enactors of the research, shaping the research agenda in ways that speak to their lived experiences and
their educational and professional needs and that give them a distinct voice in research that claims to be about and for them. These
notions are not new and yet it is extremely rare to see language motivation studies that adopt this approach. Indeed, it is rare to see
studies published that include practitioner authorship. In this regard, the System editorial team is seeking to create a dedicated space in
future issues for research undertaken by practitioners or with practitioners and/or learners as co-researchers.

5. Mentoring researchers in explorations of language motivation in school-settings

In 2020, System launched the Editor Mentorship for Under-represented Authors Scheme (EMURAS). This offers a channel for editors
or board members to support scholars in under-represented contexts towards improving ‘presentation of ideas, results, and/or analysis’
to publish manuscripts with ‘worthy research/theory’. The first EMURAS article was published on developing awareness of Global
Englishes in Thailand (Boonsuk et al., 2021). Similar efforts could focus on supporting scholars in under-represented contexts to
publish their work on language motivation in school settings. In some cases these scholars may live and work in settings where
language education provides a means for mitigating social disadvantage and where it is all the more important, therefore, to un­
derstand the processes and structures that promote or constrain language learning motivation. Mentoring for publication is a
time-consuming process with unpredictable outcomes. However, efforts in this direction are worthwhile in that they can support the
publication of work that addressed issues of social and educational import, thus making a meaningful and significant contributions to
the field.

6. Advocacy of multilingualism

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We echo Guo et al. (2021) in their support for advocacy of multilingualism. Motivation plays an important role not only in language
learning success, but also in language uptake and perseverance with language learning. In school settings, teachers often struggle to
recruit learners to language programs and to keep them there and this is particularly the case in the learning of languages other than
English. In this sense, research that extends our understanding of school-aged learners’ motivation and of the contextual factors that
promote, sustain, or inhibit this motivation, plays an important part in supporting multilingualism. In line with its stated objectives,
System should commit itself to the advancement and sustenance of multilingualism as a worthwhile goal for all language educators.

8. Conclusion

This review has explored System’s publications on language learning motivation in school settings, with a specific attention on
secondary schools. In doing so we drew particular attention to 12 articles that have focused on learners, teachers and contextual
features. Given the importance of motivation in uptake of, perseverance with, and success in language learning and in view of the
importance of the school years in the learning trajectory, System’s commitment to addressing “problems of foreign language teaching
and learning” would be well served by greater attention to studies focused on this phenomenon. Such studies require researchers to
negotiate the challenges of gaining school access and to go beyond conventional methods and methodologies. System supports the use
of innovative methodologies to address problems of educational significance and is taking steps to actively encourage closer collab­
oration between researchers and practitioners and to provide a dedicated space for the dissemination of such research. These steps may
support the enrichment and expansion of a research agenda focused on understanding motivation in school settings and to generating
rigorous innovative research that yields robust pedagogical implications.

Author statement

Fang Zhang: Methodology, Data collection and analysis, Writing (Original preparation); Wang Jinquan: Methodology, Data
analysis, Writing (Original preparation); Hennebry-Leung Mairin (Andy): Investigation, Conceptualization, Writing (Original prepa­
ration, reviewing & editing).

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Yangzhou University High-level Talent Funding (002023).

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