Investigating language learning & motivation beyond the classroom: Challenges of conducting research from a sociocultural theory perspective Heather Willis Allen
[email protected]
Tae-Young Kim
[email protected]
AAAL 2010
Overview I. Introduction: Research on language learning & motivation in study abroad (SA) II. Sociocultural theory (SCT) & activity theory (AT): Their relevance to SA research III. Challenges of conducting research on L2 motivation from an AT perspective IV. Concluding thoughts
I. Introduction: SLA & SA research •Trends in SA enrollments •The profession’s stance on SA’s benefits (1960smid 1990s) “an environment which most closely resembles the environment of the first language learner .... continuously available target language in all possible modalities, registers, and domains” (Rivers, 1998, p. 492)
I. Introduction •Shifting paradigms (mid-1990s-present) -focus on specific aspects of SLA (Cohen & Shively, 2007) -attention to learners’ own efforts to promote SLA (Isabelli Garcia, 2006; Pellegrino Aveni, 2005; Wilkinson, 2002) -first-person perspectives (Douglass, 2007; Kinginger, 2004, 2008) -questioning unfounded assumptions (Tanaka, 2007; Magnan & Back, 2007) •Continued divide between research measuring linguistic outcomes and ethnographic / socially grounded accounts of SA experiences (Kinginger, 2009)
I. Introduction “T]he individual ... is the passive recipient of the envisaged life-changing process. Thus, it creates a mythical transformative space called abroad ... as if ‘abroad’ were one transforming location wherein the participant will gain insight simply by being there. It consequently minimises (or fails to distinguish between) some crucial matters: What do you study? Where do you study it? How do you study it? What do you have to do to maximise the benefits?” (Woolf, 2008) -> focus in recent SA research on the interaction between the learner & the learning context
II. Relevance of SCT to SA research l
focus on mediation (learner-as-subject learning context): SCT recognizes the central role of social relationships and culturally constructed artifacts in organizing uniquely human forms of thinking
l
learning as participation metaphor
l
learners as people with human agency
l
motivation as constructed & constrained by the learning context
First-generation AT model
based on Leontiev (1978)
Second-generation AT model
Engeström (1999) [T]hrough activity, people not only modify objects, means, and conditions, they change themselves as well and become aware of this activity” (Lompscher, 1999, p. 12)
Motivational development from an AT perspective
Kim (2007) Relevance for SA research -> participation in L2 communities & establishment of social networks tends to be “highly unpredictable and serendipitous” (Wilkinson, 2005, p. 47) Considering the influence of various mediational elements in the activity system may help explain past SA research findings that have been notoriously contradictory
Data sources Participants
Context
Canada study (Kim, 2007)
10 Korean ESL program(s) adults: 5 ESL or ESL visa students; 5 program & recent employment; immigrants varied housing
France study (Allen, 2010)
6 American college students
Data Interviews, stimulated recall tasks, class observations, L2learning autobiographies
summer SA Interviews, program in questionnaires, L2Nantes, France; learning blogs homestay
III. Challenges of researching SA experiences from an AT perspective: Conceptual •diversification of L2 motivation research in recent years -> -attribution theory -self-determination theory (Noels, 2003, 2005) -social cognitive theory -self-efficacy (Mills, Pajares, & Herron, 2007) -possible self theory -complex adaptive systems (Dörnyei, 2009) •conceptual confusion remains, two tendencies -> -downward & upward reductionism (Valsiner & van der Veer, 2000)
IIIa. Conceptual challenges: Downward reductionism Example: Socio-educational model (Gardner, 1985, 1988, 2001, 2005, 2006)
IIIa. Conceptual challenges: Upward reductionism Influence of macro-sociological perspectives; Example: Norton’s notion of investment (1993, 1995, 2000) “Researchers ... have sought to broaden the theoretical framework proposed by Gardner and Lambert, such debates on motivation in the field of SLA do not capture the complex relationship between power, identity and language learning that I have observed in my research ... It is best understood with reference to the economic metaphors that Bourdieu uses in his work - in particular the notion of cultural capital (Norton, 2000, p. 10)
Where does SCT figure in this continuum?
IIIa. Conceptual challenges Theoretical (in)compatibility between SCT/AT & other approaches to studying L2 motivation -> -SCT research on SLA has focused primarily on cognitive elements; Ushioda (2006): “its potential richness as a conceptual framework ...remains rather under-developed” (p. 154) -result: lack of theorizing, empirical research on L2 motivational processes from SCT perspectives ex. Lantolf & Beckett’s list of 48 “notable publications” on SCT and SLA from 1985 to 2009 includes only one publication on L2 motivation (Lantolf & Genung, 2002)
AT & L2 motivation
Engeström (1999)
Kim (2007)
III. Challenges of researching SLA in SA from an AT perspective: Methodological •Even with some notable exceptions, the “sea change” (Ushioda, 2007) in L2 motivation research in the 1990s was not accompanied by a shift away from the quantitative paradigm •Kinginger (2009) called the “chasm” between quantitative and qualitative studies of SLA and L2 motivation in SA unproductive, with “serious consequences for the interpretability of both varieties of scholarship” (p. 216) •Issues exist in both quantitative and qualitative categorizations of L2 motivation
IIIb. Methodological challenges: Quantitative categorizations Different researchers argue for differing sub-components of L2 motivation; result -> obscures comparisons among various approaches
MacIntyre, 2002
IIIb. Methodological challenges: Qualitative categorizations •Can qualitative data collection capture changes in L2 learners’ motivation? •Are findings based on qualitative methods distinct from those based on quantitative methods? •Examples: Joon: I need to get a good job in Korea. (Interview 1) Woo: I’m not interested in learning English itself. It is rather that I need English. It will make our lives affluent. (Interview 1) Hana: I should be an English teacher. (Interview 1) Joon: To learn English. To get a job in Korea. (Final interview) Woo: I had to learn English to have better opportunity to get a job in a steel company in Korea. (Final interview) Hana: I would like to be an English teacher. And as you know, to become a teacher, I need to pass the Pre-service Teacher Examination. I need to pass the exam. So I should have high English proficiency. (Final interview)
IIIb. Methodological challenges: Qualitative categorizations Example: Joon’s monthly motivational change
III. Challenges of researching SLA during SA from an AT perspective: Critical / Ethical •According to Auerbach (1994), so called neutral, objective research reinforces unequal power relationships: “Its purposes, methods, and uses may serve the interest of university-based academics in terms of publishing, tenure, and broadening the knowledge base of the field but do little to benefit those being researched” (p. 694) •On the other hand, as Lantolf and Pavlenko (2001) stated, SCToriented research should not only describe or explain learning phenomena but should endeavour to intervene in communities of practices to ensure learners’ access to full participation and opportunities for L2 development. -> When and how can this be done?
IIIc. Ethical challenges - example 1 Chad, SA application: “I think that one of the most rewarding aspects of this program will be living with a host family. As with a roommate in a college dorm, or watching the season finale of ‘The Real World’ incredible bonds are formed between people you live with and develop relationships with. I look forward to taking advantage of living with a host family, by getting to know them extremely well on a personal level ...” Chad, Week 1 of SA, blog: “I have a hard time grasping the concept that learning a new language is a gradual process. I want to be able to fluently talk with my family, joke with them, etc, and I know that that is not a realistic goal.”
Chad, Week 6 Post SA survey: “Somewhat dissatisfied” with homestay contact, claimed to spend only 1.5 hours per day with family, called it “Not at all likely” to stay in contact with family, said following conversations with family was “extremely difficult”
IIIc. Ethical challenges-example 2 Se-Jin: My ESL teacher says that we should not use a dictionary. He says just listen to the sound of the word coming from his mouth and we need to think in English. If we look up a word in an EnglishKorean dictionary, it’s not good, he says. But I’m not sure. Still whenever I come across a new word, unless I’m 100 percent sure about the meaning, I always try to find the word at my house. What do you think? Is it good or bad? Interviewer: [hesitating] Well, it depends. You know. It depends on each language learner’s learning style. By the way, what is the most stressful factor while you are learning English?
IIIc. Ethical challenges •How can the interface between research and practice be made to maximize learning and enhance L2 motivation? •Can the notion of ZPD be expanded to go beyond cognitive to emotional scaffolding for L2 learners in immersion contexts? (Holzman, 2008) • Can learner-generated data (e.g., journaling, photo cued-recall tasks) serve a dual purpose for both research and instruction? •Swain’s (2006) notion of languaging, or “the process of making meaning and shaping knowledge and experience through language” (p. 89), represents a useful orientation to these issues
IV. Conclusions, implications, future directions •SCT / AT provide useful orientations to L2 motivation research yet do not escape challenges shared by previous approaches to researching L2 motivation beyond the classroom •Future research should address conceptual commonalities and differences among approaches to studying motivation sharing a focus on the learner-context interface (e.g., AT, Engeström, 1999; dynamic systems approach, Dörnyei, 2009; emergentism, Ellis & LarsenFreeman, 2007) •Future efforts should strive to narrow the gap between empirical research and language instruction to enhance students’ L2 motivation (e.g., action research)
More information •This presentation:
http://works.bepress.com/heatherwillisallen/
•Related publications: Allen, H. W. (in press, 2010). What shapes short-term study abroad experiences? A comparative case study of students' motives and goals, Journal of Studies in International Education [SAGE Online First] Allen, H. W. (2010). Language-learning motivation in short-term study abroad. Foreign Language Annals, 43 (1), 27-49. Kim, T-Y. (2009). The dynamics of L2 self and L2 learning motivation: A qualitative case study of Korean ESL students. English Teaching, 64 (3), 4970.
