Unconscious motivation. Part II: Implicit attitudes and L2 achievement

Abstract

This paper investigates the attitudinal/motivational predictors of second language (L2) academic achievement. Young adult learners of English as a foreign language (N = 311) completed several self-report measures and the SingleTarget Implicit Association Test. Examination of the motivational profiles of high and low achievers revealed that attachment to the L1 community and the ought-to L2 self were negatively associated with achievement, while explicit attitudes toward the L2 course and implicit attitudes toward L2 speakers were positively associated with it. The relationship between implicit attitudes and achievement could not be explained either by social desirability or by other cognitive confounds, and remained significant after controlling for explicit self-report measures. Explicit-implicit congruence also revealed a similar pattern, in that congruent learners were more open to the L2 community and obtained higher achievement. The results also showed that neither the ideal L2 self nor intended effort had any association with actual L2 achievement, and that intended effort was particularly prone to social desirability biases. Implications of these findings are discussed.

The Motivational Foundation of Learning Languages Other Than Global English: Theoretical Issues and Research Directions

“…The results showed that accounting for the learners’ level of implicit attitudes had substantial effects on the explanatory power of the results; for example, students with harmoniously positive explicit and implicit attitudes were more open to the L2 group than those who reported a positive explicit disposition but held negative implicit attitudes. The importance of the harmony versus discrepancy of conscious/unconscious attitudes was further corroborated in a follow‐up study by Al‐Hoorie (), which additionally included academic achievement as a criterion measure.…”

Language Learning Motivation as a Complex Dynamic System: A Global Perspective of Truth, Control, and Value

“…Conducting longitudinal studies that sample learners’ experiences in an ongoing and iterative manner may be one way to address this shortcoming. We must also acknowledge the recent literature on unconscious motives or attitudes in L2 learning that are not captured through self‐report elicitation methods (Al–Hoorie, , ). Exploring this unconscious aspect through instruments that do not rely on self‐report data is a promising new avenue for the field, and its applications in language learning has begun to receive wider attention (e.g., Al–Hoorie, , ).…”

Ansiedad idiomática y motivación hacia el español como lengua extranjera en estudiantes universitarios portugueses: un estudio exploratorio

“…Los estudiantes que poseen mayores niveles de motivación integradora hacia la lengua son los que consiguen mejores resultados en términos de nota fi nal. Estos resultados son coherentes con los obtenidos en investigaciones previas sobre la relación entre actitudes y aprendizaje de LE (Al-Hoorie, 2016;Enongene, 2013;Öztürk, 2014;Pavelescu y Petric, 2018;Wood y Gabas, 2017), y consistentes con los resultados obtenidos por otros investigadores en ELE (Bernaus y Gardner, 2008;Khodadad y Kaur, 2016;Marcos-Llinàs, 2007;Minera, 2009;Suryasa et al, 2017) utilizando el modelo socioeducativo de Gardner (2007). En general, la actitud positiva hacia una lengua, el deseo de aprenderla y el interés hacia las actividades desarrolladas en clase lleva consigo una mayor dedicación de esfuerzo y de tiempo en su aprendizaje.…”

“…Se asume que actitudes positivas hacia el idioma ayudan al aprendizaje de la lengua extranjera (Busse, 2017). Esta relación ha sido observada en varios estudios realizados con aprendientes de distintas lenguas extranjeras (Al-Hoorie, 2016;Enongene, 2013;Öztürk, 2014;Pavelescu y Petric, 2018;Wood y Gabas, 2017) y en las investigaciones realizadas (Bernaus y Gardner, 2008;Gardner, 2007;Khodadad y Kaur, 2016;Suryasa, Prayoga, y Werdistira, 2017) a partir del concepto de motivación integradora de Gardner (2007).…”

“…La revisión de la literatura científi ca muestra un gran número de estudios realizados en torno a la ansiedad idiomática (Alpaslan y Yalvac, 2017;Asif, 2017;Dogan y Tuncer, 2016;Khodadady y Khajavy, 2013;Marcos-Llinàs y Garau, 2009;Ramos, 2017;Razak et al, 2017), las actitudes hacia la LE (Al-Hoorie, 2016;Enongene, 2013;Öztürk, 2014;Pavelescu y Petric, 2018;Wood y Gabas, 2017), la motivación integradora hacia la LE (Bernaus y Gardner, 2008;Khodadad y Kaur, 2016;Marcos-Llinàs, 2007;Minera, 2009;Suryasa et al, 2017) y el rendimiento académico. No obstante, las investigaciones realizada en el contexto de ELE son escasas (Acheson, Nelson, y Luna, 2015;Marcos-Llinàs y Garau, 2009;Seravia y Bernaus, 2008) y apenas existen investigaciones que profundicen en el análisis de las relaciones entre estas variables en el contexto universitario portugués de Español como Lengua Extranjera (ELE).…”