日本人英語学習者のビジョンと動機づけられる行動をサポートする強力な動機づけ衝動

抄録

　　Understanding the intensive motivational drive that supports the learning of a second language (L2) has been featured in recent L2 motivation research. Such motivational phenomena were confirmed mainly by studies of extremely motivated learners using the framework of Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs) (see Dörnyei, Henry, & Muir, 2016), but would be reflected to some extent in ordinary L2 learners’ experiences if certain conditions for generating and maintaining the vision of the desired future L2 self are met in their minds. In order to test these hypotheses, this study examined 143 Japanese university students using open-ended questions and confirmatory factor analysis from an ecological perspective to identify various types of activities, including out-of-class settings the students have engaged in, and Muir’s (2016) DMC Disposition scale to measure the strength of students’ engagement and to investigate its association with motivational conditions for the desired future self and intended effort in English. The results mostly supported the hypotheses, and further avenues for in-depth explorations of the ecological environment and motivational conditions for triggering DMCs-like experiences in response to Japanese students’ characteristics are presented.