engleski

A closer look at English and German learners’ motivations and identities: A case study

Research so far has pointed to the significance of motivation in second language acquisition as well as to the possibility that the level of motivation may vary depending on the target language learned. Motivation is an essential part of the learners’ identity and self-concept (Dörnyei and Ushioda, 2009). Research focusing on younger school-age learners of English and German (e.g. Karlak and Šimić, 2016) shows that learners cherish different coexisting identities with respect to the different languages they learn. Based on the experiences of two learners of English and German respectively, this paper aims to explore and compare learners’ foreign language motivations and the significance that language has within the learners’ identity and self- concept. Their language learning experience and involvement with the foreign language is taken into account considering the period from the first contacts with the language until the present moment. The research findings point to interesting qualitative differences among the learners with respect to the different sources of motivation which are deeply intertwined with the social dimension of motivation and with the status the respective foreign language has in the learners’ context.

motivation, second language acquisition, linguistic identity, social dimension of motivation

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