Exploring dynamic perspectives on L2 learning motivation: A qualitative inquiry of three adult Korean ESL learners

This study highlights dynamic perspectives on L2 learning motivation. Despite the fact that there seems to be tacit agreement among researchers in this field that motivation is dynamic, there has not been in-depth discussion of the dynamic aspects of motivation in the literature, nor a theoretical framework designed to take this into account, and studies supporting that assumption are in their infancy. That is, most studies have been exclusively concerned with motivation at given moment in time rather than tracking developmental changes in motivation over time. This interpretive qualitative longitudinal inquiry examines the dynamic aspects in the motivation of three adult Korean ESL learners, relating motivational factors to their specific decisions and behavior regarding learning tasks over time. Five factors which are found to be central in the motivational fluctuations of the learners during the period of the study are discussed. Using a dynamic recursive model of L2 learning motivation which illustrates a cyclical pattern of motivational development in L2 learning, this study discusses the relationship among these factors and the language learning decisions made by the learners. It is argued that the recognition of the dynamic process of motivational development will help learners take over some of the control and responsibility for motivational management.