In many theorizations of L2 motivation, the discrepancy between actual and possible L2 selves has been closely associated with motivation generation, and L2 selves are considered as highly interactive with the context. This article centres on the interplay between L2 self-discrepancy, motivation, and context by following two Chinese university…

This case study examines the goals of 13 Japanese graduate students who studied abroad, and situates those goals in the larger context of Japanese society. The study abroad objectives of the Japanese government and some Japanese universities are compared and problematised. The authors conducted three interviews of each study abroad participant…

Educational sojourns abroad are not only increasingly popular; it is also believed that they have many positive outcomes for students. The transformative potential of a study sojourn abroad has been claimed in linguistic and broader intercultural terms (e.g. Brown [2009] "The Transformative Power of the International Sojourn: An Ethnographic…