Researchers have been investigating motivation to learn second (L2) and foreign (FL) languages for decades, starting with the socio-educational model, moving on to the multi-dimensional model of motivational variables, and currently incorporating the complex dynamic system theory (CDST). The study examined changes in Dörnyei's L2 Motivational…

Writing in a foreign language is a particularly difficult skill to develop, especially when young learners are concerned because they are parallelly learning to write in their L1 and do not have strong oral foundations in their L2. The issue becomes even more complex when the ways to assess young learners' writing are considered, given that…

In this qualitative study the author focuses on age effects on young learners' L2 development by comparing the L2 learning processes of six young learners in an instructed setting: three who had started learning English as L2 at age 6/7 and three who had started at age 9/10. Both earlier and later young beginners were followed for three years…