Learning a language is a long-term undertaking. In this endeavor, motivation is served by patterns of regulation that steer and control behavior. Regulation can be focused on possibilities and opportunities (an approach pattern), or the implications of failure (an avoidance pattern). Responding to calls for work with a focus on regulation (Papi…

In a series of articles Dörnyei and his colleagues (Dörnyei, Ibrahim, & Muir, 2015; Dörnyei, Muir, & Ibrahim, 2014; Muir & Dörnyei, 2013) describe the phenomenon of a period of intense and enduring motivation in pursuit of a highly desired personal goal or vision. These surges of motivational energy, which they call "Directed…

Patterns of transmigration emerging as a consequence of globalization are creating new and complex markets for communicative resources in which languages and language varieties are differently valued. In a Swedish context, where lingua franca English can facilitate communication but where monolingual norms prevail and Swedish is positioned as the…

Transcultural flows of capital, culture and communication have created conditions for the widespread movement of people around the globe, leading to increasing diversity in countries of destination. In contexts of global migration lingua franca English is indispensable in initial and survival communication. For migrants to northern European…

In this Swedish case study of four upper secondary students engaged in simultaneous second language (L2; English) and third language (L3; Spanish, French and Russian) learning, a possible selves perspective was used to investigate the impact of English on L3 motivation. Using a maximum variation sampling strategy, participants were selected from a…