Directed-Motivational-Currents

357StudiesinSecondLanguageLearningandTeachingDepartmentofEnglishStudies,FacultyofPedagogyandFineArts,AdamMickiewiczUniversity,KaliszSSLLT3(3)[e-mail]ánDörnyeiUniversityofNottingham,UKzoltan.dö[e-mail],thatis,thementalrepresentationofthesensoryexperienceofafuturegoalstate(involvingimaginationandimagery),iscurrentlyattheforefrontofmotivationalinnovation,andinrecentyearsithasbeenseenincreasinglymoreofteninthemotivationaltoolkitofpracticinglanguageteachers.TheoriessuchasDörnyei’sL2motivationalselfsystemhaveexploredthepowerthatcreatingeffectivevisionscanharness(see,e.g.,Dörnyei&Kubanyiova,2014)andwhenviewedinconjunctionwithothercurrentresearchavenues,suchasfuturetimeperspectiveanddynamicsystemstheory,visionoffersexcitingpotential.ADi-rectedMotivationalCurrentisanewmotivationalconstructthatwesuggestiscapableofintegratingmanycurrenttheoreticalstrandswithvision:Itcanbede-scribedasamotivationaldrivewhichenergiseslong-term,sustainedbehaviour(suchaslanguagelearning),andthroughplacingvisionandgoalsascriticalcen-tralcomponentswithinthisconstruct,itoffersrealandpracticalmotivationalpotential.Inthisconceptualpaper,wefirstdiscusscurrentunderstandingsofvi-sionandofDirectedMotivationalCurrents,andthenanalysehowtheymaybeoptimallyintegratedandemployedtocreateeffectivemotivationalpathwaysinlanguagelearningenvironments.Keywords:DirectedMotivationalCurrent,vision,imagery,motivationpro-cess,L2MotivationalSelfSystem,possibleselvesChristineMuir,ZoltánDörnyei358Inrecentyears,visionhasnotonlybeensuccessfullyintroducedintothelandscapeofL2motivationtheory,buthasbecomeinstrumentaltoourunder-standingofhowtoinspiremotivatedactioninthelanguageclassroom.Ourprac-ticalunderstandingofvisionhasbeensupplementedbythetheoryofpossibleselvesandimagery,aswellasacomprehensivemotivationconstruct,theL2Mo-tivationalSelfSystem(Dörnyei,2005,2009),whichhasmediatedthisknowledgetofacilitateitspracticalapplicationinthelanguageteachingdomain.Indeed,re-searchintovisionofferssignificantcontributionstoourunderstandingofhowwemightincreaselevelsofstudentmotivationasapartoffutureself-guides.Wecandefinevisionas“theimitativerepresentationofrealorhypo-theticalevents”(Pham&Taylor,1999,p.250),occurring“whenarepresenta-tionofthetypecreatedduringtheinitialphasesofperceptionispresentbutthestimulusisnotactuallybeingperceived”(Kosslyn,Thompson,&Ganis,2006,p.4).Thetermhasbeenusedinanumberofdiverseareasinthesocialsciences,somuchsothatvanderHelm(2009)talksaboutthevisionphenom-enon,covering“theensembleofclaimsandproductswhicharecalled‘visions’orcouldbecalledassuch”(p.96).Heidentifiessevendifferenttypesofvision,buthearguesthatthecoremeaningoftheconceptislargelyuniform,captur-ingthefuture,theidealandthedesirefordeliberatechange.Withinthecon-textofpossiblelanguageselves,wemightviewvisionas“thesensoryexperi-enceofafuturegoalstate,orinotherwords,apersonalizedgoalthatthelearnerhasmadehis/herownbyaddingtoittheimaginedrealityofthegoalexperience”(Dörnyei&Chan,2013,pp.454-55).Thedetailedvisionswecreateandthesensesweusetoformeachvi-sionofourfutureselvesaregeneratedthroughthesameneuralmechanismsasifweweretoexperiencetheeventinreality(e.g.,Moulton&Kosslyn,2009);indeed,thebraincanhavedifficultyindistinguishinganeventwhichisoccurringinrealityfromadetailedvisionofthesameevent(Cox,2012).Tay-lor,Pham,Rivkin,andArmor(1998,p.430)suggestthatitisduetothisthatmentalsimulationsgainmentalsimulationsgaintheirmotivationalpower;byfunctioningwithintheconstraintsofrealityweareabletobelievethemtobegenuinepossibilities.Suchimaginedrealitiescangiverisetostrongemotionalreactions,allowingindividualstopreparecopingandotherstrategiesinad-vanceoftheeventitself.Throughenhancing“thelinksbetweenthoughtandgoal-directedaction”(Pham&Taylor,1999,p.250)inthisway,visionaryin-terventionscanpushusontoachievebecauseinourvisionswehavealreadyseen,feltandexperiencedourselvessucceed.Avisioninisolationhoweverisnotnecessarilysufficienttoinspiremoti-vatedaction;suchdaydreamscaneasilydissolveintomerefantasy.Yetbycombiningapowerfulvisionofafutureselfwithamatchingandhighlystruc-DirectedMotivationalCurrents:Usingvisiontocreateeffectivemotivationalpathways359turedbehaviouralsequence,wemaybeabletoconsciouslycreateamotiva-tionalsurgeofenergywhichcanfocusactiontowardsaspecifictargetinthefuture.Significantly,whencorrectlysetup,suchamotivationalcurrentmayinfactbecomeself-propelling:Whenthereisanintricatestructureofsubgoalslaidoutalongaclearpathtowardsawell-definedvision,thelevelofmotiva-tionfuellingactionwillbekeptonacontinuouslyhighplane,therebyfacilitat-ingongoingmomentum.WehavecalledthisphenomenonaDirectedMotiva-tionalCurrent(DMC)(Dörnyei,Ibrahim,&Muir,inpress;Dörnyei,Muir,&Ibrahim,inpress)andhavearguedthatitrepresentsauniquemotivationalframework:Itisapotentmotivationalpathway,whichemergeswhenaspecif-icsetofinitialconditionsfallintoplacet