The ideal multilingual self: validity, influences on motivation, and role in a multilingual education

Abstract

L2 motivation research has a longstanding monolingual bias. Recently, however, the motivational systems of a multilingual's different languages have been conceptualized as constituting a multilingual motivational system, and it has been suggested that interactions between the ideal Lx self and the ideal Ly self can lead to the emergence of an ideal multilingual self. While the notion of an ideal multilingual self chimes with research on multilinguals' identity experiences, it has not been investigated empirically. The purpose of this study is to establish whether there is empirical support for the proposed ideal multilingual self construct, and whether it influences motivation to learn a second foreign language. A questionnaire containing items measuring the ideal L2 self and the ideal multilingual self was administered to a sample of secondary students (N=324) at two schools in Sweden with international profiles. Using structural equation modeling, analyses yielded discriminant validity for the ideal multilingual self construct, and revealed an indirect influence on intended effort mediated via the ideal L2 self. On the strength of these results, a case is made for future research into people's motivation to be or become multilingual, and educational interventions focused on developing students' ideal multilingual selves.

Addressing Linguistic Diversity in the Language Classroom in a Resource‐Oriented Way: An Intervention Study With Primary School Children

“…In addition, we investigated differences between the two groups for positive and negative affect that we measured at the end of each lesson. We adapted questionnaire items for measuring the students’ ideal self aspirations from Henry and Thorsen () and asked whether the students could imagine speaking either English in the future (English ideal self aspirations) or additional languages besides English and their own family languages (plurilingual ideal self aspirations). We wrote the questions in simple sentences and used smiley faces to facilitate comprehension.…”

Tracking the Evolution of Chinese Learners’ Multilingual Motivation Through a Longitudinal Q Methodology

“…Alternatively, Q6's instrumental concerns shifted to a stronger cultural interest when she co-adapted with the positive Spanish-learning context (see Excerpt 4). When the group sharing the motivational profile of Factor 1 finally arrived at an attractor state of the constitutive multilingual self at Time 3, their L2-English-specific ideal self and L3-Spanish-specific ideal self reached a dynamic equilibrium and coexisted harmoniously within the multilingual self system (Henry, 2017;Henry & Thorsen, 2018). Furthermore, direct and intensive contact with the target L2 community helps to sharpen the image of a competent target-language user and brings to the fore the integrative aspect of Q11's and Q14's multilingual selves.…”

“…The ideal multilingual self was conceptualized as emergent properties of the interactions between language‐specific ideal selves, and assumed to be important in helping to reconcile the potential conflicts or competition between these language‐specific ideal selves. In a follow‐up study, Henry & Thorsen (2018) found that the ideal L2 self and the ideal multilingual self were two conceptually distinct constructs, but the ideal multilingual self did not have a direct effect on the intended efforts to learn the chosen LOTE. They argued that the ideal multilingual self should be considered at a higher, more abstract level above the language‐specific ideal selves.…”

“…Although language‐learning motivation research is vibrant, an overwhelming majority of empirical research has focused on motivation to learn global English (Boo, Dörnyei, & Ryan, 2015), and only around a quarter of the studies include LOTEs (Mendoza & Phung, 2019). Researchers have recently begun to resituate language‐learning motivation in the LOTE setting (see Ushioda & Dörnyei, 2017), but only a few studies have integrated motivation and multilingualism (e.g., Busse, 2017; Csizér & Lukács, 2010; Henry, 2011, 2017; Henry & Thorsen, 2018; Thompson, 2017b; Zheng, Lu, & Ren, 2019), and these were mainly conducted in European and Anglophone contexts. In China, English has long been taught as the first, and usually the only, foreign language in formal schooling (Bolton & Graddol, 2012).…”

Participative multilingual identity construction in the languages classroom: a multi-theoretical conceptualisation

“…Moreover, from a pedagogical point of view there is as yet very little attempt to relate the kinds of identity-focused aims and activities discussed above to existing mainstream foreign language classroom pedagogy. Nor, more importantly, has there been research measuring the effects of a systematic pedagogical intervention aimed at fostering multilingual identity within the context of classroom-based additional language learning, something advocated by Henry and Thorsen (2017) in relation to development of the multilingual ideal self. The following section of this paper outlines what such an approach might look like.…”