Tracing the dynamics of motivational self-constructs across the lifespan: Tales from senior learners of English

Abstract

In the context of an ageing and increasingly more independent learning population, a narrative inquiry into the life stories of motivated and still active senior language users remains a promising yet unexplored area. This case study forms part of a PhD research (Darnault, 2023) on the motivational dynamics of lifelong foreign language learning (FLL) individuals. We recorded the retrospective stories of 3 exceptionally motivated French senior learners of English, aged 65 to 80, from childhood to their current learning experience. Our triangulated and multimodal approach elicited written, oral and visual data. An inductive thematic analysis first highlighted the emergence of motivational peaks, subsequently followed by the examination of clusters of self-constructs within participants’ individual time frames in light of the L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) framework. Results showed that upon retirement all three learners integrated language learning into their daily routine, incorporating it as an integral part of their identity and broader sense of self outside L2 domain-specific motivational constructs. A particularly unyielding hybrid L2 self emerged in later years, drawing from the combination of ought-to, ideal and anti-ought-to selves that prevailed with different degrees of intensity and interaction according to life periods.