Disruptions and Inhibitions of L2 Directed Motivational Currents: What is on the Way of these Surges of Motivation?

Intense L2 (second/foreign language) motivation surges that include stability as a feature, have recently begun to generate a great deal of interest, especially among researchers in the field of applied linguistics. The phenomenon of DMCs (Directed Motivational Currents), introduced by Henry, Dörnyei and Davydenko (2015), is described by the authors as a continuous and stable period of motivation that presents with a clear starting point. As a rule, they tend to be long periods of motivation rather than the typically investigated short bursts of motivation language learners might experience from achievement in a language learning activity. A DMC is also said to lead L2 learners towards a self-concordant goal, while keeping them in a state of positive emotionality. Study cases of DMCs among L2 learners have been increasing in recent years in the hopes of shedding light on factors that might contribute positively to generating the DMC current, especially within classroom contexts. This presentation will elaborate on a study conducted in Japan that, besides targeting cases of L2 DMC experiences alone, has expanded its focus to analyze what underlines situations in which L2 learners’ experiences show signs of disruption or even inhibition of DMCs. Results from in depth and face to face interviews, point to a series of psycho-emotional circumstances and elements partly related to societal contexts, which culminate in a disbelief in reaching the internal goal and effectively disrupting the current. Results also point to the impossibility of a DMC to occur when there is a distrust in the partial fulfillment of the learner’s ideal self (the perceived best version of oneself) via the DMC current. Besides identifying disruptions, the paper will define DMCs more precisely, explain how DMCs can be recognized and also what value DMCs have in learning a second language.