This study investigated adult L2 learners’ motivation with the dynamic system framework by replicating Waninge et al. (2014). The instruments used were Motometer, classroom observations, a questionnaire, and stimulated recall. The results found the type of activities and students’ positive attitude toward the class are variabilities in student’s dynamic motivation.
Motivation is one of the important variables in L2 development and has been studied by focusing on individual learners' dynamic motivation. The existing study with a dynamic system framework demonstrated variabilities in students' L2 motivation in class, including stable and dynamic levels. Such variabilities were accounted for by both classroom and individual learners' characteristics such as linguistic background, motivation for L2 learning (Waninge, Dornyei, & de Bot, 2014). However, Waninge et al. (2014) was conducted with young L2 learners, and little research has been carried out on adult L2 learners. Therefore, this study investigates adult L2 learners' dynamic nature of motivation by replicating Waninge et al. (2014). Specifically, we identify the variabilities and attractors of the dynamic nature of the motivational level of adult L2 learners in a formal classroom setting. Two undergraduate students from a Portuguese language classroom and four from a Japanese language classroom participated in the study. Our data include: a Motometer, a self-report on one's motivation level recorded every five minutes, a 50-minute video recording of each language class, stimulated recall interviews with learners, and a motivation and language attitude questionnaire. Using the Motometer and classroom observation data, we first identified when motivation becomes dynamic concerning types of instruction. Then, we examined why learners indicated such dynamicity using the data from stimulated recall interviews and questionnaires. The results show that learners' motivation was dynamic in both classes, particularly when the instructor changed the topic and introduced new activities. The stimulated recall interviews with the Japanese students revealed a student's concern about accuracy. When unable to answer correctly, his motivation level decreased, although this was not the case in the Portuguese class. Our findings suggest that learners' motivation is influenced by instruction types and by the level of focus on form in class.
