The dynamics of young learners' L2 motivation: A longitudinal perspective

Affective dispositions in language learning are regarded as dynamic constructs that change over time. Yet, longitudinal studies in this field are relatively rare. In order to better understand these changes, this chapter reports a study that investigates the development of 578 primary school students' English and French learning motivation, self-concepts, anxiety, and perceived support of teachers and parents at three measurement times over two academic years. While no drastic overall changes could be identified in our data, affective dispositions remain constantly higher for English than for French. Whereas students maintain their strong English-related motivations and self-concepts and English learning anxiety remains on a low level, French-related intrinsic motivation and self-concepts weaken with a parallel growth of anxiety. With regard to extrinsic motivation, both in leisure and school contexts, as well as perceived teacher and parental encouragement, a slight decrease is observed in both target languages. These results are discussed with regard to previous findings and in light of the relation between English as a global lingua franca and French as a local foreign language