Language Learning Motivation as a Complex Dynamic System: A Global Perspective of Truth, Control, and Value

Abstract Research on language learning motivation has typically focused on the strength of different motives in isolation and often out of context. The present study aims to explore the applicability of one global framework of motivation to integrate different perspectives. We investigated how adaptive interactions between learners’ motivations for value, truth, and control effectiveness, and contextual factors led to varying motivational trajectories and patterns of emergent stability at different stages of the language‐learning experiences of 6 Iranian graduate students learning English in the United States. Using a retrospective‐longitudinal design, quasi‐narrative accounts of key phases of the learners’ language‐learning histories were documented through interviews. These data were analyzed following an analytic inductive approach to identify the main events within different contexts, themes associated with each setting, and other bottom‐up conceptual categories. Using a process‐tracing procedure our results showed that dynamic processes and adaptive or competitive interactions between value‐, control‐, and truth‐related motivations and the context in which they emerged resulted in specific motivational trajectories that shaped these learners’ language‐learning choices and experiences. We discuss the contribution of these novel frameworks for understanding the complex motivational development of language learners.