Functional Motivation Theory

Another type of situated motivation is task-related motivation. Task-related motivation was not an active research area in the L2 field in the past partly because motivation was considered a stable learner trait. However, motivation has come to be viewed more as a continuously evolving construct, and as tasks have assumed more prominence in L2 research, task motivation has also begun to receive more attention from L2 researchers and educators. Task motivation was first introduced in the L2 field by Julkunen (1989), who posited that L2 learners' motivation was composed of both generalized motives and task-specific motives, especially with regard to classroom-level motivation. Julkunen found that the participants in his study, who were sixth and eighth grade Finnish LI-English L2 speakers, preferred cooperative learning situations rather than individual and competitive situations in written vocabulary tasks.

Dornyei (2005) remarked that L2 motivation can be examined best in a situated manner within a task-based framework and claimed that

The L2 motivational self-system is based primarily on two major motivational theories in psychology, Higgins' (1987) self ¬discrepancy theory and Deci and Ryan's (1985) self-determination theory. The L2 motivational self-system consists of three main components: the Ideal L2 Self, the Ought¬to L2 Self, and the L2 Leaming Experience. The Ideal L2 Self expresses the self-image that one would ideally wish or hope to possess and is a future-oriented self dimension rather than here-and-now self dimension. If L2 learners study their L2 due to their aspirations of becoming a competent L2 speaker, this could be an example of the Ideal L2