Using the Self as a Basis for a Motivation System: Is it Worth the Trouble?

Abstract

In 2015 I had the privilege of speaking at a wonderful conference in Adana, Turkey, on the self in language learning. My talk, “The self and its illusions,” was intended as something of a caution within the overall theme of the conference. In the present chapter, as in the Adana talk, I want to share my ambivalent relationship with the concept of self, as applied to language learning. On one hand, the self seems to be a necessary concept in any psychology of language learning that discusses how issues of culture, identity, motivation, emotion, and so on influence language learning and use. How can one do that without reference to the self? However, there is more than enough reason to be concerned with using the concept of the self as a centerpiece for language learning theory and research. The conceptualization of the self is, and has always been, complex and problematic (Damasio, 2010).