“L2 Motivational Self System” and Learning German in Iran

Examining the reasons for the increasing number of Iranians learning German and creating of a first theoretical basis for that is the subject of this paper. In this regard, 370 Iranian learners of German from the German Language Institute in Tehran were questioned and their motivations were studied mainly based on the theory of “L2 Motivational Self System” (L2MSS). Investigating this research related to the psychological concept of “possible selves” and comparing it with the results of research conducted in the learning of English indicates that the motivation for learning German has a significant relationship with the components of the L2MSS, namely, L2 Ideal Self, L2 Ought-to Self, and L2 Learning Experiences. The achievement of this research can be effective in adopting foreign language policies in formal and informal educational areas in Iranian learning context.


Introduction
Researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) have identified various components as a "factor complex" which affect language learning process, and based on them, various theories have been presented (Edmondson & House, 2000, p. 27).Individual differences (IDs) are among the influential factors in the process of foreign language teaching and learning, and particularly the language learning motivation (L2 Motivation), and its type and intensity are of great importance (Riemer, 2006).Among the researchers who have attempted to design theoretical frameworks for the research field of L2 Motivation in recent years, is Zoltán Dörnyei.In 2005, he introduced the results of his research into the theory of "L2 Motivational Self System" (Dörnyei, 2005) to researchers of SLA.The continued use of the findings of "psychology of self" and the use of theoretical considerations associated with "possible selves" (Markus & Nurius, 1986) have led to a new and deeper understanding of the phenomenon of L2 motivation.
Although the motivation for learning English has been studied on the basis of Dörnyei's theory in Iran, as described very briefly in capital 2.2., this topic has not been explored in the learning of German as Foreign Language (DaF) yet.It is worth noting that Dörnyei's research is also based on learning English as lingua franca.
The present paper reports parts of the questionnaire research findings carried out in the form of a doctoral dissertation at the University of Tehran.(Note 1) In this empirical study motivational factors of 370 learners of the German language at the German Language Institute in Tehran (DSIT) at various levels of proficiency were studied.
The research questions that drove the study were formulated to investigate 1) whether the connection between the acquisition of German language and the definition of "possible" features of the individual among learners of German language exists; 2) whether there is a meaningful relationship between the components of the L2MSS and other important motivational variables like instrumental and integrative motivation.
As reviewing the afore-mentioned subject theme requires more accurate understanding about the concept of L2 Motivation, and more knowledge surrounding context of DaF in Iran, the paper sets to very short overview the previous studies since 1950s and then introduce the L2MSS.
The first (about 1958-1990) is influenced by Gardner's research (Gardner & Lambert, 1959;Gardner, 1960).In this period, research was often carried out in the form of a "socio-educational model" and motivation was considered as a variable comprising the desire to learn a language as well as interest in and attitude to learning (Gardner & Tremblay, 1994).Gardner (1985, p. 11) suggested that L2-Motivation is a combination of a goal, the desire to achieve that goal, a positive attitude toward language learning and the attempt to achieve the goal.
His theory was based on the concept of "integrativeness" which reflects a genuine interest in learning the second language in order to come closer to the other language community.It "implies an openness to, and respect for other cultural groups and ways of life.[...] it might well involve integration within both communities" (Gardner, 2001, p. 5).He categorized the L2-motivation into two main types of integrative and instrumental motivation.In the former, the learner's goal is to be part of or similar to the L2-Comminity and to participate in the culture of the learned language whereas in in latter the learner is interested in language learning because of its usefulness such as in career progression and academic achievement (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1991).The theoretical approaches and research findings of Gardner have greatly influenced the research on L2 Motivation to the present day.
The learning of the second language takes place in a specific context and culture.Many factors like beliefs of society and individuals about the importance and meaning of second language learning, expectations from the language, and IDs affect language learning process.In this regard, the IDs are considered as "talent", "motivation" and "anxiety", for instance.When the chance to learn and the possibility for developing language proficiency are provided, the aforementioned variables can have a direct effect on the learner's performance.In the "socio-educational model", there is a difference between formal and informal language learning.Since the primary goal of the formal setting is education, all four variables affect the learning process.In contrast, the goal of informal environments is primarily for purposes like entertainment or communication (ibid.).
The second period was formed during the 90's and was associated with the introduction of cognitive theories and motivational-minded reflections in the learning process.Gardner's motivation classification, i.e. instrumental and integrative motivation, has been criticized by scholars arguing that this classification fails to cover all factors influencing the learning of foreign languages.One of the main criticisms was the view that the "socio-educational model" hardly takes into account the cognitive aspects of learning and the learning process in different situations (Au, 1988;Crookes & Schmidt, 1991;Oller & Perkins, 1980).For this reason, scholars and specialists presented different patterns of language learning motivation.One of these approaches was the model of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (Noels et al., 2000).This model was introduced by Deci and Ryan in 1985 following the "self-determination theory" of self-determination.
Intrinsic motivation refers to conducting an activity because of the interest and sense of satisfaction derived from the activity itself.This kind of motivation comes from within the person or his/her activity.In recent years, the model of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation has been used in language teaching, and the usefulness of this model in describing of the L2 Motivation has been investigated in many studies, also in respect of the L2MSS (Ghapanchi et al., 2011;Papi, 2010).In general, research on this model indicates that more determinative internal motivational orientation leads to more interest in learning and, ultimately, better performance and higher performance and quality in learners.
In the 1990s, the "process model" (Dörnyei & Otto, 1998) entered the field of motivation research in the process of foreign language teaching.Based on this model, the learner's motivation is dynamic in the learning period and language learning process and is constantly changing.
The third period is influenced by the introduction of new theories and new definitions of motivation based on theories of L2MSS.In recent years, L2 Motivation has been seen as a complex phenomenon with a structure which includes components in relation to each other (Riemer & Schalck, 2004).This complexity and the role of various factors have introduced changes into the research and investigation of this factor.In recent years, researchers have been increasingly interested in qualitative methods of research and investigation of L2 Motivation due to the changes in research methods and the qualitative approach (ibid.).

L2 Motivational Self System
Gardner's categorization of L2-Motivation into instrumental and integrative orientations (Gardner, 1985) has always been the subject of scrutiny.Also the subject of scrutiny in diverse cultural and linguistic contexts has been the lack of full realization of "integrativeness" in situations where learners do not have the ability to communicate with people and target culture.Yet, due to the importance of the instrumental dimension of learning a foreign language, the current classification cannot fully reflect the orientations of learners, English being the main case in point.Dörnyei, in 2005, then incorporated psychological theories of "possible selves" and other findings in the field of psychology about "self" into the field of L2 Motivation research, thus proposing a new theory and model: the "L2 motivational Self System".The theory is comprised of three main components (Dörnyei, 2005): 1) "L2 Ideal Self": This involves motivations that help learners to achieve a better future and ideals.Language learners typically have an impression of their future with academic, personal and personality, linguistic, occupational, and cultural aspects.Learning a second language is per se a way to reach the future that learners have perceived for themselves and wish to fulfill -or endeavor to fulfill.
2) "L2 Ought-to Self": This factor refers to better goals or those that ought to be achieved.The existence of these motivational motions is usually due to other external factors such as family and community.This pressure creates the expectation in learner so that s/he attempts to fulfill his/her goals.
3) "L2 Learning Experiences": This includes any kind of experience that a learner has had in dealing with the learning environment and the target language and culture in the learning process.

German and English Instruction in Iran
Due to the long-standing political, economic, cultural, and scientific ties between Iran and Germany, German has gained in importance, both historically and educationally, in Iran (Haghani 2009, Maleki 2016).Five universities in Iran offer German programs at undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels.The majority of enthusiasts learn German at private language learning institutions.In this regard, Deutsches Sprachinstitut Teheran (DSIT) with an estimated 9,000 enrollments in 2016 and a long waiting list is among the most respected institutions.Most German language learners, the results of this study show, pursue the goal of continuing their education and of employment in German-speaking countries.
With English, however, the situation is somewhat different.Knowledge of English and the ability to communicate are associated with higher degrees of success within the community, guaranteeing a better job and academic career on the part of the individual.English is one of the subjects/courses in both schools and universities.Although the national curriculum has it that English instruction begins as of the seventh grade, students have often received English instruction by this stage already and children before their school age study English in foreign language institutes.At a higher level, numerous universities offer English-related degree programs in English literature, translation, linguistics, or education (i.e.TESOL).Outside of the academic campus, too, English is at the forefront of popularity in many foreign language institutes.The needs and reasons for English and German language instruction in Iran, from the perspective of motivation, are shown in Table 1.As can be seen in the table, individual motivation is often a reason for taking up language courses.In such a situation, it is expected that the instrumental motivation and the practical importance of German will be more intense than other motivational factors.
The motivation to learn German has never been studied in Iran.English as a Foreign Language (EFL), nevertheless, has been the subject of several studies.In this regard, a survey study on Iranian medical students conducted by Dastgheib (1996) points out that there is a positive relationship between the attitude toward English language learning and the socio-culture in question.This positive attitude is often accompanied by personal gains.In addition, instrumental and integrated orientations are in a significant and distinct relationship with one other.Vaezi (2008) has conducted a study on English for Academic Purposes (EAP) offered at universities.His study shows that Iranian language learners of English are highly motivated as far as expressive and integrated motivations are concerned.The notion of advancement, the recognition of other people, and the efficient use of the Internet are among the main reasons as reported by these students.
Further results show that integrated-orientated students outdo instrumental-oriented students in the IELTS (Sadeghi and Maghsoudi 2000).The researcher also believes that English learners pursue academic and social goals.While studies that address Gardner's distinction between instrumental and integrated motivation English language proficiency have often been carried out in Iran, there is also record of research into the study and implementation of "self-motivational system of the second language" in EFL.
Interviewing more than 1,000 Iranian language learners in their high school years, Papi (2010) discusses the chief reason for adopting a "Second Language Self-Engagement System" in the context of English instruction in Iran.He is of the belief that all three factors of the Dörnyei's theory have a positive effect on the "intended efforts" in learning English, but their effect on the variable "anxiety" is different in the learning process.While "L2 ideal self" and "L2 learning experiences" reduce anxiety, the learner-to-learner process is driven by the "L2 ought-to self" motivation.In another study, Papi and Abdollahzadeh (2011) show a significant relationship between motivational behaviors and motivational strategies used by English language teachers at school and suggest that low-motivated students have a better mean average of "self-must-have-second" component while the difference between students with high and low engagement with regards to their "self-ideal" and "second-language learning experiences" is insignificant.This is consistent with the likelihood that learning English will directly correlate with the amount of value attributed by the family and society.

Method
The paper is set to examine the three main components of the L2MSS with respect to the DaF (Deutsch als Fremdsprache) learning in Iran.In the present research, motivational factors of 370 learners of DSIT at various levels of courses were studied using a questionnaire.The items from previous surveys regarding L2MSS were directly taken.In that regard, the study of motivational factors in such individuals such as instrumental and integrative motivation is also considered.Then, the results of the English language motivation research in Iran have also been compared with data related to German language learners.
The research questionnaire consisted of four sections: a section collecting background information, a section dealing with second language motivation, another on communication with the German language, and finally the last section dealt with direct questions about the motivation for learning the German language.The questionnaire consisted of 18, 86, 10 and 8 items, respectively.The first section of the questionnaire collected background information such as age, language level, educational level, etc.The items in the second part of the questionnaire consisted of 17 motivational variables and considered the components of the theorem.Respondents had to select one of the numbers 1 to 7, with the explanation that number 1 meant that the respondent "completely disagreed" and number 7 indicated that the respondent "fully agreed" with the proposition.In the third section, the level of communication between German language learners and German speakers and other German media was surveyed.The fourth part of the questionnaire included direct questions about learners' motivation for learning German.The questionnaire was written in Persian.
In the following capital parts of analyses regarding the investigation of the L2MSS-Theory have been presented, only.The main focus was the items representing the three components of L2MSS in the second part of the questionnaire.Utilizing SPSS (version 20) the data were analyzed by using different quantitative methods.Descriptive statistics were used to general characteristics of the three components of L2MSS.One sample t-test was implemented to examine how the Iranian participants are motivated generally regarding the motivational variables of L2MSS.A paired samples t-test was applied to see if there is any difference between male and female participants in each component of L2MSS.An independent samples t-test was carried out in order to determine if there were statistically significant differences in the L2MSS between three main groups of participants in different levels of learning A, B and C.

Discussions
The number of participants, the high mean values of three components of the L2MSS, as well as the standard deviations are found in the table 2. Before t-tests, normal distribution was first discovered for the three components of the L2MSS.As table 3 demonstrates, there is a statistical difference (p = .000<.05) between the observed mean and the test value sample mean specified in One Sample t-test.This difference is different from zero, which suggests that learners of German language have reacted positively and significantly to all three components of the L2MSS.Table 4 shows the different values of the mean of the data for the component "L2 Ideal Self", as well as the five items in the questionnaire for this motivational factor.These values are also compared at three levels of learning A, B, and C.Although the study of motivational data related to the concept of L2MSS in DaF does not show a significant difference between men and women, as can be observed in the table 4, male and female mean values illustrate that men (M = 2.82; SD = 0.64) show relatively higher values for the components of this concept than women (M = 2.60; SD = 0.55).However, in terms of statistical analysis, the values for women and men in the independent Samples t-test were not significant (p = 0.095.).Therefore, the results do not confirm what seemed to be a difference between two male and female groups of learners in terms of relationship between the motivation for learning of German and their ideal selves.ANOVA was used for each variable to compare student's motivation and attitudes among the three different levels of courses.The ANOVA results showed statistically no significant differences (p = .893)in groups A, B and C. It seems that all learners respond to the items at different levels of learning in a similar way and with high values.Noteworthy is the high value of the item "I can imagine studying at a German university in which all the courses are taught in German".First, the high values in this variable draw attention to the fact that the role of the "L2 Ideal Self" to educate and maintain the motivation of the Iranian DaF learner should be discussed also in the light of instrumental motives.The Iranian learners of German as a foreign language link with their idealized ideas of being specific goals such as "studying in Germany".Second, these statistics indicate that many Iranian DaF students aim for goals such as studying and working in Germany, as the B1 level is the minimum requirement to obtain a license and a student visa.
The result of correlation analyses shows that there is a significant relationship between the "instrumental motivation" and the "L2 Ideal self".In other words, the more instrumental motivation, the more idealized self-imagination connected to the learning German.
In table 5 the results of the one sample t test for six items of the variable "L2 Ought-to Self" are presented which are also significantly higher than the test value defined in the t-test.Interestingly enough, these values are significantly lower in comparison with the component of the "L2 Ideal Self" which can indicate that motivational behaviors are more related to goals, priorities, and ideals than the pressure exerted by the surrounding factors like the family members, friends and society.A look at the mean values of the third component of the L2MSS shows that the variable is one of the determining factors in shaping the motivation of learners of German language.Unlike the first two variables, i.e.L2 Ideal Self and Ought-to L2 Self, there is, interestingly, a statistically significance difference (p = .037)between men and women in terms of "L2 Learning Experience" as observed in the result of independent t-test.In other words, men tend to be more influential in their positive or negative learning experience in and outside of the classroom than women.The values of "L2 Learning Experience" are not significantly different at different levels of the language (p = .244),as it was the case by the two other variables discussed above.Table 7 shows the overall view of correlations between three components of the L2MSS as well as instrumental and integrative motivations.Looking at the correlation coefficient between various components, the items of "integrative motivation" are significantly influencing the components of L2MSS.Noteworthy is also the significant correlation between "L2 Learning Experience" and variables of "integrative motivation" or "L2 Ideal Self" which are associated with a positive attitude towards German, German Community, etc.Both instrumental and integrative motivation hold a significant association with three variables of the L2MSS in this study.The highly significant interaction between "instrumental motivation" and the "L2 Ideal Self" gives an important indication of the relevance of the instrumental motivation in the Iranian DaF learning context.
Results for the t-test analyses further confirm the fact that the participating learners of German were highly motivated in all the components related to L2MSS.Comparing these statistics with the results of the surveys conducted in the field of English, the results suggest that for both learners of German and English, the importance of the theory of L2MSS is connected with the relevance of the practical and purposeful use of these foreign languages in term of achieving future goals.It is worth noting that the integrative motivation among learners of German is obvious, but due to the lack of the possibility of direct communication with German-speaking people, it should be examined how strongly integrated motivation is influenced by the general and positive view of Iranians towards the German society and culture.
Another difference in the motivation to learn English and German based on the theory of "possible selves" is that in the findings about motivation to learn English language, the values of the components of "L2 Ought-to Self" are higher than those of learners of German.Perhaps it can be concluded that the learning impulse of English is mostly influenced by the dominant context in the community, while for German language what is overriding is looking at the language as (a useful) instrument for the future.
The importance of learning English could be attributed to the community attitude and (perhaps) the necessity to learn the language in order to make progress in education and career particularly inside the country.In contrast, for learning German language there are ideal values involved.But the use of the language outside Iran is more relevant.

Conclusion
Results reported here are mostly consistent with those in the research of English as a Foreign Language in the Iranian learning context.The statistical analyses indicated that motivation for DaF and attitude toward the study and learning of English were relatively positive and appeared to be similar.However, as far as the operationalization of the theory of L2MSS is concerned, there are some differences which was discussed briefly in the last part of the article.The application of L2MSS in the statistical population of Iranian students of the German Language Institute in Tehran shows that this theory could also prove effective in detecting the motivation of the learners while revealing the impossibility of exploration of the motivation of the DaF learners without taking instrumental components into account.Correlation analyses between different variables and the linear relationships at different learning levels led to the conclusion that instrumental motivation appears to be a crucial factor in determining self-related imagination by the Iranian DaF learners.
Iranian Learners of DaF often entertain instrumental motives and at the same time demonstrate positive inclinations towards the German speaking community.However, they are rarely influenced by external factors such as the environment and the family.
This Article presents the results of a unique empirical study of motivational aspects of about 370 Iranian learners of German addressing many aspects of DaF Motivation.For a more meaningful comparison, further studies are required to find out more about motivation from different points of views and in other learning contexts to get a better understanding of DaF Motivation in Iran.This study could be employed by the practitioners of foreign language (i.e.German) teaching as well as the policy makers of the field of foreign language learning.

Table 1 .
Learning English and German in Iranian learning context