The effects of student identities on English as a foreign language learning motivation in a Saudi university context.
Motivation has been identified as one of the most important factors in the language learning achievement of English foreign or second language students. Moreover, identity is regarded as one of the most significant aspects of motivation. Both motivation and identity are complex ideas. Therefore, a robust theoretical framework is required to investigate their role in language learning. The L2 Motivational Self System (L2MSS) proposed by Dornyei (2005) represents such a theoretical framework which considers the self as the focal point of language learning motivation. The L2 Motivational Self System involves the student's ability to visualise him/herself as a successful English user in the future. The students' efforts to learn English are driven by their desire to reduce the discrepancy between their present low proficiency selves and their future, ideal, desired selves that are proficient English users. The present study involves applying the L2 Motivational Self System to investigate the language learning motivation of Saudi university students. However, the present study identifies a need for the L2MSS to be expanded for more effective application to the learning context of the present study. The L2MSS is predicated on the primacy of the self in language learning motivation. However, it narrowly focuses on two self aspects, the Ideal L2 Self and the Ought to L2 Self. The L2MSS overlooks the significance of present selves to the motivation of English language students. Therefore, ideas from the Identity Based Motivation theory and the Motivated Identity Construction theory are used to expand the L2MSS. Stellenbosch University https:/scholar.sun.ac.za