Motivation in successful English language learning: experiences of affiliation to imagined communities
learning English as a foreign language; successful language learning experiences; identity; motivation; vision; affiliation to imagined communities
According to Sociocultural theory, human development emerges from a dialectical interaction between man and context (LANTOLF, 2000). Although the traditional locus of learning is the language classroom, it also takes place, in a great variety of ways, out of institutional walls. One of them is through affiliation to imagined communities. This study aims to explain how such affiliations influence the learning of English as a foreign language in the southeast of Brazil. The theoretical framework orienting data generation and analysis encompasses the following constructs: (1) identity and investment within Norton’s perspective (1995, 2000; 2013; 2017; 2019), (2) motivation and vision according to Dörnyei (2005; 2019; 2017; 2019), Dörnyei and Ryan (2015), and Dörnyei and Kubanyiova (2014); (3) Wenger’s (1998; 2009) proposal of affiliation to imagined communities revisited by Norton (2013; 2015); and (4) the concept of successful language learning defended by Arruda (2014). This is an applied research, formatted as an exploratory Case Study. Undergraduate students taking Letters at a state university participated providing oral narratives of their successful English learning experiences permeated by affiliations to imagined communities. Only the experience of one student was analyzed, due to the richness of her reports and considering the purpose of this research. The analysis of her narrative started from the understanding of her affiliations to Imagined Communities (MACMILLAN; CHAVIS, 1986; RYAN, 2006), so that it was possible to understand her successful learning (ARRUDA, 2014), as well as her motivation (ZANOTELI; BAMBIRRA 2019). The results confirmed affiliations to Imagined Communities regarding TV series, music and the status of being an immigrant in the United States, as well as documented their pedagogical strength to learn English as a foreign language.