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EXTRAMURAL ENGLISH ACTIVITIES AND INDIVIDUAL LEARNER DIFFERENCES
2.3.1.2 Ihe Ought-to L2 Self
The second component of the Motivational Self System is the so-called Ought¬
to L2 Self. According to Higgins (1987: 320-321), the Ought-to Self is the
“representation of the attributes that someone (yourself or another) believes
you should or ought-to possess (i.e., a representation of someone’s sense of
your duty, obligation, or responsibilities)”. As opposed to the ideal L2 Self, the
Ought-to L2 Self is a much less internalized aspect of the L2 Self (Papi 2010),
which Dörnyei (2005) explained as the attributes and qualities that learners
believe they should have from an external perspective (i.e., what their parents,
teachers, and other authorities expect them to possess) (Dörnyei 2005). For
example, a learner may study for the school tests in their EFL lessons to achieve
excellent grades as this is one of the expectations of their parents and teacher.
Learners become motivated through the Ought-to L2 Self by realizing the
discrepancy between their current abilities and the abilities required from
them by their parents, teachers, etc.
Csizér (2019) explains that originally instrumentality and instrumental
motives were believed to belong to the Ought-to L2 Self but they turned out
to have both intrinsic and extrinsic aspects. As a consequence, Dérnyei (2005)
distinguished between promotional instrumentality, which is internalized and
part of the Ideal L2 Self, and preventive instrumentality, which is related to
external motivation and belongs to the Ought-to L2 Self. This means that the
Ought-to L2 Self is activated, as previously explained, when wishing to avoid
negative outcomes, such as punishments or meeting the expectations of others
whom the learner regards highly.
As for the validity of the Ought-to L2 Self dimension, most empirical stud¬
ies found that, as opposed to the Ideal L2 Self, the Ought-to L2 Self has a
lower impact on the L2 learning process (Busse-Williams 2010, Dôrnyei et al.
2006, Eid 2008, Kormos-Csizer 2008, Kormos et al. 2011, Lamb 2012). In the
Hungarian context, a study by Dörnyei et al. (2006) found that the Ought-to
L2 Self is not significantly prominent in the case of Hungarian students. Sim¬
ilarly, Kormos and Csizér (2008) found that the Ideal L2 Self plays a significant
role in the motivation of Hungarian EFL learners, but the presence of the
Ought-to L2 Self could not be identified in the research. Busse and Williams
(2010) had similar results in the German context, and the findings of this study
show that the Ought-to L2 Self does not play an important role. Lamb (2012)
compared the L2 learning motivation of learners in rural and urban areas and
found that the Ought-to L2 Self is less dominant in motivating learners than
the Ideal L2 Self and the L2 learning experience. Eid (2008) also found that in
the case of the L2 learning motivation of Cypriot students, the Ought-to L2
Self was not present. Kormos et al. (2011) conducted a study in Chile, where
they found that the Ought-to L2 Self was not a significant construct for the L2
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