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THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
The term engagement is crucial here, as with engagement (through the func¬
tional practice of an L2) learners may learn an L2 through using it (Bialystok
1981). Mercer and Dörnyei (2020) consider learner engagement as an important
prerequisite for motivated behavior, too, because this way IINTearners’ engage¬
ment can be made measurable (i.e., motivated learning behavior as a criterion
measure), and this way, empirically investigated. In another paper, besides
defining L2 Learning Experience, Dornyei and Ryan (2015: 88) list some of the
key aspects of the conceptualization of the L2 Learning Experience; here, they
define it as a dimension that “focuses on the learner’s present experience, cov¬
ering a range of situated, ‘executive’ motives related to the immediate learning
environment (e.g., the impact of the L2 teacher, the curriculum, the peer group,
and the experience of success).” Recently, however, Csizér and Kalman (2019:
16) redefined the L2 Learning Experience and added the extramural component
(cf. “outside the classroom”) too and claimed that
[t]he L2 Learning Experience is the perception of internal cognitive and emotional
processes, as well as external stimuli and circumstances that the learner experiences
during the course of learning a foreign language in and outside the classroom; it is
shaped and determined by attributions stemming from past L2 learning and L2 use
experiences that continually evolve after the actual language learning and language
use has taken place.
Similar to previous research designs (Csizer-Kormos 2009, Ryan 2009), the
L2 Learning Experience was also included in this study because it seems to
shape Hungarian secondary school students’ L2 learning motivation. It is
hypothesized that the L2 Learning eExperience of EE activities impacts Hun¬
garian secondary school students’ L2 learning motivation.
2.3.2 Predictors of second language learning motivation
As Piniel and Csizér (2013) point out, different individual learner differences,
such as L2 anxiety, L2 willingness to communicate, may impact L2 learning
motivation. Consequently, such predictors (i.e., other individual learner dif¬
ferences) of L2 learning motivation are also discussed in detail. The reason for
the inclusion of these predictors is that I hypothesized that these predictors,
namely L2 anxiety, willingness to communicate in an L2, L2 cultural interest,
L2 friendship orientation, L2 intercultural contact, and perceived importance
of the English language have an impact on Hungarian EFL learners’ L2 learn¬
ing motivation not only in the classroom but in the extramural English contexts,
too. Since research in the Hungarian context on the impact of these individ¬
ual differences on L2 learning motivation outside the class is virtually
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