Oldal 43 [43]
OCR
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND EE activities, therefore, may serve the purpose of motivating learners to learn English by affecting their Ideal L2 Self. Weger (2013) refers to Yashima (2002) when claiming that English language films, film series, and video games, for instance, may provide learners with a feeling of integrativeness; thus, to some extent, learners gain "access to international communities" (Weger 2013: 89), where English has an important role. Mori and Gobel (2006: 205) also claimed that integrativeness in the case of English encompasses the “interest in traveling and studying overseas, rather than a desire to integrate into the target language community.” These findings led to cultural interest being one of the dimensions of motivation, which required the reformation of the concept of integrativeness, ultimately resulting in Dornyei (2005) reconceptualizing L2 learning motivation into his L2 Motivational Self System. Cultural interest is included in the present research project as it is believed that learners partly consume EE for their cultural interest in anglophone culture as well as the intercultural communities using the English language, thus motivating Hungarian EFL learners to learn English. 2.3.2.4 Friendship orientation and intercultural contact There is consensus in the literature that the influence of friends, peers and acquaintances on learners’ attitudes to language learning has an important impact on learners’ motivation (D6rnyei 2001). Young (1994: 86), for instance, held the view that “learner perceptions and experience of peer attitudes concerning school, education, foreign language learning in general or the learning of a particular language in question may exert considerable influence on the individual’s own L2 learning orientation, attitudes and motivation.” In addition, Clément and Kruidenier (1983) point out that the idea that the knowledge of a particular L2 may enable a learner to make new connections and friends is a motivating factor for learning the given L2. Root (1999) carried out a longitudinal study where it was found that peers and, more precisely, friends can maintain learners’ motivation to learn a particular L2. Kormos and Csizér (2007) point out that as Hungary is a predominantly monolingual country, the most common type of contact with the target language and culture was not in person but through the Internet and media. Similarly, Sundqvist and Olin-Scheller (2013) underline that in extramural contexts, such as online video games, learners engage in authentic learner— learner interactions and collaborate with one another (e.g., fighting a common enemy), and they emphasize that these environments differ from the classroom context. In a classroom, there is a less authentic environment for learners, where even if they follow the teacher’s instruction and cooperate with their peers, such interactions are not initiated by the learners themselves; rather, + Al +
