Context-perception model of third language learning motivation

Through Matsumoto’s recent studies (2009, 2011) on foreign language
learners’ motivation in Australian context, a third cultural factor has been
detected. Both studies have revealed that besides the conventional account of
the cultural distance between learners’ own culture and that of target language,
the distance between learners’ own culture and the Australian educational
culture in which their language learning occurs also influences the learners’
motivational state. That is, when learners learn a second foreign language in the
second language educational context, this additional third culture plays an
additional role which affects learner motivation. The study of cultural distance
as a factor affecting motivation further must consider student perceptions of
learning events, because they perceive the same learning and environmental
factors differently according to their cultural backgrounds. As a result, their
appraisals of events affect their motivation. Based on these considerations, a
new framework of third language (L3) learning motivation is proposed and
discussed.