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Language Mindsets, Meaning-Making, and Motivation

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The Palgrave Handbook of Motivation for Language Learning

Abstract

“Mindset”, or beliefs concerning whether a psychological characteristic is more or less malleable, is an influential psychological concept that has had a wide impact on motivation research and educational practices. This chapter surveys research on mindsets in language learning, which shows that mindsets predict how learners make sense of their learning situations and their motivation during second/foreign language development. Synthesizing research in language learning and other domains, the Language-Mindset Meaning System (LMMS) framework highlights how language mindsets, as a fundamental belief about the nature of language, relate to aspects of language learning motivation (e.g., effort beliefs, attribution, achievement goal orientation, failure mindset, self-regulatory tendency, and competence-based emotions). A research agenda designed to better understand the LMMS’s content, impact, contextual influences, and dynamics is presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Nigel Mantou Lou & Kimberly A. Noels

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  1. Nigel Mantou Lou
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  2. Kimberly A. Noels
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Correspondence to Nigel Mantou Lou .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Martin Lamb

  2. Faculty of Humanities, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Kata Csizér

  3. Department of Social and Behavioural Studies, University West, Trollhättan, Sweden

    Alastair Henry

  4. School of Culture, Media and Society, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan

    Stephen Ryan

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Lou, N.M., Noels, K.A. (2019). Language Mindsets, Meaning-Making, and Motivation. In: Lamb, M., Csizér, K., Henry, A., Ryan, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Motivation for Language Learning. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28380-3_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28380-3_26

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-28380-3

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