Possible selves and personal goals: What can we learn from episodic future thinking?

Yıl 2020, , 481 - 500, 30.11.2020

Alastair Henry

https://doi.org/10.32601/ejal.834659

Cited By: 1

Öz

Mental time travel lies at the frontier of research into motivational persistence in language learning (Dörnyei, 2020). This article introduces the theory of episodic future thinking (D’Argembeau, 2016, 2020), and examines the key components of autobiographical knowledge and personally important goals. With findings on the long-term goals and career aspirations of preservice English teachers as a departure point (Erten, 2014; Ölmez Çağlar, 2019), I outline the contributions that episodic future thinking can make to the psychology of second language learning and teaching. Positioning episodic future thinking in conceptual terrain at the intersection of vision-based theories of L2 motivation (Dörnyei, 2009), Self Determination Theory frameworks (Noels, 2009), and narrative, life-story approaches (Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015), I explain how it can inform the investigation of motivational persistence.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Mental time travel, episodic future thinking, self-concordant goals, autobiographical knowledge, L2 motivation, motivational persistence

Kaynakça

• Al-Hoorie, A. H. (2018). The L2 motivational self system: A meta-analysis. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8, 721-754.
• Austin, J. T., & Vancouver, J. B. (1996). Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process, and content. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 338-375.
• Bailis, D. S., & Segall, A. (2004). Self-determination and social comparison in a health-promotion setting. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 26, 25-33.
• Baumeister, R. F., Hofmann, W., Summerville, A., Reiss, P. T. & Vohs, K. D. (2020). Everyday thoughts in time: Experience sampling studies of mental time travel. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1–18. doi: 10.1177/0146167220908411
• Baumeister, R. F., & Masicampo, E. J. (2010). Conscious thought is for facilitating social and cultural interactions: How mental simulations serve the animal-culture interface. Psychological Review, 117, 945-971.
• Ben Malek, H., Berna, F., & D’Argembeau, A. (2017). Reconstructing the times of past and future personal events. Memory, 25(10), 1402-1411.
• Ben Malek, H., Berna, F., & D’Argembeau, A. (2018). Envisioning the times of future events: The role of personal goals. Consciousness and Cognition 63, 198-205.
• Brookhart, S. M., & Freeman, D. J. (1992). Characteristics of entering teacher candidates. Review of Educational Research, 62, 37-60.
• Busse, V., Cenoz, J., Dalmann, N., & Rogge, F. (in press). Addressing linguistic diversity in the language classroom in a resource-oriented way: An intervention study with primary school children. Language Learning, 70(2), 382-419.
• Carraro, N., & Gaudreau, P. (2011). Implementation planning as a pathway between goal motivation and goal progress for academic and physical activity goals. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(8), 1835-1856.
• Dewaele, J.-M. (2020). What psychological, linguistic and sociobiographical variables power EFL/ESL teachers’ motivation? In C. Gkonou, C., J.-M. Dewaele, & J. King (Eds.), The emotional rollercoaster of language teaching (pp. 269-287). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
• D’Argembeau, A. (2016). The role of personal goals in future-oriented mental time travel. In K. Michaelian,
• S. B. Klein, & K. K. Szpunar (Eds.), Seeing the Future. Theoretical perspectives on future-oriented mental time travel (pp. 199-214). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• D’Argembeau, A. (2020). Imagination and self-referential thinking. In A. Abraham (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of the Imagination (pp.354-372). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• D’Argembeau, A., Comblain, C., & Van der Linden, M. (2003). Phenomenal characteristic of autobiographical memories for positive, negative, and neutral events. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17, 281-294.
• D’Argembeau, A., & Mathy, A. (2011). Tracking the construction of episodic future thoughts. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 140, 258-271.
• D’Argembeau, A., & Van der Linden, M. (2004). Phenomenal characteristics associated with projecting oneself back into the past and forward into the future: Influence of valence and temporal distance. Consciousness and Cognition, 13, 844-858.
• D'Argembeau, A., & Van der Linden, M. (2007). Emotional aspects of mental time travel. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(3), 320–321.
• D’Argembeau, A., & Van der Linden, M. (2012). Predicting the phenomenology of episodic future thoughts. Consciousness and Cognition, 21, 1198-1206.
• Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour. New York: Plenum.
• Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 Motivational Self System. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 9-42). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
• Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Innovations and challenges in language learning motivation. London: Routledge.
• Dörnyei, Z., Henry, A., & Muir, C. (2016). Motivational currents in language learning: Frameworks for focused interventions. New York: Routledge.
• Dörnyei, Z., & Kubanyiova, M. (2014). Motivating learners, motivating teachers: Building vision in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Dörnyei, Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited. New York: Routledge.
• Elahi, M., Khajavy, G. H., MacIntyre, P. D., & Taherian, T. (2019). A meta-analysis of L2 willingness to communicate and its three high-evidence correlates. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 48, 1241-1267.
• Elliot, A. J., Sheldon, K. M., & Church, M. (1997). Avoidance personal goals and subjective well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 915-927.
• Ernst, A., & D’Argembeau, A. (2017). Make it real: Belief in occurrence within episodic future thought. Memory & Cognition, 45, 1045-1061.
• Ernst, A., Philippe, F. L., & D’Argembeau, A. (2018). Wanting or having to: The influence of goal self-concordance on the representation of personal future events. Consciousness and Cognition, 66, 26-39.
• Ernst, A., Scoboria, A., & D’Argembeau, A. (2019). On the role of autobiographical knowledge in shaping belief in the future occurrence of imagined events. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72(11), 2658-2671.
• Erten, İ. H. (2014). Understanding the reasons behind choosing to teach English as a foreign language. Novitas ROYAL (Research on Youth and Language), 8(1), 30-44.
• Erten, I. H. (2015a). Age-related gender differences in casual attributions of Turkish learners of English as a foreign language. ELT Research Journal, 4(2), 129-146.
• Erten, İ. H. (2015b). Social desirability bias in altruistic motivation for choosing teaching as a career. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi [Hacettepe University Journal of Education], 30(1), 77-89.
• Erten, I. H. & Burden, R. L. (2014). The relationship between academic self-concept, attributions, and L2 achievement. System, 42, 391-401.
• Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.
• Grant, A. M., & Shin, J. (2012). Work motivation: Directing, energizing, and maintaining effort (and research) In R. M. Ryan (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of human motivation (pp. 505-519). New York: Oxford University Press.
• Henry, A., & Davydenko, S. (2020). Thriving? Or surviving? An approach–avoidance perspective on adult language learners’ motivation. The Modern Language Journal, 104(2), 363-380.
• Hessel, G. (2015). From vision to action: Inquiring into the conditions for the motivational capacity of ideal second language selves. System, 52, 103-114.
• Higgins, E. T. (1996). Knowledge activation: Accessibility, applicability, and salience. In E. T. Higgins, & A.
• W. Kruglanski (Eds.). Social psychology: Handbook of basic principles (pp. 133-168). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
• Hiver, P. (2013). The interplay of possible language teacher selves in professional development choices. Language Teaching Research, 17(2), 210-227.
• Hiver, P., Al-Hoorie, A. H., & Mercer, S. (2021). Student engagement in the language classroom. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
• Hiver, P., Obando, G., Sang, Y., Tahmouresi, S., Zhou, A., & Zhou, Y. (2019). Reframing the L2 learning experience as narrative reconstructions of classroom learning. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 9(1), 83-116.
• Hoyle, R. H., & Sherrill, M. R. (2006). Future orientation in the self-system: Possible selves, self-regulation, and behavior. Journal of personality, 74(6), 1673-1696.
• Jeunehomme, O., & D’Argembeau, A. (2019). The time to remember: temporal compression and duration judgments in memory for real-life events. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72(4), 930–942.
• Job, V., & Brandstätter, V. (2009). Get a taste of your goals: Promoting motive-goal congruence through affect-focus goal fantasy. Journal of Personality, 77(5), 1527-1559.
• Koestner, R., Otis, N., Powers, T. A., Pelletier, L., & Gagnon, H. (2008). Autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and goal progress. Journal of Personality, 76(5), 1201-1230.
• Kubanyiova, M. (2009). Possible selves in language teacher development. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 314-332). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
• Kubanyiova, M. (2014). Motivating language teachers: Inspiring vision. In D. Lasagabaster, A. Doiz, & J. M. Sierra (Eds.), Motivation and foreign language learning: From theory to practice (pp. 71-89). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Lehner, E., & D’Argembeau, A. (2016). The role of personal goals in autonoetic experience when imagining future events. Consciousness and Cognition, 42, 267-276.
• Lekes, N., Hope, N. H., Gouveia, L., Koestner, R., & Philippe, F. L. (2012). Influencing value priorities and increasing well-being: The effects of reflecting on intrinsic values. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 7(3), 249-261.
• Lou, N. M. & Noels, K. A. (2019). Promoting growth in foreign and second language education: A research agenda for mindsets in language learning and teaching. System, 86, 102126.
• Lou, N. M., & Noels, K. A. (2020). Language mindsets, meaning-making, and motivation. In M. Lamb, K. Csizér, A. Henry & S. Ryan (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of motivation for language learning (pp. 537-559). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• MacIntyre, P. D., Gregersen, T., & Mercer, S. (2016). Positive psychology in SLA. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
• MacIntyre P. D., Gregersen T. & Mercer S. (2019). Setting an agenda for positive psychology in SLA: Theory, practice, and research. The Modern Language Journal, 103(1), 262-274.
• MacIntyre, P. D., Mackinnon, S. P., & Clément, R. (2009). The baby, the bathwater, and the future of language learning motivation research. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 43-65). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
• MacIntyre, P. D., Ross, J., & Clément, R. (2020). Emotions are motivating. In M. Lamb, K. Csizér, A. Henry & S. Ryan (Eds.), Palgrave handbook of motivation for language learning (pp. 183-202). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American psychologist, 41, 954-969.
• McAdams, D. P. (2006). The role of narrative in personality psychology today. Narrative Inquiry, 16, 11-18.
• McAdams, D. P. (2012). Exploring psychological themes through life narrative accounts. In J. A. Holstein, & J. F. Gubrium (Eds.), Varieties of narrative analysis (pp. 15-32). London: SAGE.
• McEown, M. S., & Oga-Baldwin, W.L.Q. (2019). Self-determination for all language learners: New applications for formal language education. System, 86, 102124.
• Munezane, Y. (2015). Enhancing willingness to communicate: Relative effects of visualization and goal setting. The Modern Language Journal, 99, 175-191.
• Mercer, S., & Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Engaging language learners in contemporary classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Michaelian, K., Klein, S. B., & Szpunar, K. K. (Eds.). (2016). The past, the present, and the future of future-oriented mental time travel: Editors’ introduction (pp. 1-22). New York: Oxford University Press.
• Milyavskaya, M., Inzlicht, M., Hope, N., & Koestner, R. (2015). Saying “no” to temptation: Want-to motivation improves self-regulation by reducing temptation rather than by increasing self-control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(4), 677-693.
• Noels, K. A. (2009). Identity and the internalization of language learning into the self-concept. In Z. Dörnyei & E. Ushioda (Eds.), Motivation, language identity and the L2 self (pp. 295-313). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
• Oga-Baldwin, W.L.Q. (2019). Acting, thinking, feeling, making, collaborating: The engagement process in foreign language learning. System, 86, 102128.
• Ölmez Çağlar, F. (2019). Relationships among possible selves, motivations and self-efficacy beliefs of senior student teachers of English (Unpublished PhD thesis). Hacettepe University, Turkey.
• Ölmezer Öztürk, E. (2015). A qualitative study on the motivation of Turkish EFL teachers working at state universities. Journal of Theory and Practice in Education, 11(4), 1436-1453.
• Papi, M. (2018). Motivation as quality: Regulatory fit effects on incidental vocabulary learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40, 707-730.
• Papi, M., Bondarenko, A. V., Mansouri, S., Feng, L., & Jiang, C. (2019). Rethinking L2 motivation research: The 2× 2 model of L2 self-guides. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41, 337-361.
• Reeve, J. (2012). A self-determination theory perspective on student engagement. In S.L. Christenson,
• A.L. Reschly, & C. Wylie (Eds.), Handbook of research on student engagement (pp.149-172). New York: Springer.
• Reeve, J. (2013). How students create motivationally supportive learning environments for themselves: The concept of agentic engagement. Journal of Educational Psychology 105(3), 579–595.
• Richardson, P.W., & Watt, H.M.G. (2005). I have decided to become a teacher: influences on career change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 475-489.
• Richardson, P.W., & Watt, H.M.G. (2006). Who chooses teaching and why? Profiling characteristics and motivation across three Australian Universities. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 34, 27-56.
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78.
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-Determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. New York: The Guilford Press.
• Ryan, R. M., Sheldon, K. M., Kasser, T., & Deci, E. L. (1996). All goals are not created equal: The relation of goal content and regulatory styles to mental health. In J. A. Bargh & P. M. Gollwitzer (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 7-26). New York: The Guilford Press.
• Safdari, S. (in press). Operationalizing L2 motivational self system: Improving EFL learners’ motivation through a vision enhancement program. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168819846597.
• Sato, M. (in press). Generating a Roadmap for Possible Selves via a Vision Intervention: Alignment of Second Language Motivation and Classroom Behavior. TESOL Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.611.
• Sato, M., & Lara, P. (2019). Interaction vision intervention to increase second language motivation: A classroom study. In M. Sato & S. Loewen (Eds.), Evidence-based second language pedagogy: A collection of instructed second language acquisition studies (pp. 287-313). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Scoboria, A., Mazzoni, G., Ernst, A., & D’Argembeau, A. (2020). Validating “belief in occurrence” for future autobiographical events. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 7(1), 4-29. Sheldon, K. M. (1995). Creativity and self-determination in personality. Creativity Research Journal, 8, 61-72.
• Sheldon, K. M. (2014). Becoming oneself. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 18(4), 349-365.
• Sheldon, K. M., & Cooper, M. L. (2008). Goal striving within agentic and communal roles: Functionally independent pathways to enhanced well-being. Journal of Personality, 76, 415-447.
• Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1998). Not all personal goals are personal: comparing autonomous and controlled reasons for goals as predictors of effort and attainment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 546-557.
• Sheldon, K. M., & Elliot, A. J. (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 76(3), 482-497.
• Sheldon, K. M., & Houser-Marko, L. (2001). Self-concordance, goal attainment, and the pursuit of happiness: Can there be an upward spiral? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 152-165.
• Sheldon, K. M., & Kasser, T. (1995). Coherence and congruence: Two aspects of personality integration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 531-543.
• Sheldon, K. M., & Kasser, T. (1998). Pursuing personal goals: Skills enable progress but not all progress is beneficial. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 546-557.
• Sheldon, K. M., Kasser, T., Smith, K., & Share, T. (2002). Personal goals and psychological growth: Testing an intervention to enhance goal attainment and personality integration. Journal of Personality, 70(1), 5-31.
• Sheldon, K. M., Prentice, M., & Osin, E. (2019). Rightly crossing the Rubicon: Evaluating goal self-concordance prior to selection helps people choose more intrinsic goals. Journal of Research in Personality, 79, 119-129.
• Sheldon, K. M., & Schuler, J. (2011). Needing, wanting, and having: Integrating motive disposition theory and self-determination theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101, 1106-1123.
• Suddendorf, T., Addis, D.R., & Corballis, M.C. (2009). Mental time travel and the shaping of the human mind. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 364, 1317-1324.
• Suddendorf, T., & Corballis, M. C. (2007). The evolution of foresight: What is mental time travel, and is it unique to humans? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30, 299-313.
• Szpunar, K. K. (2010). Episodic future thought: An emerging concept. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 142-162.
• Teimouri, Y., Plonsky, L., & Tabandeh, F. (2020). L2 grit: Passion and perseverance for second-language learning. Language Teaching Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168820921895.
• Vasalampi, K., Salmela-Aro, K., & Nurmi, J. E. (2009). Adolescents’ self-concordance, school engagement, and burnout predict their educational trajectories. European Psychologist, 14(4), 332-341.