Motivational Dynamics of Intermediate Chinese Learners in a COVID-Induced Remote IPA-Informed CSL Curriculum: A Case Study From a CDST Lens

Abstract

Abstract Grounded in a complex and dynamic systems theory (CDST) perspective of L2 learning motivation, this year-long longitudinal study examines evolving motivational dynamics of two intermediate Chinese as a Second Language (CSL) learners at a Sino-US joint-venture university in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adopting Higgins’ framework of motivation, this case study focuses on the interplay of learner motivation for value, control, and truth effectiveness and contextual factors in shaping the contrastive motivational trajectories of two CSL learners who displayed discrepancy in the improvement of Mandarin oral proficiency. In particular, the two contextual factors of interest are an Integrated Performance Assessment (IPA) -informed CSL curriculum and COVID-induced remote online learning. We focus on how learners co-adapted with the “here-and-now” manifestations of these contextual factors and how their motivational dynamics and learning behaviors evolved based on multiple interrelated layers of the temporal-spatial context. The findings show that CSL learners’ motivational dynamics were shaped by multiple overlapping and interrelated motivations related to value, control, and truth effectiveness, which emerged out of the contingencies and affordances in the learning context. The learner-context co-adaptations play a significant role in directing relevant motivational dimensions and thereby shaping the overall identity of the whole system. This empirical study contributes to CSL and L2 motivational studies by exploring the applicability of a CDST approach and a global motivational framework to study intermediate CSL learners’ motivational dynamics and how they individually co-adapted with an innovative curricular design and the perturbance during the COVID-19 online teaching and learning process. The paper reflects on the effectiveness and applicability of IPA in an intermediate-level CSL curriculum from a motivational perspective and offers insights into understanding and promoting the complex learner motivation during COVID-19 for language educators.