Contradictory Others and the Habitus of Languages:Surveying the L2 Motivation Landscape in the United Kingdom

Britain’s already poor record for language learning might be exacerbated by the Global English phenomenon, in that utilitarian reasons for learning languages other than English are increasingly undermined (Lanvers, 2014; Lo Bianco, 2014). This article offers a state-of-the-art review of UK research on second language (L2) learning motivation and attitude. The introduction is dedicated to a review of language education policy and numerical evidence on the decline in language learning. Part I reviews UK motivational literature under the headings Primary school; Secondary school; University and beyond; Teachers, parents, milieu. The evaluation of the literature reveals some striking lacunae, as well as a misfit between common explanations of the UK’s language learning crisis and the social divide between those who choose to learn languages and those who do not. Amotivation-in-context understanding of UK language learning needs to account for the many contradictory Other influences impacting on learner motivation. Therefore, Part II presents a new motivational model, based on Higgins’s Self-Discrepancy Theory, a model which includes multifaceted Others as well as Own selves, including that of resistance/rebellion against Others.