ABSTRACT
One of the main attractions of researching motivation for many scholars in the field of applied linguistics has been its practical applicability, that is, the fact that its study can have concrete classroom implications for how to enhance the quality of L2 teaching and learning. Accordingly, since the 1990s, the field has been characterised by ongoing efforts to add an ‘applied’ dimension to L2 motivation research. Yet, such efforts have not been without difficulties, and this chapter will address three challenging areas: (a) making motivation research relevant to the understanding of specific SLA processes; (b) developing motivational techniques that can produce actual gains in language learning; and (c) measuring the broad and dynamic notion of motivation.
