ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the complexity of motivation and explains why this complexity has made it difficult to develop a comprehensive theoretical account of the construct. It examines key conceptual challenges, such as how to integrate temporal and contextual processes, or emotions and unconscious motives, and reviews changing theoretical perspectives in mainstream motivational psychology. Turning to focus on language learning motivation in particular, the chapter then outlines contemporary challenges and changing perspectives in understanding L2 motivation in the 21st-century world.
