Beyond L2 motivation: Automaticity, habit, and the second language learner
Beyond L2 motivation: Automaticity, habit, and the second language learner

Summary/Abstract: Much of our day-to-day behavior transpires with little or no conscious forethought: Habit, rather than motivation, explains our morning routine, daily commute, and many workplace activities. Empirical research has demonstrated the indispensa- bility of implicit knowledge and automaticity for linguistic processing, but the roles they play at the behavioral level, for example learning as an automatic re- sponse to context cues, remain unclear. If it is true that nonconscious psycholog- ical processes triggered by internal or external stimuli are an important constitu- ent of second language (L2) learning behavior, the second language acquisition (SLA) literature can be enriched by incorporating theory, methods, and findings from research on automaticity in cognitive psychology. Acknowledging the role of automaticity need not undermine our appreciation of volition. Like yeast in dough, the role of volition in the “mixture” of learner behavior does not have to be large to be consequential. In fact, by discriminating more carefully between automatic and volitional behaviors, researchers may be able to target more ef- fectively rare but consequential volitional junctures in language learning. The pedagogical implication of the position I advocate is a shift in emphasis from mo- tivating second language learners to training them.

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