A Brief Review of L2MSS: Its History and Development

Abstract

Motivation is a significant factor affecting L2 learning. It is not only the source power for L2 learning, but also a continuous driving force in the long and boring L2 learning process, which acts as the important emotional factor in sustaining learners’ passion for L2. So research on L2 motivation has always been a flourishing field in SLA studies for the past five decades. Since the 1970s, more and more L2 learning researchers have turned to language learners, and learning motivation has thus become the focus of their attention. This paper summarizes the four developmental stages of second language motivation theory, combs the previous studies on L2MSS at home and abroad, and introduces the background and main contents of the L2MSS theory, as well as giving a brief comment on L2MSS as the latest development in the second language motivation research.