Foreign language (FL) learning motivation among students is an important topic in the European context, as the respect for linguistic diversity has been seen as a key principle of the European Union and learning several languages is necessary for many people (Baïdak et al., 2017). This is especially true for the examination of FL learning motivation among students with different socioeconomic status (SES), as notable discrepancies in the achievement of different SES groups of students have been documented in many European countries (e.g., the differences in PISA 2018 average reading scores between advantaged and disadvantaged students were over 100 points in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Slovak Republic, and Switzerland, the OECD average gap being 89 points; OECD, 2019).
Recent review of EFL learning motivation research (Vonkova et al., 2021), however, has shown that the majority of research on EFL learning motivation between years 2016 and 2020 has been conducted in Asia, only a few studies focusing on Europe (10 in Spain and 3 in Sweden out of 90 analyzed studies). Also, there is a scarcity of research on the relationship between FL learning motivation and SES (Iwaniec, 2020). So far, only a few studies have studied this relationship among European students, such as Alejo and Piquer-Píriz (2016) in Spain, Iwaniec (2020) in Poland, and Vonkova et al. (2024) in the Czech Republic. Thus, the link between FL learning motivation and SES among students in Europe merits further investigation.
Currently, the L2 motivational self-system (L2MSS) is the most commonly used FL learning theory (Vonkova et al., 2021). The theory has originated in the work of Zoltán Dörnyei from Hungary (Dörnyei, 2009), who distinguished three major motivational components: the ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning experience. The ideal L2 self concerns a desirable self image of the kind of L2 user a learner would like to become, the ought-to L2 self refers to the attributes a learner believes he/she ought to possess to meet expectations of others and to avoid possible negative outcomes, and L2 learning experience covers motives related to the immediate learning environment and experiences, such as the influence of the teacher or the peer group (Dörnyei, 2009; You & Dörnyei, 2016). L2MSS theory is a theoretical framework to L2 learning motivation we have adopted in this study.
Our study contributes to filling the gap in the current research regarding our understanding of the relationship between SES and foreign language learning motivation. We build on the findings of Vonkova et al. (2024) and aim to further explore individual ought-to L2 self items and their link to selected students’ SES-related variables. Such an analysis can help enhance our understanding of the ought-to L2 self construct and contribute to future research on the link between L2MSS components and SES in European countries. Specifically, our research question is as follows: What is the link between Czech students’ ought-to L2 self, at the level of individual items, and their selected socioeconomic characteristics (school type, and parental education)?
