Multilingualism and persistence in multiple language learning

For language learners who aspire to become multilingual, commitment involves a personal journey. Defining persistence as a preoccupation with goal-focused action directed to a desired future state and drawing on research from cognitive psychology and the mental time travel paradigm, this article presents an identity-based framework of persistence in multiple language learning. In the framework, persistence is supported through the operation of 3 interconnecting processes: (a) the generation of personally meaningful goals aimed at becoming multilingual, (b) the conjuring of mental images that represent states, events, and values associated with being multilingual, and (c) the integration of representations of multilingualism within an unfolding personal history. To illustrate these processes, data from online sources and research literature exploring language learners’ narrative biographies is used. The relevance of the framework is critically assessed in relation to (a) the development of interventions supporting motivation for foreign language learning, (b) the exploration of motivational processes through narrative-based inquiry, and (c) the varying linguistic, social, and societal contexts in which multiple language learning takes place.