Publications

Introduced in social psychology to explain human motivation, the construct of ‘possible selves’ allows L2 learners to be viewed as active producers of their own development and conceptualisation of their as-yet unrealised potential, drawing upon their hopes, wishes and dreams. In this sense, possible selves function as future self-guides that shed light on how individuals are moved from the present towards the future, forming an explicit link between the current self-system and self-regulated behaviour, a process within which vision and imagery play a pivotal role. From this perspective, a recent development in the field of L2 motivation and language acquisition has been to examine the power of possible selves using technology. It is against this background that this chapter examines research conducted in the last decade on the use of technology-assisted language learning in the construal and activation of L2 selves, and their subsequent impact on L2 motivation and learning.