The Ideal L2 Self
Dörnyei's (2005, 2009) L2 Motivational Self System
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The ideal L2 self (who the learner would like to become).
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The ought-to L2 self (expectations of the learner - by teachers, administrators, parents).
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The L2 learning experience (classroom, curriculum).
The Ideal Self and the Imagined Community
The make-up of the idealized L2-speaking self is equal parts imagination of oneself in a target L2 community and actual experiences as members of a particular target community (Dörnyei, 2005).
As the idealized L2-speaking self encompasses the use of imagining oneself in a desired L2 speaking community, a connection between discovering the ideal L2 self and how this can tie into the vast imagined communities in ELLs can start to be constructed.
References
Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Routledge Ltd, 2005, doi:10.4324/9781410613349.
Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The L2 Motivational Self System. In: Dörnyei, Z., Ushioda, E. (Eds.), Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self. Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, pp. 9-42