Читать книгу New Perspectives on Older Language Learners - Miriam Neigert - Страница 30

Going back to the concept of ought selves, they can become ideal selves when they become internalized by individuals because of group or role conformity (Ryan & Irie 2014: 112f.; Boyatzis & Akrivou 2006: 628). This process forms the basis of the self-determination theory formulated by Deci and Ryan (1985). Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011: 25) summarize it by writing that “SDT’s central notion of a continuum of self-determination focuses attention on how motivation for externally defined goals and behaviours may be socialised and gradually internalised” (see also: Deci & Ryan, 1985: 131f.; Ushioda 2014).1 The notion of a continuum, however, makes it difficult to draw a boundary between ideal and ought selves in situ: Is my ideal self for a particular domain in my life truly what I want for myself? Was it me who generated it, or have I internalized what others (through expectations, pressure or force from peer group, my parents, and society in general) see as an ideal self for me, i.e. the ought self?

Boyatzis and Akrivou (2006: 628) do not regard it as a problem if an ought self is intentionally or consciously internalized into one’s ideal self system. But problems do arise if there is no congruence between the two:

To the extent this [the ought self] becomes intentionally integrated into a person’s ideal self, there appears to be no conflict among the various selves. But if they are somewhat different and a person works toward the ought self, at some point in the future, they will awake and feel betrayed, frustrated, and even angry at the time and energy they wasted in pursuit of dreams and expectations that they were never passionate about.

If we connect this to the discussion about self-concept formation in section 3.2.3, it is debatable whether the problem of incongruent ought and ideal selves affects the young-old as much as it affects younger age groups. As stated in section 3.2.3, high school students were more influenced in their self-concept formation by the appraisals of (adult) socializers than young-old learners, who are not dependent on socializers to that extent anymore (see also: Kormos & Csizér 2008: 347). Are the sources for ought selves for the young-old different to those of younger age groups? And do the young-old internalize external projections at all?