Review of the Literature Ada Bier Abstract In order to offer a picture of the construct of language teacher motivation, this paper is

EL.LE, 3, 3, 2014, pp. 505-522
508 
Bier. The Motivation of Second/Foreign Language Teachers
ISSN 2280-6792
the interactive nature of the teacher-learner relationship,
2
according to 
which the key features of any learning activity are significance, transcend-
ence, i.e. purpose beyond the here and now, and reciprocity, i.e. shared in-
tention (Feuerstein et al. 1991, in Williams, Burden 1997, emphasis added). 
Vygotsky as well, within the framework of sociocultural theory, proposed 
his own view of mediation in language acquisition (Lantolf 1994; Lantolf, 
Appel 1994; Donato, McCormick 1994; Williams, Burden 1997; Zuengler, 
Miller 2006; Ushioda 2006), claiming that human cognition, i.e. all men-
tal processing, is a mediated mental activity and that this mediation is 
«the instrument of cognitive change» (Donato, McCormick 1994, p. 456). 
In the light of sociocultaural theory, we could affirm that there is a link 
between teacher, learners, instructional context and culture so that the 
learner cannot be considered an isolated unit in his/her effort to learn a 
second/foreign language. In Vygotsky’s words, «the social dimension of 
consciousness [i.e. all mental processes] is primary in time and fact. The 
individual dimension of consciousness is derivative and secondary» (Vy-
gotsky 1979, in Zuengler, Miller 2006, p. 38, emphasis added). Bailey et 
al. conclude that 
the two parties in the teacher-student relationship have their own re-
sponsibilities, their own contributions to make to the learning process. 
[…] Both the teacher and the students contribute to a positive learning 
environment by respecting each other and by being committed to doing 
their best (Bailey et al. 1996, p. 20, emphasis added). 
To sum up, it could be said that both the recent contribution of complexity 
theory and the sociocognitive approach to second/foreign language learn-
ing maintain that 1. classrooms are social, complex systems in which the 
relationship between teacher and learner cannot be overlooked, so that 
second/foreign language learning becomes second/foreign language learn-
ing and teaching; 2. being classrooms complex settings in which change 
in a component produces change in another component, the motivation 
of the language teacher inevitably impacts on the motivation of language 
learners (and this finding has been confirmed by several studies, cfr. § 
Introduction); 3. the constitutive elements of the «hidden side» (Freeman 
2002) of teachers not only ‘communicate’ as a whole with the immediate, 
surrounding sociocultural context (including learners, above all), but also 
interact with each other. This last point will be further developed in the 
next paragraph. 
2 
Ushioda and Dörnyei stress the «important role of teacher feedback and teacher-learner 
dialog in helping learners to reflect on their learning progress» (Ushioda, Dörnyei 2012, p. 
405, emphasis added). 

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