‘L2 Motivational Self Esteem’ and ‘Integrativeness’ among TEFL Students in Iran: A Qualitative Study

The present study investigated L2 motivation among TEFL students in Iran. ‘L2 motivational self-system’ reframed the dominant concept of ‘integrativeness’ within a broader domain conceived as ‘possible self’. This study also addressed this issue by conducting interviews with 16 TEFL students in their first and final years of study in Mashhad Azad University, Iran. After content analysis of interview transcripts, the results revealed that while ‘ideal L2 self’ might be a better indicator of final-year students’ motivation, it was not so for first-year students’ and could not be substituted by ‘integrativeness’.