Book Review: Contemporary Language Motivation Theory – 60 Years Since Gardner and Lambert (1959) by Ali H. Al-Hoorie and Peter D. MacIntyre

Abstract

Whether it is a truism or a cliché, we stand on the shoulders of giants. Professor Robert Gardner is certainly one of them. The year 2019 marked 60 years since the publication of his seminal paper, Motivational Variables in Second Language Acquisition, written together with Wallace E. Lambert and published in the Canadian Journal of Psychology in 1959. The paper is widely acknowledged as the beginning of L2 motivation research, and to borrow Dörnyei’s words introducing this anthology, “[it] is not only important because it was a historical milestone and offered fertile ground in which subsequent research could grow, but also because it is still relevant” (Dörnyei, 2020, p. xxi). Having Dörnyei’s blessing, and with the caliber of contributors in this anthology, the relevance of Gardner’s legacy of research is without question. In this festschrift, editors Ali H. Al-Hoorie and Peter D. MacIntyre bring together twenty-six scholars in the fields of applied linguistics, social psychology, and sociology to honor the career and research contributions of Robert Gardner. Each contribution connects to, develops, and builds upon the ideas of Gardner and Lambert, and links them to current trends and developments related to contemporary language motivation research. Thus, this collection of papers will delight and catch the attention of a wide readership from graduate students to practitioners to established researchers alike.