Zoltán Dörnyei

Zoltán Dörnyei (11 March 1960 – 10 June 2022) was a Hungarian linguist. He was a professor of psycholinguistics at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. He was known for his work on second language acquisition and the psychology of the language learner, in particular on motivation in second language learning, having published numerous books and papers on these topics.

Career Education Dörnyei obtained a combined Master of Arts degree in English language and literature and in art history in 1985 at the School of English and American Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary. His dissertation was entitled Art dealing in Hungary before 1945. These influences indicate a starting point for the motivational process and are directly linked to the preactional phase. Using current research, PCA attempts to extend the communicative approach by focusing on the explicit development of other knowledge areas and skills necessary for efficient communication instead of focusing solely on the systematic components of languages that language teachers traditionally focused on.

Group cohesiveness, group norms and group roles play a central role in creating motivated learning communities. Other contributing factors to group cohesiveness include a group's common purpose and group pride. They perform better and are more productive than non-cohesive groups.

The L2 Motivational Self System is composed of three parts:

1. The Ideal L2 Self - This is the learner's image of their future L2 speaking self, the second language speaker they aspire to become. The Ought-to self, while being a facet of the L2 learning experience, and being perceived by students as important, is less of a motivating factor and predictor of L2 learning success. examined the predictive validity of this model, showing poorer predictive validity of objective measures compared with subjective measures of language learning. Recently, this model has received criticism based on its reliance on scales with questionable validity and on constructs that are not clearly distinct from existing constructs in psychology.

Directed Motivational Currents Dörnyei argued that motivation is not static or constant, it is not something you either have or don't have, a person is not either motivated or unmotivated. Rather, motivation ebbs and flows, depending on many factors including the day, the topic, or the context, constantly changing over time. These Directed Motivational Currents spur focused and sustained action and are energy-producing, not energy-draining. DMCs take on a life of their own, they create an all-consuming preoccupation, a momentum that propels a person towards the attainment of their goal.

Later Research As of the late 2010s, Dörnyei has focused his research on theology and biblical interpretation as he recently completed a PhD in theology with the department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. This research study used 150 intermediate students from nine different English as a foreign language (EFL) classes. 2006: ILTA Best Paper Award 2010: Ben Warren International House Trust Prize 2011: Henry Osborn Award of Cornerstone University, USA 2014: Highly Commended Award of the English-Speaking Union's HRH The Duke of Edinburgh English Language Book Awards

Main Monographs Dörnyei, Z. & Mentzelopoulos, K. (2022). Lessons from Exceptional Language Learners Who Have Achieved Nativelike Proficiency: Motivation, Cognition and Identity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters (Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching Book 18) Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Innovations and challenges in language learning motivation. London: Routledge. Mercer, S., & Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Engaging language learners in contemporary classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dörnyei, Z. (2020). Vision, mental imagery and the Christian life: Insights from science and Scripture. London: Routledge. Dörnyei, Z (2018). Progressive creation and humanity’s struggles in the Bible: A canonical narrative interpretation. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications. Dörnyei, Z., Henry, A., & Muir, C. (2016). Motivational currents in language learning: Frameworks for focused interventions. New York: Routledge. Dörnyei. Z., & Ryan, S. (2015). The psychology of the language learner revisited. New York: Routledge. Dörnyei. Z., MacIntyre, P., & Henry, A. (Eds.) (2015). Motivational dynamics in language learning. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Dörnyei. Z., & Kubanyiova, M. (2014). Motivating students, motivating teachers: Building vision in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wong, M. S., Kristjánsson, C., & Dörnyei, Z. (Eds.). (2013). Christian faith and English language teaching and learning: Research on the interrelationship of religion and ELT. New York: Routledge. Dörnyei, Z. & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teaching and researching motivation (2nd ed.). Harlow: Longman. Dörnyei, Z. (2010). Questionnaires in second language research: Construction, administration, and processing (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. Dörnyei, Z. (2009). The psychology of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2009). Motivation, language identity and the L2 self. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Dörnyei, Z., Csizér, K., & Németh, N. (2006). Motivation, language attitudes and globalisation: A Hungarian perspective. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters. Dörnyei, Z. (2005). The psychology of the language learner: Individual differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Dörnyei, Z., & Murphey, T. (2003). Group dynamics in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ehrman, M., & Dörnyei, Z. (1998). Interpersonal dynamics in second language education: The visible and invisible classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Personal life Dörnyei married his wife Sarah on 13 June 1991. They left Budapest in 1998 to live in Nottingham with their two sons, Aaron and Benedict. He died on 10 June 2022 in Nottingham after an illness. Members of the Christian TESOL community paid tribute to Dörnyei in a memoir in International Journal of Christianity and English Language Teaching in 2022. Judit Kormos also said farewell in a memoir, published in Modern Nyelvoktatás in 2022.