When trying to explain any success or failure in second language (L2) learning, the term 'motivation' is often used by teachers and students alike. In the field of foreign/second language (L2) learning, motivation has long been recognised as one of the key factors that determine L2 achievement and attainment. Motivation serves as the initial engine to generate learning and later functions as an ongoing driving force that helps to sustain the long and usually laborious journey of acquiring a foreign language. Indeed, it is fair to say that without sufficient motivation even the brightest learners are unlikely to persist long enough to attain any really useful language proficiency, whereas most learners with strong motivation can achieve a working knowledge of the L2, regardless of their language aptitude or any undesirable learning conditions. Due to its great importance, L2 motivation has been the subject of a considerable amount of research in recent decades, exploring the nature of this complex construct and how it affects the L2 learning process. Until the early 1990s, this line of research had been strongly influenced by the seminal work of two Canadian scholars, Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert (1959, 1972), who conceptualised motivation from a social psychological perspective. They perceived the L2 as a mediator between different ethnolinguistic communities and therefore the motivation to acquire the language of the other L2 community was seen to play a powerful role in promoting or hindering intercultural communication.