The generalized internal/external frame of reference model with academic self-concepts, interests, and anxieties in students from different language backgrounds

Student motivation and affect play an important role in successful language learning. To investigate the formation of language learning motivation and affect, this study extended the generalized internal/external frame of reference (GI/E) model framework to multiple languages (German and French, along with math) and multiple motivational-affective outcomes (academic self-concept, interest, and anxiety). We examined whether social and dimensional comparisons play similar roles in the formation of students’ self-concepts, interests, and anxieties concerning different languages and whether dimensional comparisons result in contrast or assimilation effects. Moreover, we tested the generalizability of the GI/E model assumptions across students with different language backgrounds. Using a data set comprising virtually all ninth-grade students (N=6275; 48.0% female) from Luxembourg’s multilingual educational system, our findings indicated (1) clear contrast effects in the formation of self-concept and interest in math, German, and French, and (2) a combination of contrast, assimilation, and no effects in the formation of anxiety in math, German, and French. Using a subsample of 5837 students with valid language information (48.0% female), invariance tests demonstrated that the GI/E achievement–outcome relations operated equivalently across students from different home language backgrounds.