Why is narrative inquiry suitable to study motivation? Insights from two empirical studies

Narrative Inquiry (NI) is increasingly recognised in language education research because it offers profound means of exploring learners' and educators' lived experiences through storytelling and/or story-making. Specifically, this article explores NI's suitability for studying motivation in language learning, highlighting its ability to capture the dynamic and multifaceted nature of motivational trajectories. Grounded in postmodernist perspectives, NI emphasises individuality and the complexities of human experiences, thereby bridging gaps in more traditional and established motivation research approaches. The innovations of this research perspective include a nuanced exploration of motivation as a temporal, contextual, and personal construct. The article showcases two empirical studies employing NI: the longitudinal examination of Chinese postgraduate students' motivational shifts in the UK, and the lifelong motivational journeys of older adult language learners in France. These studies illustrate how NI captures evolving motivational dynamics influenced by personal, social, and institutional factors. Through co-constructed narratives, NI fosters deep participant-researcher relationships, which emphasises reflexivity and participant agency, while revealing intricate motivational patterns. Furthermore, NI addresses methodological gaps in existing motivation research and offers analytical versatility. Ultimately, this article argues that NI transcends traditional research boundaries by providing a more holistic, person-centred lens to understand motivation's complexities. By celebrating the richness of individual narratives, NI emerges as an empowering approach to investigate and represent the interplay between context, personal trajectories and motivation in language learning.