Editorial introduction: Motivation and learning in multiple contexts

The significance of the context for understanding motivation and learning is not novel in the field of educational psychology (e. g. Anderman and Anderman 2000; Volet and Järvelä 2001). Socio-cognitive, sociocultural and situative perspectives all stress the integration of self and context to understand how individual engagement, learning and development emerge in dynamic, reciprocal interaction in particular social contexts (Greeno 2006; Kagitcibasi 1996; Nolen and Ward 2008; Volet et al. 2009). Yet, with a few exceptions, most of the empirical studies have operationalised context as a single construct, for example, a classroom goal structure, a peer group or teacher style of instruction. Accordingly, such research fails to acknowledge that in real-life situations, individuals are an integral part of multiple social contexts at the same time. Diverse conceptualisations of context can be found in the literature. For example, contexts have been conceptualised from an ecological systems’ perspective, that is, embedded within one another (e.g. small group, classroom, school), thus partly overlapping (Bronfenbrenner 1979; Dasen 2003) or as multilayered (Gurtner et al. 2001; Volet 2001). In the limited empirical literature that has considered the multiplicity of contexts, these have been investigated as cross-fertilising and sometimes conflicting with another (e.g. school, family, peers, Hull and Greeno 2006; Schmid et al. 2005). Across this body of literature, however, contexts are considered as simultaneously and continuously co-defining and coshaping individuals’ experiences, motivation, learning and development (Barab and Plucker 2002; Davidson and Phelan 1999; Horn et al. 2008; Kimmel and Volet 2010; Rogoff 2003). All articles included in this special issue elaborate on how context is conceptualised in their work, and report studies that incorporated multiple contexts in the research design. A variety of theoretical perspectives are used to represent the notion of context. Each article aims to provide a deeper insight into how a particular phenomenon of interest (e.g. engagement, self-efficacy, academic motivation, intercultural experiences) may be perceived or play out differently depending on the situation and the (learning) environment in which it occurs. This extends to how individuals’ experiences gained in distinct contexts might be interrelated or possibly foster and/or inhibit each other. The empirical work Eur J Psychol Educ (2012) 27:155–160 DOI 10.1007/s10212-011-0079-0