Zoltán Dörnyei: A personal tribute

Message from Zoltán, 2011 (photo by Jane Arnold)

At the start of the summer, the academic and teaching community was shocked to hear of the unexpected death of Zoltán Dörnyei (Professor of Psycholinguistics, Nottingham University). Zoltán was well known and widely respected for his contribution to the field of Psycholinguistics, and his influence on the study of motivation in SLA. His well-deserved reputation for unparalleled expert knowledge and academic rigour guaranteed the quality of any publication he contributed to, and his constant innovation, drive and curiosity changed the course of motivation research in the 21^st century. All this while gaining a second doctorate (in Theology) in 2017. Needless to say, the shock at Zoltán’s loss is made all the more acute by the fact that he was only 62, and the knowledge that he left his family far too soon.

University of Nottingham: In Memoriam

Zoltán was (and will continue to be) one of those rare academics whose work was relevant and accessible to both researchers and teachers alike. Accessible not only as he generously shared as much of his work as he could on his (sadly, no longer active) personal website, (more on his generosity later), but also in his particular ability to avoid excessive ‘in-group’ academic jargon and communicate with teachers on subjects pertinent to their everyday practice in a language they can understand. It comes as no surprise to learn that he started his career as an EFL teacher. Not only did this probably give him the ability to express complex ideas clearly, but also an insight into the everyday needs and preoccupations of the teaching community. It is greatly to his credit that he did not lose sight of these origins as his academic reputation took off, but maintained his contact with teachers, via presentations at ELT conferences and collaborations on teacher resource manuals. His respect for teachers is clear. In one of his final presentations (Tokyo JALT, State of the Chapter, 2021), he refers to an under-researched area of L2 motivation (persistence) as a debt that researchers still ‘owe’ to the teaching profession (see minute 14’00).

For anyone lucky enough to have seen Zoltán in action at one of these conferences, you will have been struck by how funny he was. His wit and humour is a recurrent theme in the many tributes that have appeared since his death.

Being funny in your own language is no mean feat. Zoltán managed to do it in his second language, on topics which, at first sight, do not lend themselves to an entertaining slant. The first time I saw Zoltán, he was giving a 3-hour workshop on Designing Questionnaires at the University of Coventry, organized by the IATEFL Research SIG. I was expecting it to be informative and useful. I wasn’t expecting it to be much fun. Yet he somehow managed to entertain and engage his audience without sacrificing any of the content. There are numerous recordings of his talks available on YouTube. You'll find some of the links in this text. If you haven’t already, please give yourselves a treat.

Zoltán Dörnyei after the workshop on Questionnaire Design. Coventry University, 2013.

Personally, I first became aware of Zoltán’s proposal of the L2 Motivational Self System (2005, 2009) when studying for my Master’s and was struck by its potential for classroom application. I wrote to him, tentatively, not really expecting him to answer, and was astounded by an almost immediate response, packed with references, information and contacts, including Jill Hadfield, with whom he was preparing a teacher resource book (2013). They kindly allowed me to use their as-yet-unpublished material in class and thus began my research journey. I subsequently learnt that Zoltán encouraged and mentored many early-career researchers, who were not his own students, in this way. In EuroSLA in Stockholm, 2011, I slipped easily into a (slightly fangirl, on my part) conversation with a fellow presenter about how incredible it was that Dörnyei answered our emails so promptly and fully. That fellow presenter was Alistair Henry, who has since gone on to collaborate with Zoltán on books and articles and whose considerable research output in the field has made him a point of reference in L2 motivation theory. 

I still have no idea how Zoltán managed to juggle his own teaching, research and supervising commitments, and maintain such a prolific output of academic publications, while simultaneously devoting considerable time to answering enquiries and responding to, one can only imagine, constant requests. It is testimony to his sharp and brilliant mind that he made this look easy. Emboldened by his (I now realise, unusual) response to my initial enquiry and the fact that he always seemed genuinely pleased to see me, I made several cheeky requests of Zoltán over the years, including writing the preface for the first ELTRIA publication in 2017. He read the first draft, made helpful and encouraging comments, and sent me the (impeccably written) preface within 48 hours.

I consider myself very fortunate to have met Zoltán on various occasions. He encouraged me to pursue a qualitative data analysis for my PhD (this from the man who, literally, wrote the book on the classic quantitative instrument: the questionnaire). Modest and self-effacing, he did not seek the limelight and was happy to be relatively anonymous. Over lunch at a busy café in Brighton for IATEFL 2018, we offered to share a table with another conference delegate. Making conversation, she asked Zoltán what he did, and he answered ‘I’m going to give a talk now. I’m quite nervous actually’. She patted his arm reassuringly and told him it would be fine. She had no idea who he was. I’d like to think she might have been part of the (huge) audience he had at the presentation (you can see it here).

My debt to Zoltán is not only professional. His writing was important enough to me to take on a PhD, which changed my life personally. His encouragement, interest, and even, on occasion, gentle admonishment for my lack of academic ambition, helped me form a future possible-self vision far beyond anything I’d previously thought possible. If Zoltán Dörnyei takes the time to interact with you, it follows that you might have something interesting to say! I know for a fact that I am only one of many that he encouraged. His legacy extends far beyond his incalculable academic importance, and into the personal journeys and choices he influenced both directly and indirectly. 

He was exceptional in so many ways and will be greatly missed.

Image credit: University of Nottingham