By Nada Salem Abisamra http://www.nadasisland.com

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Nada's Master's THESIS: "The Role of Motivation, Gender, and Language Learning Strategies in EFL Proficiency" (Html / References)

Presentation: Content

"The Creator gathered all of creation and said, 'I want to hide something from the humans until they are Ready for it. It is the Realization that They Create their Own Reality.' The eagle said, 'Give it to me, I will take it to the moon.' The Creator said, 'No. One day they will go there and find it.' The salmon said, 'I will hide it on the bottom of the ocean.' 'No. They will go there too.' The buffalo said, 'I will bury it on the Great Plains.' Then Grand-mother Mole, who lives in the breast of Mother Earth, and who has no physical eyes but sees with spiritual eyes, said, 'Put it Inside them.' And the creator said, 'It is done.' " Sioux Legend

What do we infer from this "Legend?"

As Rogers said while talking about mainstream educational institutions, "They have focused so intently on the cognitive and have limited themselves so completely to 'educating from the neck up' , that this narrowness is resulting in serious social consequences." (1975:40-41) .

Motivation is like food for the brain. --Peter Davies http://www.quotelady.com/subjects/motivation.html

Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner. -- Les Brown -- http://www.motivation123.com/quotations.html

Everybody needs motivation. Everybody needs to have a reason for action. It is a sad fact that most people in this world underachieve because they don't believe they are capable of fulfilling their dreams. We, teachers, need to be committed to offering students the opportunity to believe in themselves and achieve great things.

Krashen's Theory of Second Language Acquisition consists of five main hypotheses:

1- Natural order hypothesis:

'We acquire the rules of language in a predictable order'

What we conclude then is that Affect plays a very important role in second language acquisition. It needs to be taken into consideration by L2 teachers so they make sure that the students' affective filter is low at all times in order for learning to take place. Since this presentation is only related to Motivation, it will not cover the two other variables: self-confidence and anxiety.

Before we start by defining motivation, mentioning its sources and different theories/models and their implications, we believe it is worth asking one question that seems to guide all theorists' and researchers' work: "Why do people learn a second or foreign language? In other words, what is their Goal?

1- Why Do People Learn a Second/Foreign Language?

This seems to be the key question in all kinds of research! And of course, the reasons vary from a person to another.

2- Definitions of L2

3- Good L2 Learners

Some of those strategies:

Rubin (1975) suggested that good L2 learners

4- Definitions of Motivation

Here are a few that I have found in the literature:

According to the Webster's, to motivate means to provide with a motive, a need or desire that causes a person to act.

According to Gardner (1985), motivation is concerned with the question, "Why does an organism behave as it does? Motivation involves 4 aspects:

Motivation is a desire to achieve a goal, combined with the energy to work towards that goal. Many researchers consider motivation as one of the main elements that determine success in developing a second or foreign language; it determines the extent of active, personal involvement in L2 learning. (Oxford & Shearin, 1994)

Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success. --Napolean Hill --

5- Sources of Motivation

"Without knowing where the roots of motivation lie, how can teachers water those roots?" (Oxford & Shearin, 1994- p.15)

Note: Conation = inclination to act purposefully; impulse. (Webster's) "It is an intrinsic 'unrest' of the organism, almost the opposite of homeostasis. A conscious tendency to act... a conscious striving." (English & English, 1958)

Note: Vicarious learning = the acquisition of knowledge or ability through indirect experience and observation, rather than direct experience or practice. (Harcourt Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology)

6- Theories of Motivation

Since this formula states that the three factors of Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valence or Value are to be multiplied by each other, a low value in one will result in a low value of motivation. Therefore, all three must be present in order for motivation to occur. That is, if an individual doesn't believe he or she can be successful at a task OR the individual does not see a connection between his or her activity and success OR the individual does not value the results of success, then the probability is lowered that the individual will engage in the required learning activity. From the perspective of this theory, all three variables must be high in order for motivation and the resulting behavior to be high. => An individual will act in a certain way based on the expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual.

In a teaching/learning environment, it is important to assist the learner to develop a self-attribution explanation of effort (internal, control). If the person has an attribution of ability (internal, no control) as soon as the individual experiences some difficulties in the learning process, he or she will decrease appropriate learning behavior. If the person has an external attribution, then nothing the person can do will help that individual in a learning situation (i.e., responsibility for demonstrating what has been learned is completely outside the person). In this case, there is nothing to be done by the individual when learning problems occur. .

According to the Webster's, cognitive dissonance is a psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes held simultaneously.

Cognitivists explain motivation in terms of a person's active search for meaning and satisfaction in life. Thus, motivation is internal.

D- Achievement Motivation Theories

One aspect of this theory is that individuals are motivated to either avoid failure (more often associated with performance goals) or achieve success (more often associated with mastery goals). In the former situation, the individual is more likely to select easy or difficult tasks, thereby either achieving success or having a good excuse for why failure occurred. In the latter situation, the individual is more likely to select moderately difficult tasks which will provide an interesting challenge, but still keep the high expectations for success.

According to Maslow, an individual is ready to act upon the growth needs if and only if the deficiency needs are met.

The remaining four levels (Growth Needs) are:

Maslow recognized that not all personalities followed his proposed hierarchy. While a variety of personality dimensions might be considered as related to motivational needs, one of the most often cited is that of introversion and extroversion. Reorganizing Maslow's hierarchy based on the work of Alderfer and considering the introversion/extroversion dimension of personality results in three levels, each with an introverted and extroverted component. This organization suggests there may be two aspects of each level that differentiate how people relate to each set of needs. Different personalities might relate more to one dimension than the other. For example, an introvert at the level of Other/Relatedness might be more concerned with his or her own perceptions of being included in a group, whereas an extrovert at that same level would pay more attention to how others value that membership.

A Reorganization of Maslow's and Alderfer's Hierarchies

Edward L. Deci

H- Transpersonal / Spiritual Theories

Most of the transpersonal or spiritual theories deal with the meaningfulness of our lives or ultimate meanings.

Theories of Motivation Summary

Behaviorists explain motivation in terms of external stimuli and reinforcement. The physical environment and actions of the teacher are of prime importance.

Cognitivists explain motivation in terms of person's active search for meaning and satisfaction in life. Thus motivation is internal.

Humanists stress the need for personal growth. They place a great deal of emphasis on the total person, along with the related news of personal freedom, choice and self-determination.

7- Models of Motivation

In the context of language learning, instrumental motivation refers to the learner's desire to learn a language for utilitarian purposes (such as school/university requirement, employment or travel), whereas integrative motivation refers to the desire to learn a language to integrate successfully into the target language community.

Researchers challenged the social psychological approach claiming that it does not include the cognitive aspects of learning motivation (Oxford & Shearin, 1994; Dornyei, 1994), it is not practical and does not benefit L2 learning since it is too broad to help L2 educators generate practical guidelines (Dornyei, 1990).

Questions the learner asks him/herself:

C- Schumann (1978, 1986): Acculturation Model- Schumann examined the effects of personal variables such as relative status, attitude, integration, amount of time in the culture, size of the learning group, and cohesiveness of the group on adult language learning.

Schumann suggested three strategies taken by adult learners:

Gardner (1985) describes core second language learning motivation as a construct composed of three characteristics:

According to Gardner, a highly motivated individual will

"An integratively oriented learner would likely have a stronger desire to learn the language, have more positive attitudes towards the learning situation, and be more likely to expend more effort in learning the language (Gardner, 1985).

The Gardnerian theory of SLA motivation is based on the definition of motivation as "the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity" (Gardner, 1985).

The micro level involves the cognitive processing of L2 input. At the micro level learner motivation is evidenced by the amount of attention given to the input. The classroom level includes the techniques and activities employed in the classroom. The syllabus level refers to the choice of content presented and can influence motivation by the level of curiosity and interest stimulated in the students. Finally, factors from outside the classroom involve informal interaction in the L2 and long term factors.

Crookes & Schmidt (1991) also suggested that motivation to learn a language has both internal and external features:

1- Interest in L2 (based on attitudes, experience, background knowledge) 2- Relevance (perception that personal needs --achievement, affiliation, power-- are being met by learning the L2. 3- Expectancy of success or failure. 4- Outcomes (extrinsic or intrinsic rewards felt by the learner.) .

1- Decision to choose, pay attention to, and engage in L2 learning. 2- Persistence 3- High activity level

* beliefs about self (i.e., expectancies about one's attitudes to succeed, self-efficacy, and anxiety)

* goals (perceived clarity and relevance of learning goals as reasons for learning)

* involvement (i.e., extent to which the learner actively and consciously participates in the language learning process)

* environmental support (i.e., extent of teacher and peer support, and the integration of cultural and outside-of-class support into learning experience)

* personal attributes (i.e., aptitude, age, sex, and previous language learning experience).

2. the instrumental/pragmatic dimension;

3. the macro-context-related dimension (multi-cultural/ intergroup / ethnolinguistic relations);

4. the self-concept-related dimension (generalised/ trait-like personality factors);

5. the goal-related dimension;

6. the educational context-related dimension (learning/ classroom/ school environment);

7. the significant others-related dimension (parents, family, friends).

Models of Motivation Summary

8- Factors that Affect Motivation .

9- Instruments for Motivation Assessment:

10- Implications & Strategies for L2 Learners' Motivation:

Check Matching Exercise

The greatest motivational act one person can do for another is to listen.--Roy E. Moody

Dornyei (1994) suggests

Dornyei (1998:131) suggests "Ten Commandments for Motivating Language Learners

Oxford & Shearin (1996:139) also offer Practical Suggestions for Teachers:

1. Teachers can identify why students are studying the new language.

3. Teachers can help students improve motivation by showing that L2 learning can be an exciting mental challenge, a career enhancer, a vehicle to cultural awareness and friendship and a key to world peace.

4. Teachers can make the L2 classroom a welcoming, positive place where psychological needs are met and where language anxiety is kept to a minimum.

5. Teachers can urge students to develop their own intrinsic rewards through positive self-talk, guided self-evaluation, and mastery of specific goals, rather than comparison with other students. Teachers can thus promote a sense of greater self-efficacy, increasing motivation to continue learning the L2.

Keller (1983).Hepresents an instructional design model for motivation that is based upon a number of other theories. His model suggests a design strategy that encompasses four components of motivation:

The ARCS Model identifies four essential strategy components for motivating instruction:

Follow this link:
Affect in Language Learning: Motivation