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Department of Fundamental Courses, Air Force Logistics College, XuZhou 221000
Abstract. There are a lot of factors which influence success in language learning. However, one of the most important factors is the learner's motivation to learn the language in order to be able to use it in real-life situations. Research and experience show that learners with strong motivation can achieve a lot regardless of circumstances. Studies of motivation in second language learning have led to several distinctions, one of which is the distinction between integrative and instrumental motivation. Even though teachers cannot control all types and aspects of motivation, they can do a lot to help learners develop motivation and interest for learning the language. This paper discusses the definition of motivation, the different types of motivation and the ways of promoting learner motivation and interest.
Keywords: motivation definition types ways
I. The Definition of Motivation
The study of motivation is as old as the study of psychology. What is learning motivation? Learning motivation is students' intent to learn. It is the key to all learning. If a student is motivated enough, he/she can accomplish learning of any scale. So we can say, in the learning situation, it is motivation that pushes the individual to overcome the barrier and achieve the goal. The last four decades witnessed many researches that investigated the nature and role of motivation in second language learning. Gardner & Lambert and a lot of other foreign scholars have done most pioneering investigation on motivation.
The need for promotion of effective language learning is heightened by the increasing interest in motivation to learn English. Motivation, which is one of the individual differences, contributes a lot to me success and failure in second language learning. When it comes to the definition of motivation, Ellis[1] primarily defines motivation is "the effort learners were prepared to make to learn a language and their persistence in learning." According to Dornyei, motivation is "the choice of a particular action, the persistence with it, the effort expended on it. " in other words, motivation is responsible for why people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity, how hard they are going to pursue it. There is no doubt that motivation is a vital factor and determinant in English learning. So it is extremely important to understand the nature of student motivation. How to motivate and maintain the motivation to learn English, to maintain interest in learning English are very important. Williams. M. and R. L. Burden discussed the basis of various motives, put forward their own motive patterns that have a cognitive and social constructivist, "Motivation is a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, it leads to a conscious decision to take action, and leads to a period of sustained intellectual or physical effort. The aim is to reach one or groups in order to attain a previously set goal or goals."[2] So, how to definite the foreign language learning motivation? Canadian psychologist Professor Gardner said, "Motivation is a desire to learn a language, an effort to learn the language, and a comprehensive good attitude that hold for learning a language."[3]
II. Two Types of motivation
Motivation has been identified as the learner's orientation with regard to the goal of learning a second language. Motivation has chiefly been a hot point in foreign language learning. According to Gardner and Lambert [4], motivation can be classified into integrative motivation and instrumental motivation.
i. Integrative Motivation
Integrative motivation refers to the learners special interset in the target language community and the longing to participate and assimilate into the community life. Integrative Motivation is also called "combined motivation". It is theorized that "integrative motivation typically underlies successful acquisition of a wide range of registers and a native-like pronunciation" [5]. Integrative motivation refers to the purpose of learning the target language is to understand and use the contacts of the target language groups. Motivation is integral when the learner's positive attitudes towards the target language group. It comes into play when one desires to become a part of a community that uses the target language in social situations. Integrative motivation has been found to sustain long-term success when learning a second language. Learners with integrative motivation are more active in class and are less likely to drop out.
ii. Instrumental Motivation
Instrumental motivation refers to learners who treat the acquisition of a second language only as a means to achieve certain aims. Instrumental motivation is also called "task-oriented motivation" or "certificate motivation". Motivation is instrumental when we desire to obtain something practical from studying a second language. This is generally characterized by the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of a second language[6]. The learner's purpose in language acquisition is more practical, such as passing an examination, getting a certain kind of job, requesting higher pay based on language ability, reading technical material, translation work or achieving higher social status and so on. Integrative motivation and instrumental motivation are regard as important 3 factors for learning foreign language and studied widely. By integrative motivation, we mean that learning the language to take part in the culture of its people. In other words, those who want to go abroad and become immigrants have integrative motivation. By instrumental motivation, we mean that learning language for a career reason or other practical reason.
Both integrative and instrumental motivations are important, inseparable and complementary to each other in English learning. During the process of second language learning, learners must balance both two types of motivation. Only when the desire of achieving a goal, right attitude and real action combined can the real motivation be formed.
III. The Ways of Promoting Learner Motivation
According to psychological researches, motivation is not genetic, it is learned. In other words, motivation is learnable and teachable. There are some factors that affect one's motivation, such as family, neighbors, prior teachers, learning conditions and so on. They are beyond our control. However, there are some ways that can change your learning habits and establish your motivation. Here are suggestions for teachers to do.
i. Inspiring Students' Interest in English.
Interest is the best teacher. Arousing interest is a crucial means to inspire students' instrumental motivation. Interest is identified as one of the main elements of motivation. It is well known that whether the students are interested in English learning or not directly affects the success or failure of English teaching. They will not take the initiative or become active in learning English well until they take a great interest in the language. It is necessary for teachers to stimulate and maintain students' interest in order to motivate them to learn English well. Here are two methods that can be used. First, try to find interesting learning materials (different people, different topics). Second, try to connect learning to realistic life (speaking, writing, application).
ii. Getting Students' Attention
There are many things you can do to get students' attention. A sudden noise, a sudden quietness, a new or unusual object in the classroom, or any number of simple devices can be used. However, the challenge is to keep their attention. People have different capacities for paying attention. Some become bored and restless very quickly while others can be relaxed and attentive for a long time. Because of this, teachers have to go beyond simple attention getting tactics and activate the students' curiosity to maintain their attention. A deeper level of curiosity is aroused when students have a desire to understand why things happen the way they do, or when they want to explore a topic of interest to learn more about it. It is also important to incorporate variability in one's approaches, because no matter how interesting a given tactic is, people will adapt to it and lose interest over time. With respect to psychological research, the attention category incorporates the concepts of curiosity and arousal, interest, boredom , and other related areas such as sensation seeking. iii. Creating a Good Learning Environment
Teacher should create a good learning environment. Good teachers will try their best to improve the efficiency of the class. Now we have entered the digital information age and multimedia is very favorable for students learning. In the multimedia teaching, the use of object color, movement, sound, size, contrast, visual, auditory can improve the quality of teaching, and better accomplishes the task of teaching. In the class, we also try our best to give them a good environment e to improve their speaking and listening to English.
iv. Setting Learning Goals
Setting a goal demonstrates an intention to achieve and activates learning from one day to the next. It also directs learners' activities toward the goal and offers an opportunity to experience success. The final goal of language teaching is to enable the students to use the foreign language in work and life where necessary. But the ultimate goal of the long learning process is not strong enough to maintain the initial motivation during all the time. Based on the study of Pintrich and Schunk, Dornyei concludes a set of principles for goals: goals should be clear and specific, challenging and difficult, realistic and evaluable; goals should have a finish date; both long and short term goals should be set.
IV. Conclusion
English learning motivation is closely related to the learner's study situation. It is a factor in learner motivation to learn English, a internal drive English language learners to achieve their learning objectives motivate. Teachers should exert themselves to motivate and maintain students' motivation, help students love English and improve English performance.
References
[1] The United States: Allyn and bacon Ellis, R. (1997).
[2] 傅玲芳. 大学英语学习动机的特殊性与动机的维持[J]. 温州职业技术学院学报，2004.
[3] 丙利红. 如何激发非英语专业大学生的英语学习动机[J]. 吉林广播电视大学学报，2005.
[4] Gardner, R.C., & Lambert, W.E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation: Second language learning. Newbury House.
[5] Finegan, E. (1999). Language: Its structure and use (3rd Ed.). Harcourt Brace.
[6] Hudson, G. (2000). Essential introductory linguistics. Blackwell Publishers.
Abstract. There are a lot of factors which influence success in language learning. However, one of the most important factors is the learner's motivation to learn the language in order to be able to use it in real-life situations. Research and experience show that learners with strong motivation can achieve a lot regardless of circumstances. Studies of motivation in second language learning have led to several distinctions, one of which is the distinction between integrative and instrumental motivation. Even though teachers cannot control all types and aspects of motivation, they can do a lot to help learners develop motivation and interest for learning the language. This paper discusses the definition of motivation, the different types of motivation and the ways of promoting learner motivation and interest.
Keywords: motivation definition types ways
I. The Definition of Motivation
The study of motivation is as old as the study of psychology. What is learning motivation? Learning motivation is students' intent to learn. It is the key to all learning. If a student is motivated enough, he/she can accomplish learning of any scale. So we can say, in the learning situation, it is motivation that pushes the individual to overcome the barrier and achieve the goal. The last four decades witnessed many researches that investigated the nature and role of motivation in second language learning. Gardner & Lambert and a lot of other foreign scholars have done most pioneering investigation on motivation.
The need for promotion of effective language learning is heightened by the increasing interest in motivation to learn English. Motivation, which is one of the individual differences, contributes a lot to me success and failure in second language learning. When it comes to the definition of motivation, Ellis[1] primarily defines motivation is "the effort learners were prepared to make to learn a language and their persistence in learning." According to Dornyei, motivation is "the choice of a particular action, the persistence with it, the effort expended on it. " in other words, motivation is responsible for why people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity, how hard they are going to pursue it. There is no doubt that motivation is a vital factor and determinant in English learning. So it is extremely important to understand the nature of student motivation. How to motivate and maintain the motivation to learn English, to maintain interest in learning English are very important. Williams. M. and R. L. Burden discussed the basis of various motives, put forward their own motive patterns that have a cognitive and social constructivist, "Motivation is a state of cognitive and emotional arousal, it leads to a conscious decision to take action, and leads to a period of sustained intellectual or physical effort. The aim is to reach one or groups in order to attain a previously set goal or goals."[2] So, how to definite the foreign language learning motivation? Canadian psychologist Professor Gardner said, "Motivation is a desire to learn a language, an effort to learn the language, and a comprehensive good attitude that hold for learning a language."[3]
II. Two Types of motivation
Motivation has been identified as the learner's orientation with regard to the goal of learning a second language. Motivation has chiefly been a hot point in foreign language learning. According to Gardner and Lambert [4], motivation can be classified into integrative motivation and instrumental motivation.
i. Integrative Motivation
Integrative motivation refers to the learners special interset in the target language community and the longing to participate and assimilate into the community life. Integrative Motivation is also called "combined motivation". It is theorized that "integrative motivation typically underlies successful acquisition of a wide range of registers and a native-like pronunciation" [5]. Integrative motivation refers to the purpose of learning the target language is to understand and use the contacts of the target language groups. Motivation is integral when the learner's positive attitudes towards the target language group. It comes into play when one desires to become a part of a community that uses the target language in social situations. Integrative motivation has been found to sustain long-term success when learning a second language. Learners with integrative motivation are more active in class and are less likely to drop out.
ii. Instrumental Motivation
Instrumental motivation refers to learners who treat the acquisition of a second language only as a means to achieve certain aims. Instrumental motivation is also called "task-oriented motivation" or "certificate motivation". Motivation is instrumental when we desire to obtain something practical from studying a second language. This is generally characterized by the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the study of a second language[6]. The learner's purpose in language acquisition is more practical, such as passing an examination, getting a certain kind of job, requesting higher pay based on language ability, reading technical material, translation work or achieving higher social status and so on. Integrative motivation and instrumental motivation are regard as important 3 factors for learning foreign language and studied widely. By integrative motivation, we mean that learning the language to take part in the culture of its people. In other words, those who want to go abroad and become immigrants have integrative motivation. By instrumental motivation, we mean that learning language for a career reason or other practical reason.
Both integrative and instrumental motivations are important, inseparable and complementary to each other in English learning. During the process of second language learning, learners must balance both two types of motivation. Only when the desire of achieving a goal, right attitude and real action combined can the real motivation be formed.
III. The Ways of Promoting Learner Motivation
According to psychological researches, motivation is not genetic, it is learned. In other words, motivation is learnable and teachable. There are some factors that affect one's motivation, such as family, neighbors, prior teachers, learning conditions and so on. They are beyond our control. However, there are some ways that can change your learning habits and establish your motivation. Here are suggestions for teachers to do.
i. Inspiring Students' Interest in English.
Interest is the best teacher. Arousing interest is a crucial means to inspire students' instrumental motivation. Interest is identified as one of the main elements of motivation. It is well known that whether the students are interested in English learning or not directly affects the success or failure of English teaching. They will not take the initiative or become active in learning English well until they take a great interest in the language. It is necessary for teachers to stimulate and maintain students' interest in order to motivate them to learn English well. Here are two methods that can be used. First, try to find interesting learning materials (different people, different topics). Second, try to connect learning to realistic life (speaking, writing, application).
ii. Getting Students' Attention
There are many things you can do to get students' attention. A sudden noise, a sudden quietness, a new or unusual object in the classroom, or any number of simple devices can be used. However, the challenge is to keep their attention. People have different capacities for paying attention. Some become bored and restless very quickly while others can be relaxed and attentive for a long time. Because of this, teachers have to go beyond simple attention getting tactics and activate the students' curiosity to maintain their attention. A deeper level of curiosity is aroused when students have a desire to understand why things happen the way they do, or when they want to explore a topic of interest to learn more about it. It is also important to incorporate variability in one's approaches, because no matter how interesting a given tactic is, people will adapt to it and lose interest over time. With respect to psychological research, the attention category incorporates the concepts of curiosity and arousal, interest, boredom , and other related areas such as sensation seeking. iii. Creating a Good Learning Environment
Teacher should create a good learning environment. Good teachers will try their best to improve the efficiency of the class. Now we have entered the digital information age and multimedia is very favorable for students learning. In the multimedia teaching, the use of object color, movement, sound, size, contrast, visual, auditory can improve the quality of teaching, and better accomplishes the task of teaching. In the class, we also try our best to give them a good environment e to improve their speaking and listening to English.
iv. Setting Learning Goals
Setting a goal demonstrates an intention to achieve and activates learning from one day to the next. It also directs learners' activities toward the goal and offers an opportunity to experience success. The final goal of language teaching is to enable the students to use the foreign language in work and life where necessary. But the ultimate goal of the long learning process is not strong enough to maintain the initial motivation during all the time. Based on the study of Pintrich and Schunk, Dornyei concludes a set of principles for goals: goals should be clear and specific, challenging and difficult, realistic and evaluable; goals should have a finish date; both long and short term goals should be set.
IV. Conclusion
English learning motivation is closely related to the learner's study situation. It is a factor in learner motivation to learn English, a internal drive English language learners to achieve their learning objectives motivate. Teachers should exert themselves to motivate and maintain students' motivation, help students love English and improve English performance.
References
[1] The United States: Allyn and bacon Ellis, R. (1997).
[2] 傅玲芳. 大学英语学习动机的特殊性与动机的维持[J]. 温州职业技术学院学报，2004.
[3] 丙利红. 如何激发非英语专业大学生的英语学习动机[J]. 吉林广播电视大学学报，2005.
[4] Gardner, R.C., & Lambert, W.E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation: Second language learning. Newbury House.
[5] Finegan, E. (1999). Language: Its structure and use (3rd Ed.). Harcourt Brace.
[6] Hudson, G. (2000). Essential introductory linguistics. Blackwell Publishers.