“Without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals” (Dornyei, 1998:117).
have been trying to answer this question by determining what motivational factors
encourage an individual to learn a foreign language.
Many teachers, researchers, have been pondering for decades on why there are pupils who have an aptitude to learn another language while others are not. Researches were to a certain extent limited as Jaclyn Bernard points out ‘achievement in foreign language learning receives relatively little attention’. (2010, repository.cmu.edu). However, these last five decades, more attention has been given to factors that affect second and foreign language acquisition such as age, aptitude, motivation, social and political factors. For a long time, aptitude was seeing as the key element to second language acquisition. However, today, motivation is recognised as playing one of the most significant roles in second and foreign language acquisition and has been given more attention by researchers. According to psycholinguist Zoltan Dornyei, ‘Gardner and Lambert emphasised that, although language aptitude accounts for a considerable proportion of individual variability in language learning achievement, motivational factors can override the aptitude effect’ (1998)
Even though motivation is unambiguously a key factor in second and foreign language acquisition, defining motivation is not as straightforward as it appears. According to the Oxford online dictionary the reason why somebody does something or behaves in a particular way. However, there have been a plethora of theories attempting to explain motivation which have led to little agreement on a simple definition. According to Gardner, it cannot be measured or assessed and is not a ‘simple construct’. Nevertheless, Dornyei states that there is a consensus view amongst researchers that motivation ‘is responsible for determining human behaviour by energising it and giving it a direction’ (1998)
For the last 50 years, psycholinguist Zoltan Dornyei has identified three major phases on motivation research: ‘1) The social psychological period, (2) the cognitive-situated period, and (3) the process-oriented period.’ The socio psychological period, which dominated until the nineties, was significant in putting forward motivation as a significant factor in the relationship second language learning and achievement. Indeed, psychologists Robert C. Gardner and Wallace E. Lambert have been the pioneers in underlining the relationship between motivation and achievement in second language acquisition. They were the first researchers in second language learning to emphasise the considerable and critical role of motivation and the social psychological aspect.
The approach classified motivation into two types: integrative and instrumental. The integrative type is characterised by the ‘learner’s positive attitude towards the target language group and the desire to integrate into the target language community’. Integrative orientation
The instrumental type is characterised by the desire to obtain something practical or concrete from the second language learning and is more utilitarian such as meeting the requirements for school or university graduation’. Learners attempt to learn a language in exchange of an economical or educational reason such as passing an exam (for instance GCSE), a better opportunity to gain a place at university or a job.
Whilst many have welcomed this approach on foreign language learning, Gardner has been criticised as they had concluded that integrative motivation was perceived as more important in its correlation with second language learning achievement than instrumental motivation. In some of the early research conducted by Gardner and Lambert integrative motivation was viewed as being of more importance in a formal learning environment than instrumental motivation (Ellis 1997).
Many other studies have indicated that instrumental motivation could be just as strongly interconnected to achievement in second language acquisition.
Moreover, other researchers have welcomed Gardner and Lambert’s significant research however, they have pointed out that this study on the relationship between motivation and second language learning was limited to these two types. As Oxford and Shearin states ‘recently questions have been raised about other possible kinds of L2 learning motivation and their differential importance’. Gardner and Lambert’s model has also been criticised because of their over-emphasis on the integrative type over the instrumental type. Indeed, he had claimed that ‘those who are integratively motivated will probably be more successful in language learning than those who are not so motivated’ (Crookes & Schmidt, 1991, p. 474).
Dornyei also notes that that Gardner and Lambert’s research’s findings are limited as the results are based on second language learners. Indeed, their research was based on the ‘basis of surveys conducted primarily among English-speaking Canadians learning French’. Accordingly, the study’s outcomes would differ if it was a foreign language learning milieu where ‘students have less exposure to L2 speakers’ (Dornyei, 1994b:520).
Gardner does not reject these critics, welcome them and appeal for more research ‘to define the role of contextual factors’. He stated that the view ‘that the role of attitudes and motivation should be consistent in many different contexts, and thus a universal in language learning, is just too simplistic.’
Since the nineties, there have been many researches exploring alternative motivational models. Researchers have not put Gardner’s model aside but have complemented it as they have found it too restrictive. For instance, Ryan & Deci (2000) instituted another theory, the self-determination theory which addresses another two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. This is what Dornyei describes as the second period of motivation research.
Both these types are complex to define and they have been discussed in over 800 publications. Intrinsic motivation can be found within the individual and is related to the individual's identity and sense of well-being. Learners are intrinsically motivated when learning is a goal in itself. Intrinsic motivation was strongly reflected in early definitions of L2 motivation. It is defined 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‖ [3]
Extrinsic motivation comes from outside the individual. Learners are extrinsically motivated when learning is done for the sake of rewards such as grades or praise that are not inherently associated with the learning itself, that is, when learning or performing well becomes necessary to earning those rewards