Imagine yourself confidently navigating a bustling foreign market, striking up conversations with locals, and immersing yourself in a new culture – all thanks to your foreign language skills. Sounds pretty amazing, right? But the journey to fluency can often feel daunting. The key to unlocking your language learning potential lies in a powerful force: motivation.
This article delves into the fascinating world of motivation in foreign language learning. We'll explore the factors that ignite the desire to learn a new language, uncover strategies to stay motivated throughout your language journey and equip you with the tools to transform language learning from a chore into a captivating adventure. So, whether you're a complete beginner or a seasoned learner looking to reignite your passion, get ready to discover the spark within!
What is motivation
Motivation is considered to be a major element in the achievement of any goal. It is an important factor that has a positive impact on any educational process, especially in second language learning. Motivation is defined as an internal process that activates, directs and maintains behaviour over time. It is not static, it changes according to the context and varies over time. Motivation is a key factor in second language learning. Students with lower grades but who are highly motivated can be more successful than smarter students who are not well motivated.
Sometimes students come in highly motivated and it is the teacher's job to maintain and maximise the students' motivation.
The first stage is to create initial motivation. This involves how to get students excited about what they are going to learn.
The second stage is to maintain and protect motivation. Motivation, generated in the first stage, must be sustained, otherwise, it will not be brought out and the goal will not be achieved.
The third stage is positive self-reflection. As students complete several tasks on the way to the goal, they should reflect positively on their experiences and themselves. In this way, they are most likely to continue without giving up.
Most people have the belief that learning a foreign language is easiest for children, while for those older ones, especially adults, learning is difficult.
While it is true that children learn a foreign language better when given certain conditions, it should not be forgotten that motivation is the key element in achieving success in learning a foreign language. Most people (despite their age) who manage to achieve a very high level of foreign language proficiency have one thing in common: very high motivation.
Types of motivation
Researchers, linguists and psychologists who study the relationship between foreign language learning and motivation point to certain types of motivation.
The first type of motivation is ‘intrinsic motivation.’ We deal with it when we are motivated by intrinsic motives in learning a foreign language - e.g. the desire to learn a foreign language for its own sake; the desire to have the opportunity simply to speak the target language with a native speaker; or an interest in a particular country or culture, etc.
Another type of motivation is ‘extrinsic motivation.’ Contrary to intrinsic motivation, this type of motivation stems from extrinsic factors. It could be the desire to pass a test in order to fulfil an external condition of language proficiency, or the requirement to know a foreign language at a certain level.
The reality is that people have different reasons, as much internal as external, for wanting to learn a foreign language, and their motivation varies according to various aspects in a given place, time and situation in their lives.
The third type of motivation is ‘instrumental motivation.’ In this case, people are primarily motivated by practical reasons (they treat language as a tool). Motivators such as a better salary or a job or getting into university qualify here, very similar to extrinsic motivation.
Instrumental motivation has been shown to have less impact on success in language learning.
More about motivation
Professors Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert have conducted research on motivation and they indicate that in addition to motivation, other factors also matter, such as language aptitude/ability.
Based on their research in officially bilingual Canada, they noted that some students are integrally motivated to learn a second language. This means that they feel an affinity for the second language, but also want to meet people who speak the language, although they are also interested in the culture associated with the language. This is similar to intrinsic motivation.
Returning to the variability of motivation, of course, people's motivation can change. Professor Zoltán Dörnyei of the University of Nottingham noted that ‘every different psychological perspective on human behaviour involves a different theory of motivation’. His author's model is known as the ‘L2 motivation system’ (‘L2:’ ‘Language 2’ - second language) and emphasises students' ability to imagine themselves in the future as positive, competent and successful second language users.
‘The Dörnyei model' also recognises that motivation is sooner dynamic than static. Motivation changes because it is influenced by various factors in real-time, in the here and now. The level of motivation can increase or decrease depending on how motivated, interested or engaged his or her conversation partners are (these can be native speakers or other learners and their teacher). Put differently, motivation can be contagious.
Dörnyei and his team conducted a study on a group of students and found that students who are able to create an image of themselves as successful language learners can achieve their goals. To do this, they need to have a clearly defined task plan and strategies to follow.
The task that learners complete, but also how interesting and engaging it is, is not irrelevant to the learning process. Deborah Tannen, professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, believes that ‘every person's life is a series of conversations,’ she also notes that ‘the desire to have some kind of conversation with people we know or want to know can be a huge motivation for learning a new language.’
Not only motivation
One gets the impression that at least three factors are important for success in learning a foreign language. These are working memory, i.e. storing and processing temporary information, and performing complex cognitive tasks such as language comprehension.
Next is associative memory, which is nothing more than linking new information to that which is well established in memory; and how strong implicit learning mechanisms are, which can be seen as the ability to find patterns in information. If one has the above-mentioned skills, together with a high level of different types of motivation, one is likely to be successful in learning a foreign language, particularly if one has access to instruction that has been tailored to one's skills and interests.
However, what about people who are not lucky enough, and do not have the ability and motivation or access to good instruction? As linguist Steven Pinker has pointed out, ‘our behaviours are the result of neurophysiological activity in the brain. There is no reason to believe that there is any magic going on’. The idea that people are ‘programmed’ to learn a foreign language is fascinating, and sometimes even attractive, as it can be used to free some people from ‘hard and pointless foreign language learning’ if the journey of exploring a foreign language is less than successful.
Keeping the student motivated is also important for the teacher
The teacher needs to support, guide and sustain the motivation of the students.
The first issue is the impact teachers can have on pupils if they take an interest in them. For example, knowing a little more than just the pupils' names helps teachers to understand some unusual behaviour.
Another thing is the offer of help with tasks, which shows that the teacher cares about the students and understands their need for help. Undoubtedly, trying to support and give feedback, rather than just leaving students alone with the tasks, sustains interest and motivation.
The third issue is student implementation. Success inspires and repeated failure demotivates. However, without trying and with tasks that are too easy or too difficult, pupils become demotivated. Therefore, teachers must take into account and adapt the methodology and language to the level of the students.
Another point is the pupils' individual opinion of teachers. When meeting a teacher for the first time, pupils decide whether or not they will show respect to the teacher. Dress code, posture and the way they speak show the pupils how assertive the teachers are. In other words, the competence of the teacher in a subject is extremely important for the learning process.
A further matter is the projects and tasks that students like to do. However, this is tricky for teachers because every student has their own style and preferences. Therefore, teachers should be efficient in selecting tasks and adjusting the methodology.
The final point at issue is proactivity. Students must be given the opportunity to be proactive in their own learning process. Therefore, teachers should enable students to make their own choices in the learning process. This gives them a sense of, but also real responsibility for, their own learning and keeps them motivated for a long time.
These are just a few of the many issues that a teacher should take into account when leading a foreign language learning process.
Concluding
As you can see, motivation, its generation and maintenance, is influenced to a considerable extent by teachers, their knowledge and experience - simply put, their competence; however, the greater part of motivation is on the side of the learner. Admittedly, motivation is influenced by the situation, the age or the needs of the learner - different types of motivation are characterised by greater or lesser ‘strength’ at a given point. This can be summarised by the analogy that the teacher can show the door, but it is up to the learner to go through the threshold. Learning a foreign language is a journey or an adventure, the teacher has a role to play, but it is the learner who has to go through this journey, this adventure.
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