Table de matières
This chapter deals with the literature review of both motivation and interest in English language learning. It therefore attempts to define and study the key concepts used. Finally it gives a short summary of the whole chapter.
However simple and easy the word “motivation” might appear, it is in fact very difficult to define. It seems theorists have not been able to reach consensus on a single definition, when we examine a few that we found in the literature.
The word motivation is derived from the Latin verb “movere” (The concise English Dictionary 1999:929) which means “to move”. When talking about motivation, we have in mind the mental processes that more people to action. Motivation pushes as if it were the energy and determines the nature of our behavior. For example, hunger is a kind of motivation. Hunger drives us to seek foods; thus hunger is a kind of inner drive, moreover, it does not lead to whatever behavior but to a specific one-eating.
At first sight our investigation of human motivation looks fairly simple. Every behavior connects with he motivation that underlies it. So motivation varies in kind and intensity. For example, you eat because you are hungry, you study because you want to succeed or for life; you murder someone because an unconquerable urge drives you to do so. The stronger that pulling force is the more successful the accomplishment or satisfaction for the need that caused the drive towards it.
Motivation is like the engine or label of all the factors that energize and give direction to human behavior, as some psychologists have said (Bolles, BUCK, PETRI and FRANKEN, 1983:345). It therefore refers to the cause of the “why” of behavior (Cristal et al. 1981:283). This means that motivation is an impulsive and reasonable drive towards an object that once wishes to grasp experience with or discover. For WILKINS (1972:185) motivation has to do with the reasons to want something and the attitudes borne towards it. DOUGLASS BROWN et al.(1981:3) assert that motivation is the inner drive impulse emotion or desire that moves someone to a particular action. For LAMBERT et al. (1982:160), motivation is the desire or the need that the learner feels to learn something.
In sum, motivation is measurable through the interest people bear for something. Interest and motivation always go together because it is the degree of interest that one bears for something which shows the degree of motivation thereon accordingly. It is something psychological, something internal.
GRADNER and LAMBERT (1972:14) introduced the notion of instrumental and integrative motivation. Instrumental motivation refers to the learner’s desire to learn a language for utilitarian purposes (such as employment or travel or exam purpose) in the context of language learning. On the other hand, integrative motivation refers to the desire to learn a language to integrate successfully into the target language community.
PASUA(1991:19) distinguishes between integrative and instrumental motivation. But there is a third i.e. a “social group identification” category which acts like the integrative one.
-Integrative motivation: in this case the learner wishes to integrate himself and become a member of a given society, which for example speaks the language s/he is trying to learn. s/he even tries to participate in what they do and the way they live or act.
-Instrumental motivation: it is called utilitarian motivation too. The learner with this motivation simply learns the language for it will help him or her to get a job, pass exams, get presents, etc.
-Social group identification motivation: here the learner needs or wants to be socially and culturally identical to the native speakers of the target language.
In later studies, CROOKES and SCHMIDT (1991:46), and GARDNER and TREMBLAY (1994:183) explored for other motivational orientation: a.reason for learning, b.desire to attain the learning goal, c.positive attitude towards the learning situation, and d.effortful behavior. Many theorists and researchers have found that it is important to recognize the construct of motivation not as a single entity but as a multifactorial one.
Motivation refers to the reasons underlying behavior (GUAY et al 2010,p.712). paragraphing Gredler, Broussard and Garrison (2004) broadly define motivation as’ the attribute that moves us to dor not to do something (p.106). Intrinsic motivation is that motivation that is animated by personal enjoyment, interest or pleasure. As Deci et al. (1999) observe ‘intrinsic motivation energizes and sustains activities through the spontaneous satisfactions inherent in effective volitional action. It is manifest in behaviors such as play, explorations and challenge seeking that people often do for external rewards. (p.658). Researchers often contrast intrinsic motivation with extrinsic motivation, which is motivation governed by reinforcement contingencies. Traditionally, educators consider intrinsic motivation to be more desirable and to result in better learning outcomes than extrinsic motivation (Deci et al, 1999).
Oxford and Shearin (1994:115) analyzed a lot of 12 motivational theories or models including those from socio-psychology, cognitive development, a socio-cultural psychology and identified six factors that impact motivation in language learning:
-Attitudes (i.e., sentiments towards the learning community and the target language)
-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 the 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).
Research has shown that factors such as positive learner and teacher attitudes, which are related to motivation, must be sustained for successful transfer of language learning (Fonocchiaro, 1982:17 NGEOW, 1998:65). To foster positive attitudes and to motivate learning, in particular, the learning of English as a second language, an environment includes:
Conducive to learning must be created. Factors that help create such an environment.
-A learning situation that has a low affective filter (Krashen, 1987:36) whereby the learners learn to use the language in a non-threatening and fun environment. Otherwise, learners will feel uncomfortable and insecure which will further induce a psychological barrier to communication and learning (Litlewood, 1995:27).
-Providing various types of input which are auditory, visual, sensory, verbal and non-verbal in nature and input which is comprehensible or a little beyond the current level of the learner(i+1).
-Providing a continues and consistent exposure to the language being learned.
-An environment where the teachers and the students are supportive and encouraging.
-Having access to situations wherein students are able to use the language as a natural means of communication (Littlewood, 1995:58).
Apart from the listed factors of motivation, motivation may be viewed as either intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, each type growing within the presence or absence of any of the factors:
Extrinsic motivation is an external form of motivation. For example, if your boss sets a deadline on a project and your bonus is tied to the deadline that is a very clear form of extrinsic motivation. In fact, this example includes two extrinsic motivations; your boss expectations and the bonus. So, extrinsic motivation does not always have to be another person but it is some outside demand, obligation, or reward that requires the achievement of a particular goal.
Intrinsic motivation, however, is an internal form of motivation. You strive towards a goal for personal satisfaction or accomplishment. You may even work towards a long term reward such as the development of a business or participating in a competition, but the primary motivator is internal.
Examples
You may have heard the story about an old man who had a playground next to his house. Every afternoon the neighborhood children played football in the playground. The old man, annoyed by all the yelling and commotion, developed a plan to stop the children from using the playground. One day while they were playing he told them that he would pay each of them $2 every day they came to play in the playground. They thought he was a little nut but were thrilled to be paid to some things they did any way.
After a few days he told them he could not afford to pay the $2 but still wanted them to play in the playground, and asked if they would accept $1. They grumbled a little but agreed to take the $1. A few days more passed and he could not be able to pay them anymore but hoped that they would still play in the playground any way. The children responded by refusing to play in the “stinking” playground if he was not going to pay them.
This story is a good example of changing intrinsic motivation to extrinsic motivation. Once that motivator disappeared; they no longer had the desire to play in the playground.
A similar situation was experienced by the researcher with a hobby of his. He enjoyed decorating cakes for family and friends for special occasions. When in college he decided to make some extra money by starting a business of decorating cakes. However, as the business grew, his interest and enjoyment in decorating cakes declined.
Eventually, he quit the business and did not make cakes for anyone expect for his daughter for 3years. He found that as a hobby he did for personal enjoyment became tied to extrinsic reward (money) he began to dislike it as it became like a chore or an obligation.
Furthermore, intrinsic motivation rests on condition within the learner and within the task that can require an effort (such as learning the valence of elements. In the periodic table) satisfying.
Five main streams of work within the study of intrinsic motivation illustrate some key theory building concerns:
The concept “interest” has got several definitions depending upon the context or the field to which it is applied. According to an English reader’s Dictionary (1969:44), interest is the condition of wanting to know or learn about something.
In pedagogy, interest is heard as the principle which aims at making the learning attractive in teaching. Moreover, in teaching, interest is used as an urge that one focuses on a given object. This means that pupils learning a language may succeed or fail due to high or poor interest they bear for it. The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (1995:742), defines interest as the feeling that makes people want to pay more attention to something or to find out more about it.
ALLEN and CORDER (1980:228) assert that interest is based on the intrinsic nature of the learning process and the contribution of the environment.
In a word, a poor interest lies in the relation between the self and something needed or wanted outside. It is here that one could even think that interest is subjective some extent.
OLLER and RICHARDS (1973:235) classify interest as follows:
-Deep interest: it comes from the learner himself. He himself wants or wishes to get something under his own initiative.
-Superficial or provoked interest: the teacher creates it in the learning by showing or reminding him of the advantages of learning a given subject.
-Natural or innate interest: the learner is born with it. It’s related to the learner’ generic origin or predisposition.
-Physiological interest: born for body or physical satisfaction, i.e. it is born by a person who feels he must respond to the need expressed by his body. A person, for example, may wish eat fish and not meat for he thinks that the latter sticks in his teeth and hurts him.
-Psychological interest: for psychological satisfaction as for example the need for self-assurance, imitation, etc.
-Interest borne towards the learner: it is the interest that the teacher bears in the learner that is by the process of teaching-learning. For example a teacher may devote more time and energy to teach a very rich man or pupil than he does to a poor one.
However, motivation and interest in any domain always go together. They are loosely related because motivation is counted for by interest. Motivation materializes an interest. It is the interest a subject has got toward something which motivates him to go for it. Therefore, motivation works as the achievement of the interest people bear for something.
No topic or subject of learning can be dealt with successfully if there is no awakened interest in the individual. Interest should then be activated along the individual’s whole life for better learning performance.
Out of the definitions and the kinds of interest and motivation given above, there is a way to conclude that interest and motivation are keys to success in learning a foreign language. Hence- forth, the two factors should be aroused equally in both girls and boys. For example, we should know that some people can be interested in a language because of more communication’s sake. Others will enjoy a language either for economic, political, social or other reasons. Some others may be eager to learn a language for social class pride, consideration, etc. although some people may be discouraged if they fail to get what they expected.
In other words, both interest and motivation are the keys which open the way to the successful learning in any domain. In sum, without knowing where the roots of motivation lie, how can teachers water roots? (Oxford and Shearin, 1994:15).
Education psychologists point to three major sources of motivation in learning (Fisher,1990:50):
While teachers and school systems have drawn on both of the first two sources of motivation, the third source (success on task) is perhaps under exploited in language teaching. This is the simple fact of success, and the effect that this has on our view of what we do. As human beings, we generally like what we do well and are therefore more likely to do it again, and put in more effort.
In the classroom language, this can mean that students who develop an image of themselves as “no good at English” will simply avoid situations which will tell them what they already know-that they are not any good at English. Feelings of failure, particularly early in students school career, can therefore lead to a downward spiral of a self-perception of low ability-low motivation-low effort, and consequently low achievement.
Motivation has been called the “neglected heart” of language teaching. Teachers often forget that all of their learning activities are filtered through students’ motivation. In this sense, students control the flow of the classroom. Without the students’ motivation, there is no pulse; there is no life in the class. When they learn to incorporate direct approaches to generating students’ motivation in their teaching, they will become happier and more successful teachers.
The issue of motivation, particularly in EFL settings is so important that other consideration about teaching methodology seen to pale in comparison. It is important to think about motivation as the essence of language teaching because of the stark realities of learning English most of their students.
All of the conditions that they know contribute to successful second language acquisition are lacking in most EFL contexts: There is not enough English input in the environment there probably are not enough opportunities for interaction with English speakers, there usually are not enough strong role models promoting the learning of English, and there may not be widespread enough social acceptance for the idea of becoming proficient in English. Because of these adverse conditions, a learner has to have extraordinary motivation in order to succeed in learning English.
A great deal of research has been done in the area of motivation and why it is so fundamental to second language learning. The underlying issues related to motivation are complex, but it is flexible rather than fixed. Therefore, teachers can directly influence their students’ motivation about learning English. The three layers of motivation ‘is one way of conceptualizing how a teacher can influence each student, if teachers can make progress with their students in each of these languages, they can become more motivating teachers and bring the ‘heart of language-teaching’. A part from integrative and instrumental motivation, in the field of language learning there are other two kinds of motivation and orientation:
Manipulative or Machiavellian orientation and task motivation
a.Manipulative or Machiavellian orientation
in other circumstances, one might consider learning another group’s language as a means of getting on the “inside” of cultural community in order to exploit, manipulate or control with clearly personal ends in mind. The learning of indigenous languages by colonial administrators and missionaries could be cited as a good example of this of motivation.
b.Task motivation
A fourth kind of motivation namely ‘task motivation” is defined by Ellis (1986-300) as the interest felt by the learner in performing different tasks he (1990:508) later notes that, there have been differences, however, in the way in which teachers and researchers have typically conceptualized motivation.
This chapter has focused on what motivation and interest are as well as kinds of both motivation and interest in language learning context. The next chapter (chapter3) will focus on the methodology used in the study.
Afric mémoire est une plateforme web pour le partage des mémoires et TFC entre étudiants du monde entier.
Enregistrer en PDF
Imprimer cette page
