Linguistics and Literature Studies 3(2): 70-74, 2015
DOI: 10.13189/lls.2015.030206
http://www.hrpub.org
Principles in Language Learning Motivation
Oktavian Mantiri
Faculty of Education and Psychology, Asia-Pacific International University
Copyright © 2015 Horizon Research Publishing All rights reserved.
Abstract This is a literature review of the teaching
principles in English language and their relationships to
motivation. This article is based on personal teaching
experiences with teacher trainees in the field of language
teaching. Motivation is key to successful education;
however, it requires the right approaches to benefit teaching
and learning. This article explores the importance of
meaningful learning and authentic materials in language
learning. It also emphasizes the significance of the role of
reward in increasing motivation. It argues that rote learning
should play minimal role if at all, whereas meaningful
learning be the core of the whole experience. Moreover,
culture connection, self-confidence, and attitude are
considered as other important factors of teaching and
learning. In conclusion, this article reiterates the importance
of teachers’ role in language learning success whereby
teachers need to set the stage for learning through creating
learning environment that foster meaningful experiential
learning and where students could make sense of the whole
learning experiences.
Keywords Language Learning Motivation, English
Learning, Language Teaching Principles, Attitudes in
Language Learning
1. Introduction
Motivation is key in language learning (Dörnyei, 1998). It
is an important element that a learner needs in order for
learning to take place. Students usually learn what they need
or want to learn, but they have a hard time learning
something which they are unmotivated for. The learners
usually decide what they would like to learn, but having said
that, a teacher can also play a role in influencing the
motivation of a student to a certain extent. There have been
incidences where a learner might not be interested to learn
English at the initial stages, but because of the influence of
the teacher the learner became motivated.
In most cases, motivation or lack of it plays a role in the
success or failure of the acquisition of second language.
So often, in my experience being a teacher trainer, I would
hear teachers say, “My students are not motivated to learn at
all, so they don’t learn anything.” This is typical of novice
teachers’ assessment towards their teaching experience.
However, this is not an isolate case. Experience teachers also
face similar situation at times. It is possible that students may
come to a language classroom with a very low motivation to
learn the language. Teachers may not have much control
over the motivation of students, but there is a possibility that
teachers could do many things to create or increase students’
motivation various ways. Therefore based on this, I would
like to explore some practical principles of motivating
students to learn English language. The aim of this paper is to
discuss how teachers can influence students’ motivation in
relationship to the various teaching principles, theories,
methods and factors relating to it.
2. Definitions
Motivation is not a term that could easily be defined in just
one or two simple sentences. Most research in language
education has defined motivation as an element that is
attached to various constructs. Others have listed the
characteristics of motivation as a way of defining it.
Heckhausen (cited in Dörnyei & Ottó, [64]) defines
motivation as,
A global concept for a variety of processes and
effects whose common core is the realization that an
organism selects a particular behavior because of
expected consequences, and then implements it with
some measure of energy, along a particular path.
Bandura (cited in Dörnyei & Ottó), taking into
consideration the various levels of motivation, defined it as,
A general construct linked to a system of regulatory
mechanisms that are commonly ascribed both
directive and activating functions. At the generic
level it encompasses the diverse classes of events
that move one to action. Attempts to explain the
motivational sources of behavior therefore primarily
aim at clarifying the determinants and intervening
mechanisms that govern the selection, activation,
and sustained direction of behavior toward certain
goals (p. 64).
Dörnyei and Otto (1998) defines motivation in a general
sense as
Linguistics and Literature Studies 3(2): 70-74, 2015
The dynamically changing cumulative arousal in a
person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies,
terminates, and evaluates the cognitive and motor
processes whereby initial wishes and desires are
selected, prioritized, operationalized, and
(successfully or unsuccessfully) acted out.
The common element found in all of the above definitions
is goal and the behavior of a person in a certain way to
achieve the goal. Brown (1994, [152]) puts succinctly when
he said it, “Motivation is the choices people make as to
what experiences or goals they will approach or avoid and
the degree of effort they will exert in that respect.” It is the
inner drive or the inner desire that pushes one to do a
particular action. According to Ward (n.d., para. 1),
motivation “is a spur to action.” It is something that will not
let you sit idly. Simply put we can say motivation is a
goal-directed behavior. Also according to a behaviorist
motivation is the “anticipation of reinforcement” (Brown,
2001, [73]). It is usually defined as a psychological trait,
which leads people to achieve some goal.
On a more specific definition of motivation, often studies
in second language acquisition draw the distinction line
between integrative and instrumental motivation which is
used by Robert Gardner and his associates (Gardner, 2012).
Meanwhile, Brown (2001, [75]) uses the term orientation
instead of motivation. According to him “orientation means
a context or purpose for learning; motivation refers to the
intensity of one’s impetus to learn.” Moreover, Gardner and
Lambert (cited in Richard-Amato, 1996) explained that
when learners wish to integrate and identify themselves with
the culture of the second language group, it is said to be
integrative orientation, and within this purpose, the level of
motivation of the learner may be high or low.
Based on the aforementioned definitions of motivation, it
could be said that the students integrative motivation stems
from a need to integrate oneself fully into the society,
whereas, instrumental motivation refers to motivation to
acquire a language to reach the goals of a learner such as
graduating, getting a higher pay, translation, etc. Finegan
(2004) says that the kind of motivation a learner has affects
the mastery of a second language.
In my experience, it is crucial to increase the teachers’
awareness of the students learning English purposes.
Questions such as ‘What drives students to learn English?’,
‘Are they driven by integrative or instrumental motivation?’
among others would set the stage for teachers to prepare the
appropriate lessons that would motivate them. Having
learned the importance of students’ motivation, now let us
explore the teaching principles that would contribute to
successful learning.
3. Teaching Principles
Meaningful Learning and Authentic Materials
One of the most important things a teacher could do to
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increase students’ motivation is to make learning meaningful.
It is generally true in any classes that students would enjoy
activities and learn better when learning is made meaningful.
The comment I found from my teacher trainees is that
‘placing the learners in a real-life learning situation and
practicing what to say works better than drilling’. On the
contrary, some would say that ‘making them memorize a
role-play that means nothing to them would only foster rote
learning’. An example of a meaningful learning, one of the
teacher trainees said that in an English class for nursing
students, they may be requested to practice on a role play
between the patients and nurses. This kind of activity creates
a lot of excitement and would motivate the students to
practice and speak English. Brown (2001, [57]) says,
“Meaningful learning will lead toward better long-term
retention than rote learning.”
Moreover, to make learning meaningful, teachers need to
consider the activities and the materials used in the
classroom. According to Gardner (2006), the materials and
activities a teacher uses are important in influencing the
student’s level of motivation. Furthermore, Fasold and
Connor-Linton (2000) says that varied and challenging
instructional activities assist students to concentrate and
engage in learning and facilitate the second language
learning process. As explained earlier, when a student finds
the materials a teacher uses are interesting and meaningful,
his/her motivation increases. It is this level of motivation that
affects the success or failure of language learning. For
example, a teacher trainee explained that, in any reading and
discussion classes for nursing students, they would be more
motivated to participate when the reading passage is
authentic and interesting to them.
To sum up the importance of being authentic, Wilga (1989)
puts it, students are not robots where they are to be primed or
set in motion. Students are not there just to be stuffed with
dull, tedious and repetitious materials and rote learning and
regurgitate it whenever they are asked. But they are
individuals with their own interior motivation determining
what they will learn or what they will not.
Anticipation of Reward
Students’ motivation to learn however may also be
dependent on their anticipation of reward. According to
Skinner (cited in Brown, 2001, [57-58]) one of the most
powerful factors in directing one’s behavior to the goal that
is set by a student could be the anticipation of reward. One
suggested idea that was generally agreed upon in my teacher
trainee classes, is that to tell the students that they will be
given few extra points for speaking English in the class.
According to the teacher trainees, this was found to be
effective.
Brown (2001) and Snowman (1997) said that students will
pursue a goal if they perceived a reward for doing the task.
Further, they said that it is important to reinforce the students’
behavior by word of encouragements, praise, or a positive
comment. Giving extra points for students when they speak
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Principles in Language Learning Motivation
English tend to make them put more extra effort.
Furthermore, as my teacher trainees argued, if the students
are given a positive comment or if they get some kind of
reward from their activities, it would motivate them to
perform better.
In sum, teachers should strive to get learners to see the
long term reward of learning English instead of the short
term reward. If students can see this, their motivation could
be led to intrinsic motivation which according to Brown
(2001) is the most powerful rewards within a student.
Intrinsic Motivation and Automaticity
Brown (1994) defined intrinsic motivation as activities
that one does without expecting any apparent reward except
for the activity itself. Intrinsic motivation stems from the
student’s needs, wants, or desires and so external reward is
not necessary. Classroom tasks should be designed to meet
the intrinsic drives of students as these tasks are
self-rewarding and give a greater chance for success. One
activity that would be effective is to create an environment
where students can practice some authentic role-plays.
Teachers should create an environment for students to
communicate without worrying about the forms or structure.
The teaching principle of automaticity (University of Alberta,
n.d) says that children learn their first language by repetition
and practice done in a controlled environment created by
teachers. Previously explained examples from teacher
trainees would arguably lead to the intrinsic motivation. This
however needs to be proven with further studies.
The Language – Culture Connection
Another important principle is the connection between
language and culture. Teachers should constantly seek to
increase the motivation of the students. One way to increase
students’ motivation could be learning the culture of the
target language. There have been studies about the
relationship between culture and language. Malinowski
(1944) stated that an understanding of a language is
impossible without continually connecting it to the culture of
its operative. In other words, learning a language is
inseparable from its culture. Moreover, Byram (1989, [22])
acknowledged that, “as learners learn about language they
learn about culture and as they learn to use a new language,
they learn to use a new culture”. It is therefore crucial to
teach language and culture simultaneously in English
language teaching. It could be said that without
simultaneously teaching language and culture, we are
teaching unauthentic symbols which may result in the wrong
associations of meaning.
Furthermore, Kitao (cited in Genc & Bada, 2005) says that
experts such as Gardner and Lambert have proved that
culture classes can motivate students because learners like
culturally based activities, and learning about other people.
They also pointed out that the study of culture will increase
their curiosity and interest about other people. Since the
students are motivated it will then facilitate their language
learning and at the same time enable them to take control of
their own learning, and this then will lead them to be a
self-confident learner.
Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is an important element both teachers and
students needs to possess. The teaching principle of
self-confidence is “a person’s belief in his or her ability to
accomplish the task” (Brown, 2001, [62]). If students believe
in themselves, accomplishing a task becomes easier and
eventually this will facilitate successful learning and in a
way increase their motivation. According to Brown (2001),
teachers are to sustain the self-confidence of the students
where students already have or build it where it doesn’t exist.
Teachers also need to build students confidence through
reflecting the same elements in their teaching. One of the
greatest challenges of teaching for novice teachers is
self-confidence. In my experience working with teacher
trainees, the constant theme of discussion in the class is on
how to build self confidence in teaching. The important
principles presented in this article tackle this issue. I would
argue that understanding this principles would help build
self-confidence for teachers and students alike.
Other Factors for Motivation
Another area that seems to have a significant effect on
motivation is attitude, that is, the attitude towards the target
language and people, and attitudes towards the teacher and
the classroom environment. According to Gardner and
Lambert (1972, cited in Richard-Amato, 1996), ‘The
learner’s ethnocentric tendencies and his attitudes toward the
members of the other groups are believed to determine how
successful he will be, relatively, in learning the new
language’.
One teacher trainee once said, ‘I was reading the reflection
journal of my students in the Reading and Discussion class
and found out that some of my students have a very negative
attitude towards reading. As a result, they were not
motivated to read the assigned passage that affected their
performance in their tests’ (personal communication). It is
therefore critical for teachers to help students create the right
attitude to learn the target language. It may be important for
teachers to find out the different kinds of motivation that
students come with so they can direct their teaching
accordingly.
Teachers should also be mindful that different students
respond to different learning strategies. Therefore teachers
need to change the strategies of approaching teaching the
language according to the needs of students. According to
Richard-Amato (1996), increasing students’ contact with
fluent speakers of the target language, especially peers, can
be a great way to increase the motivation of the learner.
Inviting fluent speakers of the target language to the
classroom, organizing pen-pal or e-pal relationships between
Linguistics and Literature Studies 3(2): 70-74, 2015
students and peers who are more advanced in the target
language can sometimes provide enough motivation for
learners to want to learn the language.
Using computers could be a way to motivate the students.
The use of computers gives the students the feeling that they
are in control of their own learning. Brown (2001) says that
motivation is highest when students are brought into the
decision-making process. Roblyer (2005) states that if
students see themselves in control of their learning, the result
of their learning is intrinsic motivation or a motivation made
by the awareness that they are learning. Motivating the
students to learn, to enjoy learning and engaging them in
learning is important and this can be achieved by the use of
computers. The students can do a lot of things using the
computers and learn by doing things themselves. In a way
they become the creators not just the receivers of knowledge
(Lee, 2000). Computers also provide real-life skill-building
activities. Therefore, the use of computers in language
learning can be a powerful tool not only to motivate the
students to learn the language but also in preparing the
students for today’s technological world.
Lastly, Good and Brophy (cited in Day, 1990, [61]) said
that teacher’s attempts to arouse students’ learning
motivation includes “instruction or modeling designed to
increase student’s metacognitive awareness of their learning
efforts in response to the task.” The task may include
information about mental preparation for learning or
structure built into the content, or about how to monitor
one’s own comprehension and respond to confusion or
mistakes. Russell (1996) says that in a learning situation
where the learning is authentic and relevant, the learner uses
metacognitive understanding to help overcome some of the
frustrations of learning and bring such understanding to the
task.
4. Conclusion
In order to have a successful teaching and learning English,
teachers need to figure out the types of motivation the
students have. Once the students’ motivation is identified,
teachers need to create learning English that is meaningful
and relevant to them. Motivation springs from within; it can
be sparked, but it cannot be imposed from without. As
teachers we need to realize that rewards play important part
in the initial stage of building motivation. Praise, positive
word of encouragements, and giving extra point grades do
help in motivation building. It is not only the teacher’s or
parent’s job to motivate the students; they need to assume
responsibility for their own learning. There is a need to
constantly help students to look deep inside them in order to
find they want to learn which will then lead to motivation.
Also, we need to realize that motivation is not a fixed state
but rather a dynamically evolving and changing entity linked
with the ongoing process of learning in an authentic context.
Confidence building is crucially important for students. This
needs to be done by teachers through their teaching because
73
this will lead to the last but not the least important principles,
i.e. attitude.
In conclusion Brown (2001, [81]) emphasized that
teachers should not think of themselves as someone who
constantly had to deliver information to students, but rather
to be more like a facilitator of learning whereby setting the
stage for learning to take place and motivate the students to
use their thinking abilities and to help them to channel their
abilities into something productive.
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