Chapter 6 : What makes a person

want to learn ?

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SUSAN AGATHA GRAHAM

ROSE ALDIANA SIMUN
JOHAN SEVERINUS TATI
MAURINE M MICHEAL

Chapter 6 : What makes

a person want to learn ?
Pg 111-142
Psychology for Language
teachers : Marion Williams and
Robert L. Burden

Language influences
Motivation- meaningful when the person
wants to learn.
- Interest , curiosity, desire to achieve,
parents, , teachers and exams.

Various interpretations due to changes in

the theories of psychology

6.2 Explains about the behaviorist experiments on animals

on their responses and environment that co-relate to that of

Factors/ Key questionslearners.

Cognitive approach learning experiences, learning
environment

Effectiveness of rewards system

Specific conditioning
Identification of basic human needs

6.2.1 Achievement motivation

Need to achieve and implication based on
learning history

Drive to succeed dominates high

achievers in everything they do while
others lack this.
WHY?

 Not enough to know an individual level of

need to achieve in any specific situation
will interact with how likely the individual
judges the chances of success to be what
value is placed on a successful outcome.

 Fear of failure
Strength of the tendency to approach a
task compared with the strength of the
tendency to avoid ( own drive )

Competitive nature of the education

system, parental expectation and job
openings

 Due to the above: a sophisticated

technique was devised in attempt to

measure it as precise and accurately as
possible to predict the likelihood of people
being motivated to perform different
activities.
It was perceived individuals with high
scores need fewer motivational influences
than those who scored poorly

 Motivation is complicated than implied by

achievement theory.

6.2.2 Optional arousal

According to Donald Hebbs text
The Organization of Behavior 1959
Suggests :
i) Both humans and animals seek
optimal arousal to function best without
having to meet other basic needs.

 Berlyn (1960) and Hunt (1965) confirmed

that even rats were motivated by curiosity
and novelty and not edible rewards to
avoid pain.

Awareness of conscious control

and beyond our control
Language belongs to a persons whole

social being
Its part of ones identity
Social impact on the social nature of the
learner
Success in learning a foreign language will
be influenced by the attitudes towards the
community of speakers of the language.

Social psychology of language has

developed into an important
discipline in its own right.
Sociolinguist Howard Giles
It involves communicating with others
the socio relations with individuals and
groups of people.
Language learning affects social
situations, context and culture

Models of language learning are

social psychological in manner.
The most influential model is Howard Gardners

social educational model of language learning

( Gardner 1985)
Incorporating the learners :
- cultural beliefs
-attitudes
-learning situations
-integrativeness
motivation

 Motivation is defined as effort + desire to

achieve the goal of learning the language
+ favourable attitudes towards learning the
language
Attitudes towards the learning situation
and integrativeness influences these
attributes.

Gardner and associates

Defined motivation is operational for
The purpose of measurement- desire to
learn the language- AMTB( Gardner 1985
177-184) Attitude/Motivation Test Battery
Consist of self report questionnaires
containing a a battery of questions to
measure 19 different subscales that
represent different aspects of motivation.

 Gardner then stresses that AMTB should be

developed so that its appropriate to the
particular situation under investigation.
Gardner makes a distinction : Orientation is
different from motivation :
i) integrative orientation occurs when the learner
is studying the language because of a wish to
identify with the culture of the speakers of the
language. contributes to integrative motivation.

 Instrumental orientation describes a group

of factors concerned with motivation
arising from external goals exams,
financial rewards, promotions, career
advancement etc.

Integrative motivation : correlates with

higher achievement

 Other challenges arguing these views

i) implying integrative motivation is more
important than instrumental motivation.
-depends on the second language context
of learning eg : French in Canada, English
in USA, English in Malaysia. Philippines,
Bombay , India

 ii) other factors come into play

confidence and friendship

Gardner and Tremblay claim:

-motivation is a dynamic process where
many variables play a part in their model
that can broaden the view of what makes
a learner want to learn.

 Drnyei (1994a) uses a model that

proposes:
- a three level categorization related to
second language learning
i) culture
ii) community
iii) usefulness of the language

Influences the learners :

i) goal set by the learners
ii) choices they make
1. Learner level / individual characteristicsneed to achieve and self confidence
2. Situational level related to the course,
teacher and group dynamics

 6.4 A cognitive view of motivation

- Cognitive perspective people have a
choice over their behavior, control of
actions
- awareness leads to set goals by deciding
the action needed to achieve the goals.

6.5 A Social Constructivist Perspective

A constructivist view of motivation centres

around the premise that each individual is
motivated differently
What motivates one person to learn L2
and keeps that person going until he or
she is satisfied will differ from individual to
individual

6.6 A proposed definition of motivation

Motivation may be construed as

a) a state of cognitive and emotional arousal
b) which leads to a conscious decision to act
c) which gives rise to a period of sustained
intellectual and/or physical effort
in order to attain a previously set goals (or
goals)

 The initial arousal may be triggered by

different causes, perhaps internal ones such
as interest or curiosity or often by external
influences such as another person or event
once the activity has begun, the individual
needs to sustain the effort needed to
achieve the goal (to persist)
motivation occurs as a result of combination
of different influences such as internal and
external.

6.7 A Model of Motivation

First, there are reasons for undertaking a
particular activity
Second, we consider what is actually involved
in deciding to do something: what makes
people choose to embark on a particular task
and to invest time and energy in it
Third, people need to sustain the effort
required to complete the activity to their own
satisfaction

3 Stages of Motivation
sustaining the effort or persisting

deciding to do something

reasons for doing something

 motivation is more than simply arousing

interest. It also involves sustaining that
interest and investing time and energy
into putting in the necessary effort to
achieve certain goals.
the first two stages of our model may be
seen as more concerned with initiating
motivation while the last stage involves
sustaining motivation

AN INTERACTIVE MODEL
OF MOTIVATION
REASONS

SUSTAINING
EFFORT

DECISION

Different Perspectives on Motivation

intrinsic & extrinsic

perceived value of the activity
locus of control
locus of causality
effectiveness motivation
motivational style

6.8 Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation

(Harter,1981)
preference for challenge VS preference for easy
work
curiosity/ interest VS pleasing teacher/getting
grades
independent mastery VS dependence on teacher
in figuring out problems
independent judgment VS reliance on teachers
judgement about what to do
internal criteria for success VS external criteria for
success

 Harters first two dimensions are more

concerned with reasons for acting
The last two dimensions are more
concerned with acting in a motivated
way, or sustaining the effort.
She sees the first three as truly
motivational and tap into what the child
want to learn and the last two as she
sees as more concerned with control or
judging progress

 Harter concludes that a child can be

intrinsically motivated in the first three
and relatively extrinsically motivated in
the last two dimensions.