Overview of L2 Motivation

Motivation Group 2007-2008

Mikio Iguchi (1st Year EdD student)
Agenda

Purpose of today:
1.To give you a bird’s eye view of the history of L2
motivation, its features, and recent trends.
2.To let you review on motivation in L2 learning as
language teachers.
3.To let you think, if you were to research on L2
motivation, what would be an interesting topic?

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 Contents

1.
1.Social
SocialPsychology
Psychology(1960s
(1960sonwards)
onwards)

2.
2.Cognitive
CognitivePsychology
Psychology(1980s
(1980s––1990s)
1990s)

3.
3.Educational
EducationalShift
Shift&&Motivational
MotivationalRenaissance
Renaissance(1990s
(1990sonwards)
onwards)

4.
4.Recent
RecentResearch
ResearchTrends
Trends(2000s
(2000sonwards)
onwards)

5.
5.Educational
EducationalImplications
Implications

This presentation is mostly based on Dörnyei’s “Attitudes, orientations, and motivations in

language learning: Advances in theory, research, and applications” Language Learning 53 (S1):
3-32

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Foreword

“Motivation is, without question, the

most complex and challenging issue
facing teachers today.” (Scheidecker
and Freeman 1999:116)

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 Introduction
 Although the importance of motivation in education
cannot be overlooked, its concept is inherently
elusive.
There isn’t much theory that “provides an all-
round explanation of what we do and why.”
(Dörnyei 2003:1)

“Motivation is a multifaceted construct, and the

exact nature of the constituent components
activated in a particular situation depends greatly
on contextual factors.”
(Dörnyei 2003:1)
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 1. Social Psychology (1960s onwards)
 Gardner and Lambert proposed integrative motivation
and instrumental motivation from a social
psychological point of view. (Gardner and Lambert
1959, 1972)
1.Integrative
1.Integrativemotivation:
motivation:aim
aimof
oflearning
learningisisto
tolearn
learnabout
aboutthe
the
language
languagegroup,
group,or
orto
tomeet
meetmore
moreandanddifferent
differentpeople
peoplefrom
from
the
thetarget
targetlanguage
languagecommunity,
community,totothe
thepoint
pointofofeventually
eventually
being
beingaccepted
acceptedas
asaamember
memberofofthat
thatgroup.
group.

2.
2.Instrumental
Instrumentalmotivation:
motivation:reasons
reasonsofofL2
L2learning
learningreflect
reflectthe
the
more
moreutilitarian
utilitarianvalue
valueof
oflinguistic
linguisticachievement,
achievement,such
suchasas
benefiting
benefitingininan
anoccupation.
occupation.

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 1.1 Core Idea of “Integrativeness”
 What matters in integrative motivation is how one
perceives oneself, in other words, self-concept.
Integrative
Integrativemotivation:
motivation: Psychological
Psychologicaland
andemotional
emotionalidentification
identificationisisininthe
thecore
core
idea. (Dörnyei 2003:5-6)
idea. (Dörnyei 2003:5-6)

Self-concept
Identity
Identity “As-is”
“As-is”

Integrativeness is a process

Identity
Identity “To-be”
“To-be”
“Possible
“Possible self”
self”
“Ideal
“Ideal self”
self”
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Question1

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 2. Cognitive Psychology (1980s – 1990s)
 Findings in cognitive psychology contributed to the
following theories in L2 motivation:

1.
1.Self-determination
Self-determinationtheory
theory
2.
2.Attribution
Attributiontheory
theory
3.
3.Goal
Goaltheory
theory
4.
4.Schumann’s
Schumann’stheory
theory(based
(basedon
onneurobiological
neurobiologicalanalysis)
analysis)

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 2.1 Self-determination Theory
 Self-determination theory was addressed by Deci (1975), Deci
& Ryan (1985) and became an influential idea.

1.Intrinsic
1.Intrinsicmotivation:
motivation:an aninner
innerdrive,
drive,impulse,
impulse,emotion,
emotion,oror
desire
desirethat
thatisisderived
derivedfrom frominnerinnerpotentialities
potentialitiesand
andlatent
latent
resources.
resources. e.g.e.g.learn
learnL2
L2for
forits
itsown
ownsake
sake

2.
2.Extrinsic
Extrinsicmotivation:
motivation:an
aninner
innerdrive,
drive,impulse,
impulse,emotion,
emotion,oror
desire
desirethat
thatisisderived
derivedfrom
fromother
otherpeople,
people,or
orthe
thereal
realworld.
world.
e.g.
e.g.learn
learnL2
L2for
formoney,
money,prizes,
prizes,grades,
grades,certain
certaintypes
typesofofpositive
positivefeedback
feedback

“Intrinsically motivated activities are ones for which there is no apparent reward
except the activity itself. People seem to engage in the activities for their own
sake not because they lead to an extrinsic reward... Intrinsically motivated
behaviors are aimed at bringing about certain internally rewarding
consequences, namely, feelings of competence and self-determination.” Deci
(1975:23)
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 2.2 Attribution Theory
 It was argued by Weiner (1992) that the perception
of past success and failure plays a vital role in
shaping one’s L2 motivation.

Past experience

Future achievement efforts

“It is generally believed that learners who attribute both success and failure to
internal factors such as effort are most likely to maintain their motivation at a
high level.” Richards and Schmidt (2002: 38)

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Question2

Thought
Thoughtprovoking
provokingquestions.
questions.
“In
“Inwhat
whatways
waysdoes
doespast
pastexperience
experienceaffect
affectyour
yourstudents’
students’
motivation
motivationto
tolearn
learnEnglish?”
English?”

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 2.3 Goal Theory
 Tremblay and Gardner (1995) introduced “goal
salience”, which was conceptualized as a composite
of the specificity of the learner’s goals and the
frequency of goal-setting strategies used.

Opportunity

“There has hardly been any attempts in L2 strategies to adopt the other
well known goal theory in educational psychology, goal orientation theory,
even though, as Pintrich and Schunk (2002: 242) have recently
concluded, ‘Currently, it is probably the most active area of research on
student motivation in classrooms and it has direct implications for
students and teachers.’” (Dörnyei 2003:9)

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 2.4 Schumann’s Theory
 Schumann’s theory tackled on L2 motivation from
neurobiological point of view.  “Stimulus appraisal”

Novelty
Degree of unexpectedness/familiarity

Pleasantness
attractiveness

Goal/need significance
Whether the stimulus is instrumental in satisfying
needs or achieving goals

Coping Potential
Whether the individual expects to be able to cope
with the event

Self and social image

Whether the event is compatible with social norms
and the individual’s self-concept
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 3. Educational Shift & Motivational
Renaissance (1990s onwards)
 In contrast to the macro perspective adopted within
the framework of social psychology, micro
perspective was adopted within the new framework
of educational psychology. Focus on classroom was
emphasized, which lead to research on L2
motivation based on “situated approach”.

Three
Threedirections
directionswithin
withinthe
theeducational
educationaland
andsituated
situated
approach:
approach:
1.
1. Willingness
Willingnesstotocommunicate
communicate(WTC)(WTC)
2.
2. Task
Taskmotivation
motivation
3.
3. Motivation
Motivationand
andlearning
learningstrategy
strategyuse
use

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 3.1 Willingness to
communicate (WTC)
 WTC is the “readiness to enter into discourse at a
particular time with a specific person or persons,
using a L2.” MacIntyre, Clément, Dörnyei, and Noels
(1998:547)

ItIt is
is WTC
WTC that
that directly
directly
influences
influences L2L2 use.
use.

Factors that
support
WTC (Layer
III to VI)

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 3.2 Task Motivation
 Task motivation makes it researchable for SLA
researchers to see how learners can be motivated
when they tackle tasks.
Task execution
Figure 2. Schematic representation
of the three mechanisms making up
Task the proposed task-processing
system. Dörnyei (2003:15)
processing
Appraisal Action control

“While learners are engaged in executing a task, they continuously appraise the
process, and when the ongoing monitoring reveals that progress is slowing, halting,
or backsliding, they activate the action control system to ‘save’ or enhance the
action.” Dörnyei (2003:16)

Opportunity
Dörnyei (2003) concludes that “the study of task motivation is certainly one
of the most fruitful directions for future research.”
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 3.3 Motivation and Learning
Strategy Use
 Since the mid 1990s, researchers began to study
the interrelationship between L2 motivation and
language learning strategy.
Learning Strategy
*Note that the preferred
term currently is “Self-
regulatory learning”

L2
Motivation

“most participants appeared to have great difficulty in discussing different

aspects of their metacognitive strategy use and conveyed a lack of sense of
control over their learning….Very little evidence was found of planning behavior”
Williams, Burden, and Lanvers (2002:519)
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 4. Recent Research Trends
(mainly 2000s onwards)
 Motivation began to be seen as dynamic and
temporal. Motivation evolves over time. (Williams
and Burden, 1997; Ushioda, 1994, 1996, 1998)

 Process-oriented approach was adopted in L2

motivation research (Dörnyei and Ottó, 1998;
Dörnyei 2001)
it accounts for “ups and downs” of motivation.
Dörnyei (2003:17)
 Also, it should be noted that, the self-determination
theory evolved to the popular concept of “learner
autonomy”. Its relation with motivation is gathering
attention. (Benson, 2000; Ushioda, 1996, 1998,
2007; Ehrman and Dörnyei, 1998)
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 4.1 Process Model of L2 Motivation
 Process model categorizes three types of motivation
according to the timing of learning stage. This is
not just limited within the classroom.
Preactional Stage Actional Stage Postactional Stage

Executive
Motivation: Motivational
Choice
ongoing Retrospection:
Motivation:
appraisal of the encouraging
motivation is
student’s self-evaluation
generated and
progress and and even self-
initiated
action control reflection
(self-regulation)

Dörnyei (2003: 19)

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Question3

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 5. Educational Implications
 As seen earlier, educational shift in L2 motivation
research enabled researchers to focus on micro-
level classroom activities, and its learning process.
There are three areas in which findings contribute to
classroom teaching.

1.
1.Devising
DevisingMotivational
MotivationalStrategies
Strategies

2.
2.Formulation
Formulationof
ofSelf-motivating
Self-motivatingStrategies
Strategies

3.
3.Teacher
TeacherMotivation
Motivation

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 5.1 Devising Motivational Strategies
 Focus on classroom situation made ways to develop
practical motivational strategies that can be applied
to generate and maintain L2 motivation. (Dörnyei
2003: 23-24) 1. Creating the basic motivational
conditions

4. Encouraging
positive 2. Generating initial
retrospective motivation
self-evaluation

3. Maintaining and
protecting motivation

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 5.2 Formulation of Self-motivating
Strategies
 Formulation of self-motivating strategies was
proposed which enables L2 learners to take personal
control of the affective domains that shape L2
motivation. (Dörnyei 2003: 23, 25-26)
1. Commitment control strategies: for helping to preserve or increase learner’s
original goal commitment.
2. Metacognitive control strategies: for monitoring and controlling concentration
and for curtailing unnecessary procrastination.
3. Satiation control strategies: for eliminating boredom and adding extra attraction
or interest to the task.
4. Emotion control strategies: for managing disruptive emotional states or moods
and for generating emotions that will be conducive to implementing one’s intentions.
5. Environmental control strategies: for eliminating negative environmental
influences and exploiting positive environmental influences by making the
environment an ally in the pursuit of a difficult goal.
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 5.3 Teacher Motivation

 The importance of teacher motivation is

unquestionable, but little has been found.

“The amount of L2 research on this issue is meager, and quite surprisingly,

teacher motivation is also a relatively uncharted area in educational
psychology.” Dörnyei (2003: 26)

Opportunity
Dörnyei (2003) points out that “there have been no attempts in the field to
compile a list of ‘ways to motivate language teacher’, even though a
scientifically validated list of this sort would predictably be very useful and
much sought after..”

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Question4

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 Summary
1960s onwards
Social Psychology • Macro perspective (correlation between individual’s
attitude and society.)
• Key figure: Robert Gardner, Wallace Lambert.

1980s – 1990s
Cognitive Psychology • Focus on individual’s mental processes and representation
of knowledge in mind.

1990s onwards
Educational Shift • Micro perspective (application of motivational psychology
to classroom teaching and learning.)
• Situated approach: focus on classroom.
• Key figure: Zoltán Dörnyei
Recent 2000s onwards
Research • Process-oriented approach.
Trends • Motivation and autonomy.

“I anticipate that the next decade will bring about a consolidation of the wide range of
new themes and theoretical orientations that have emerged in the past 10-15 years, and
that the often speculative theorizing will be grounded in solid research findings, from
both quantitative and qualitative research paradigms.” Dörnyei (2003: 27)

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28
Reference: Process Model of L2
Motivation

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