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ANM-ANG-113 Methodology Lecture 2
Why bother to learn English at school? Motivation and attitudes
"Success depends less on materials, techniques and linguistic analyses and more on what goes on inside
and between people in the classroom". (Stevick, E. (1980). Teaching languages: A way and ways. Rowley,
Mass.: Newbury House)
“What’s the secret of success?” "It depends ..." “On what? Methods? The teacher? The learner(s) ...?”
"Motivation" is obviously one of the main characteristics of "the good learner", but what IS it? Jones et al
(20001) define motivation as “psychological forces that determine the direction of a person’s behaviour [...],
a person’s level of effort, and a person’s level of persistence […]”. OK, so what are those “forces”? Lots of
different ways of distinguishing, prioritizing, defining, grouping and categorizing them; lots of models of how
they operate, affect each other etc …
A. How to categorise motivation? Various standard ways ...
1. Where does it come from?
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
“External” rewards: grades, diplomas, cash, promotion, acceptance/approval
& pressure/threats ... from teachers, family, peers, society
“Internal” factors: love of language, culture, teacher etc.
& desire to learn, succeed, communicate etc., fear of failure.
2. What sort of reward?
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
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Intrinsic Motivation (the “teacher’s” type)
Fascination with / love of language for its own sake
Enjoyment of (sense of duty towards) learning
Integrative Motivation (the “Canadian” factor)
Need/desire to participate in target-language culture
Need/desire to approach/join target language groups
Instrumental Motivation (the “obvious” one)
Direct/practical value: professional, academic, social, travel
Indirect value: grades>e.g. university entrance, peer/family approval
Avoiding disapproval/punishment
3. At what level?
 Language: intrinsic, integrative and instrumental factors
 Learner: individual needs, aspirations, attitudes
 Learning environment: course-related (relevance, interest, expectancy), teacher-related (attitudes,
methods, relationship), group-related (goals, norms, cohesiveness)
4. At what stage? – “the process view”
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Motivation not fixed, but dynamic … affected by experience, goes through “before”, “during” and “after”
stages. Each stage characterized by different types of motivation (e.g. preliminary instrumental goals,
followed by enjoyment of actual learning, then by satisfaction at success).
Motivation is (at least partially) open to influence by peers, teachers, family
Different types may co-exist, or may conflict (cf. going to the dentist…).
1Jones,
G, George, J, Hill, C (2000) Contemporary Management. New York, Irwin, McGraw-Hill.
Christopher Ryan Sept 2007
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B. The story of "Wekerle Laci"; three motivating forces:
(1) Professional ambition - KFOR
(2) National sentiments – cocacolonisation :-(
(3) .... ?
C. The individual's relationship with "learning English at school" - a collection of ATTITUDES,
which may be positive or negative, and which will vary in strength and across time, towards the
situation.

Learning ENGLISH at school (so ... what IS "English")
1. Language of Wider Communication
2. Professional Tool/Passport
3. Set of Complex Systems
4. Carrier/Part of Culture(s)
5. School Subject

LEARNING English at school (so ... what does "learning" INVOLVE?)
6. Learning/Being Taught
7. Learning Activities
8. Carrier Topics
9. Competition/Collaboration
10. Evaluation

Learning English AT SCHOOL (so ... what does "being at school" MEAN?)
11. Being Evaluated
12. School Atmosphere
13. Peer Pressures
14. Group Society
15. Family Attitudes
Note different degrees of strength, consciousness, choice, articulation,
D. Our Job:
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
Knowledge/Understanding
The mega-survey ... or ... Exploratory teaching (Dick Allwright)
Expecting confusion and contradictions ("I don't know why ...)
Distinguishing surface/temporary STATE(MENT)S from underlying TRAITS
Sympathising - not the same as "agreeing" or "accepting".
Not judging (especially by our own standards)
Not "taking it personally"
Intervention
Identifying strong/common attitudes
Identifying unstable/permeable attitudes,
Reducing/eliminating negative attitudes
Reinforcing/creating positive attitudes
Reading: Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press
Required: pages 13 – 27 Recommended: the whole of the chapter … and the rest of the book…
Christopher Ryan Sept 2007