English 418
Second Language Acquisition
Session Eleven Notes
Goals/Objectives:
1) To gain an understanding of the basic definitions of Motivation in Second Language Acquisition and how those definitions
differ from the laymen’s version of the term
2) To gain an understanding of the difference between integrative and instrumental motivation
3) To examine how cultural and contextual factors can influence that type of motivation that suits learner’s needs the best
4) To gain an understanding of the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
5) To gain an understanding of how motivation plays out in the classroom
6) To gain an understanding of the concepts building in success and building in failure
Questions/Main Ideas (Please Notes:
write these down as you think
 Motivation
of them)
 Motivation has a great intuitive appeal
 It makes sense that individuals who are motivated will learn a language faster and to a
greater degree
 Everyone seems to agree that it plays a major role in SLA
 What they can’t agree on is exactly how it plays a major role
 Motivation
 Two names often associated with the study of motivation in SLA are Gardner and Lambert
 G & L’s ideas about motivation were largely shaped by Mowrer’s (1950) view of L1
acquisition
 Mowrer attributed a child’s success in acquiring an L1 to the child’s quest for identity
 Motivation
 Initially a child identified with members of his/her immediate family
 Then with members of the larger speech community
 Borrowing from Mowrer’s concept of identification, G & L proposed a construct called
integrative motivation
 Motivation
 An SL learner is said to be integratively motivated when she/he wishes to identify with
another ethno-linguistic group
 By way of contrast, G & L introduced the concept of instrumental motivation in which the
learner is motivated to learn an L2 for utilitarian (useful) purposes
 Motivation
 These purposes include such things as:
 furthering a career
 Improving social status
 Meeting an educational requirement
 According to G & L, an instrumentally motivated learner can be as motivated as an
integratively motivated learner
 Motivation
 They hypothesized, however, that integrative motivation would be better in the long run for
sustaining the necessary drive to master an L2
 This hypothesis seemed to be borne out in their early studies in Canada and certain contexts
in the U.S.
 Motivation
 Background Studies
 Spolsky (1969) studied newly arrived foreign students in the U.S.
 Found that a greater desire to be like speakers of English than like speakers of their own
language was significantly correlated with the students’ English proficiency
 Motivation
 As G & L expanded the number of contexts for investigation, the perspective which held
that integrative motivation was better than instrumental motivation was challenged
 For example: students learning English as a foreign language in the Philippines
 Motivation
 These students were highly successful despite having high instrumental, not integrative
motivation
Question?
 Why?
 In another study, G & L found that instrumental motivation to learn English worked very
well for French-speaking teenagers living in Maine and attending a U.S. HS

Question?
 Why?
 Motivation
 G & L had to modify their rhetoric:
 “It seems that in settings where there is an urgency about mastering a second language – as
in the Philippines and in North America for members of linguistic minority groups – the
instrumental approach to language study is extremely effective”
 Motivation
 Other studies by Gardner and his graduate students found instrumentally motivated students
outperforming integratively motivated students
 Clement & Kruidenier (1983) have offered one explanation for these discrepant findings:
 Ambiguity of the definition of integrative and instrumental
 Motivation
 For example: True or False: “I have friends who speak English”
 A subject selecting this as a reason to learn English could be said to be motivated by either
type of motivation

Questions?
 Why?
 Gardner etal used self-report questionnaires, which are likely inaccurate reflections of
effort
 Motivation
 Self-reports may also be colored by what respondents assume is desired by the investigator
or by what is socially acceptable
 Another common objection:
 the results of G etal’’s studies are local to the Canadian situation rather than globally
applicable

Questions?
 Why would the “Canadian situation” influence respondent’s answers?
 Motivation
 Contextual factors must also play a role
 It makes sense, for example, that someone studying a TL as a foreign language would less
likely aspire to integrate with the target-language community than someone studying a TL
as a second language
 Motivation
 Thus, the type of motivation and its strength are likely to be determined less by some
generalized principle and more by “who learns what in what context”
 Motivation
 Strong (1984): studied Spanish-speaking children learning English in an American
classroom
 Found that the students’ intensity of integrative motivation increased relative to their
English language proficiency
 Strong: motivation results from, rather than promotes, acquisition
 Motivation
 IOW: those who meet with success in SLA become more motivated to study
 Another way to look at it: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic
 People undertake learning a language – and persevere in it – for a variety of reasons
 Motivation
 Intrinsic: Some of them are interested in the language and culture
 Some seek the challenge
 Others may want a tool for increased interaction with interesting people
 For such people, learning a language is done for their own internal reasons
 Motivation
 This contrasts with extrinsic motivation, which represents the desire for some kind of
external benefit, such as:
 Increased pay
 Job enhancement
 Getting along in a foreign society
 Meeting an organizational or academic requirement (tests)
 Motivation
 Intrinsic and Extrinsic are not thought to be mutually exclusive
 Many students begin language class because they have to
 But later find that there is considerable satisfaction in the content, getting to know speakers
of the language, or mastering a new intellectual area
 Motivation
 In organizational or academic settings, it is probably advantageous to be able to tap into
both kinds of motivation
 Intrinsic motivation is very powerful and is likely to lead to deep learning because an
intrinsically motivated learner will take every opportunity to satisfy internal desires
 Motivation
 On the other hand, an exclusively intrinsically motivated learner may not pay sufficient
attention to the program or organizational requirements to pass necessary hurdles or to take
full advantage of the resources of the teaching program
 Motivation
 Extrinsic motivation, on the other hand, can be very powerful and positive
 A desire to enhance one’s effectiveness at one’s workplace is largely extrinsic
 Motivation
 An exclusively extrinsically motivated learner, however, is vulnerable to the kind of
disaffection that we commonly see
 A student can be so angry that they are in the language classroom in the first place that they
can’t permit themselves to activate intrinsic motivation
 Motivation
 How does it play out?
 The greatest challenge with motivation is when there is not enough of it


























The second greatest problem is dealing with too much of it
As always, finding the middle ground is the best route to take
Motivation
Not enough:
A lack of motivation may stem from anger about the implicit coercion of having to learn a
language
For example: having to learn English to succeed in the U.S. educational system
This lack of motivation may not be expressed directly
Motivation
Instead, it may appear in the form of negative comments about the target culture or
expressions of homesickness
Helping students become motivated language learners, then, may actually begin with
helping students manage their anger
Motivation
This may begin with helping students clarify their goals
Helping them to deal with the anxiety that accompanies language learning (and language
using)
Need to help students find a way to activate their intrinsic motivations
Motivation
For example, helping them talk about what they enjoy about the class
Find out about hobbies or interests and integrating them into the class
Ehrman: the single most important thing is to find ways to build in success, on the principle
that most of us are motivated to do what we believe we are good at
Motivation
The flip side: too much motivation can lead to:
Increased anxiety
A false sense of ability
May lead to expectations that may not be met
Motivation
Ehrman: thus, we may also have to find ways to build in failure, to demonstrate to students
their limitations
Questions?
 What do you think I mean by “building in success” and “building in failure”?
Summary/Minute Paper: