Motivation, an influential factor for L2 Acquisition?

The work conducted by Gardner in the area of motivation was largely influenced by Mowrer (1950, cited in Larson-Freeman and Long 1994), whose focus was on first language acquisition. Mowrer proposed that a child's success when learning a first language could be attributed to the desire to gain identity within the family unit and then the wider language community. Using this as the basis for his own research Gardner went on to investigate motivation as an influencing factor in L2 acquisition.

Motivation has been identified as the learner's orientation with regard to the goal of learning a second language (Crookes and Schmidt 1991). It is thought that students who are most successful when learning a target language are those who like the people that speak the language, admire the culture and have a desire to become familiar with or even integrate into the society in which the language is used (Falk 1978). This form of motivation is known as integrative motivation. When someone becomes a resident in a new community that uses the target language in its social interactions, integrative motivation is a key component in assisting the learner to develop some level of proficiency in the language. It becomes a necessity, in order to operate socially in the community and become one of its members. It is also theorised that "integrative motivation typically underlies successful acquisition of a wide range of registers and a nativelike pronunciation" (Finegan 1999:568).

In the same study (Berwick et al. 1989) it was proposed that motivation for studying English peaks in the final year of high school when students channel all their energy into studying for university entrance. Once students gain entrance to a university, motivation to continue English study is sometimes diminished . Many first-year students appear to have no academic purpose. In direct contrast to this, however, is the strong desire of many adults to once again resume study. This often takes place in the many private foreign language schools which provide classes at all hours of the day, catering for the busy employee who is often occupied until late in the evening. Some of the many reasons for the renewed interest of adults in studying include acquiring new skills necessary for the workplace and preparation for an overseas work transfer.

What does research say about learner motivation in SLA?

Motivation has been a focus of SLA research for many years. Identifies motivation as "why people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity [and] how hard they are going to pursue it." Linguist Robert Gardner (1985; Masgoret & Gardner, 2003) examined factors that affected French- and English-speaking Canadians learning the language of the other community. His studies support the theory that integrative motivation (wanting to learn a language in order to identify with the community that speaks the language) promotes SLA. This motivation seems to promote SLA regardless of the age of the learner or whether the language is being learned as a second or foreign language. Even if individuals do not have this positive attitude toward learning the language, they may have instrumental motivation-that is, they may want to learn the language to meet their needs and goals, such as to get a job or to talk to their children's teachers (Morris, 2001; Oxford & Shearin, 1994). Whatever the learners' motivation, research seems to support the practice of teachers discovering and responding to learners' needs and goals when planning instruction (Weddel & Van Duzer, 1997).

Teachers can facilitate motivation by helping learners identify short-term goals and reflect on their progress and achievements. For example, teachers can provide learners with self-assessment checklists to identify skill strengths and weaknesses, weekly checklists to track their progress on meeting a learning goal, and self-reflection tools (e.g., learning diaries) to help learners build autonomy and take charge of their learning (Marshall, 2002).

上一页  [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]  下一页