Dimensions of Motivation in Language Learning

Jeff Tennant
WEFLA 2004
Universidad de Holguín
“Oscar Lucero Moya”

Course Overview I
„ Defining motivation
„ Motivation as an individual difference variable in second language acquisition
(SLA)
„ Some theories of motivation in psychology

Course Overview II
„ Robert Gardner’s socio-educational model
„ Debates on the expansion of the model
„ Empirical research studies
„ Approaches to motivating our students

What is motivation?
„ Brainstorming activity:
„ What does the word “motivation” mean to you?
Describe a situation in which you feel very motivated.
„ Describe a situation in which you do not feel motivated.

Dörnyei’s “10 Commandments” I

„ Set a personal example with your own behavior.
„ Create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the classroom.
„ Present the tasks properly.
„ Develop a good relationship with the learners.
„ Increase the learners’ linguistic self-confidence.

Dörnyei’s “10 Commandments” II

„ Make the language classes interesting
„ Promote learner autonomy
„ Personalise the learning process
„ Increase learners’ goal-orientedness
„ Familiarize learners with the target language culture
„ WHICH OF THESE ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO YOU AND WHY?

Defining Motivation
„ Vast and complex concept referring to what makes people do what they do
„ Not an easy concept to define
„ Ways of defining it have evolved along with theories of human behavior and
mind
„ Definition from Madsen (1959):
„ “By motivation, psychologists mean that which gives impetus to behavior by
 arousing, sustaining, and directing it toward the attainment of goals.”

Earlier theories of motivation I

„ Drive theory (Hull, 1952):
„ physiological needs which create drives; people are motivated to satisfy
those drives
„ Reinforcement theory (Skinner, 1953):
„ behaviorist psychology: stimulus-response, behavior controlled by
reinforcements
„ Locke & Latham (1994: 13): “based on the premise that human action could
be understood without reference to consciousness. The premise is
wrong…”

Earlier theories of motivation II

„ Humanistic psychology (Maslow): satisfaction of basic needs:
„ Physiological
„ Safety
„ Love
„ Esteem
„ self-actualization

Current dominant paradigms

„ Cognitive revolution:
Chomsky’s review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior contributed to a decline
„
of behaviorist theories and the development of cognitive theories
„ Cognitive and social theories:
People viewed as autonomous, thinking beings with minds, who are open
to influences from their environment and social context, but are not fully
determined by those influences.

Language Learning Motivation

„ The most influential approach to motivation in language learning: R.C. Gardner
„ Individual difference variable reflecting affective dimension of learning
„ Motivation:
„ Desire + Effort + Attitude, directed toward a Goal

„ Orientations:
„ Integrative orientation

„ Learning an L2 to communicate with the people who speak it, discover

their culture, etc.

„ Instrumental orientation

„ Learning a language for a practical purpose, such as to obtain

employment or get by while traveling

Motivation and orientations

„ Clément & Kruidenier (1983) also add:
 „ Travel orientation
„ Friendship orientation
„ Oxford and Shearin (1994): many examples of orientations that they confuse
with motivations:
„ Do business

„ Make friends

„ Intellectual stimulation

„ Personal challenge

„ Showing off to friends

„ Aiding world peace

„ Learn a private code that parents wouldn’t know

Theories in Motivational Psychology

„ Expectancy-value theory
„ Goal theory
„ Self-determination theory

Expectancy-Value Theory I
„ A dominant cognitive approach in recent research on motivational psychology
„ Focus on motivation as:
„ A person’s expectancy of success in a task
„ The value the person attributes to success in the task
„ Three theories of expectancy of success
„ Attribution theory
„ Self-efficacy theory
„ Sef-worth theory

Expectancy-Value Theory II
„ Attribution theory (Bernard Weiner)
„ Causal attributions of past successes and failures, which will affect future
efforts
„ People can attribute success to:
„ Ability

„ Effort

„ Task difficulty

„ Luck

„ Other factors.

„ Attribution of failure to lack of effort can be less demotivating than

attributing it to lack of ability

Expectancy-Value Theory III

„ Self-efficacy theory
„ “people’s judgement of their capabilities to carry out certain specific tasks”
(Dörnyei, 2001a: 22)
„ Four factors in self-efficacy according to Bandura (1993)
„ Previous performance
 „ Vicarious learning (by observing models)
„ Verbal encouragement by others
„ Physiological reactions

Expectancy-Value Theory IV
„ Self-worth theory (Covington)
„ People are motivated to maintain a sense of self-worth (i.e. to feel good
about themselves)
„ This can lead them to avoid making an effort so that unsatisfactory
performance can be attributed to lack of effort rather than lack of ability

Expectancy-Value Theory V
„ Value (or valence) component of expectancy-value theories:
„ “Does a person want to do the task?
„ Elements that define the intensity of the motivation
„ 4 components
„ Attainment value: importance to the person of mastering the skill or task

„ Intrinsic value: interest, esthetic appreciation, enjoyment

„ Extrinsic utility value: relation to goals, how it improves the person’s

quality of life
„ Cost: negative component: expended effort and time, anxiety, fear of

failure

Goal Theories I
„ Goals replace the notion of needs of earlier theories
„ Variables in goal setting theory:
„ Specificity of goal
„ Difficulty of goal
„ Goal commitment

Goal Theories II
„ Main findings of goal theory research (Locke, 1996), quoted in Dörnyei
(20001a: 26):
„ The more difficult the goal, the greater the achievement
„ The more specific or explicit the goal, the more precisely performance is
regulated
„ Goals that are both specific and difficult lead to the highest performance
„ Commitment to goals is most critical when goals are specific and difficult
„ High commitment to goals is attained when (a) the individual is convinced
that the goal is important; and (b) the individual is convinced that the goal is
attainable.

Goal Theories III

„ Goal orientation theory
„ Mastery orientation
 „ Focus on learning, mastering content: “task-involvement goals”
„ Performance orientation
„ Demonstrate ability, get good grades, do better than others: “ego-
involvement goals”

Self-determination theory I
„ Distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic regulation of motivation
„ Intrinsic:
„ To experience pleasure, satisfy curiosity
„ Extrinsic:
„ Means to an end, receive awards, avoid punishment
„ Amotivation:
„ Lack of regulation: “there is no point”; “I don’t know why I’m doing this”
feeling

Self-determination theory II
„ Continuum of different types of extrinsic regulation (Vallerand, Deci & Ryan,
Noels et al.)
„ External regulation (or extrinsic): least self-determined: doing something
due to external pressures
„ Introjected regulation: doing something because you think you should: obey
a rule, conform to an external expectation
„ Identified regulation: doing something because you recognize its personal
importance (e.g. hobby)
„ Integrated regulation: doing something because it is considered part of
one’s self-identity

Motivation as an individual difference variable in SLA

„ Some individual difference variables that have been studied:
„ Age
„ Aptitude
„ Cognitive style
„ Strategy use
„ Attitudes and Motivation

The role of age in SLA

„ The Critical Period Hypothesis
„Is there an age after which native-like proficiency in an L2 in no longer
attainable?
„ Sometimes called “sensitive period”
„ Research findings mixed: “yes and no”
„ Before age 7, native-like proficiency quite certain
„ 7 to 14: more variation in degree of accentedness
„ After age 14, native-like proficiency sometimes considered impossible, but
some succeed
„ No biological evidence for critical period
 Access to Universal Grammar (UG) in SLA
„ Research related to role of age focuses now on learning mechanisms
involved:
„ Do L2 learners have access to Universal Grammar (specialized cognitive
structures for language)?
„ Issue still the subject of hot debate
„ Some research supports hypothesis of UG access
„ Other research points to use of general learning mechanisms: e.g. gender in
French

Aptitude
„ Differences in natural ability to learn an L2
„ Partly related to general intelligence, partly distinct
„ Has been shown to play an important role in language learning achievement
„ Aptitude is focused on less nowadays in L2 education: preference to think in
terms of what can be changed

Components of language learning aptitude

„ Phonemic coding ability
„ Ability to identify sounds, establish sound-symbol links
„ Grammatical sensitivity
„ Awareness of grammatical patterns, structures
„ Inductive language learning ability
„ Ability to infer form-meaning links from context
„ Rote learning ability
„ Ability to form and remember associations; plays role in vocabulary learning

Cognitive style
„ The way people approach mental tasks
„ Often seen as contrast between field dependence and field independence
„ Field independent learners:
„ Can focus on specific parts of what is being learned, without being
distracted by overall picture
„ Field dependent learners:
„ More oriented to overall picture with less focus on smaller parts of it

Role of cognitive style

„ Is one cognitive style better than the other for language learning? It depends
on what aspects of learning we are considering…
„ Field independent: better at analytical tasks involving grammatical accuracy;
stronger on accuracy than fluency
„ Field dependent: better at synthesis, broader picture, general communicative
skills, even if not with perfect accuracy; stronger on fluency than accuracy

Strategy use
„ Language learning strategies: practices that aid language learning
„ Rebecca Oxford’s (1990) classification:
„ Direct strategies
„ Cognitive, memory, compensation
„ Indirect strategies
„ Metacognitive, affective, social

Language learning strategies

„ Cognitive strategies: repeating, translating, taking notes, summarizing
„ Memory strategies: associating, using keywords, physical response or
sensation
„ Compensation strategies: using clues, switching to L1, using gesture

Language learning strategies

„ Metacognitive strategies: organizing, self-monitoring, overviewing and linking
already known material
„ Affective strategies: making positive statements, using relaxation, discussing
feelings with other people
„ Social strategies: asking for correction, cooperating with peers, developing
cultural understanding

A study of strategy use

„ UWO French 021 students
„ Memory and cognitive strategies linked to achievement (grades) in the course
„ Memory strategies were least used -- training in them could be helpful
„ Students thought strategies could benefit them and should be integrated in
curriculum

The “Good language learner” 1

1. Has an effective personal learning style or positive learning strategies
2. Has an active approach to the learning task
3. Has a tolerant and outgoing approach to the target language and empathy
with its speakers
4. Has technical know-how about how to tackle a language
5. Has strategies of experimentation and planning with the object of developing
the language into an ordered system and revising this system progressively

The “Good language learner” 2

1. Is constantly searching for meaning.
2. Is willing to practise.
3. Is willing to use the language in real communication.
4. Has self-monitoring ability and critical sensitivity to language use.
5. Is able to develop the target language more and more as a separate
reference system and to learn to think in it.

Gardner’s socio-educational model

„ Language learning is different from learning another subject matter
„ Not just learning facts, but acquiring behaviour, ways of thinking and
expressing oneself, that are those of another group
„ A central concept contributing to language learning success: the integrative
motive
„ Importance of attitudes:
„ "an attitude is an evaluative reaction to some referent or attitude object,
inferred on the basis of the individual's beliefs or opinions about the
referent” (Gardner, 1985: 9)

Gardner’s AMTB I
„ Survey instrument, questionnaire: the Attitudes / Motivation Test Battery
(AMTB)
„ Validated in dozens of studies, the only one to have such convincing proof of
its validity and statistical reliability
„ Several questions for each trait studied, e.g. for motivational intensity:
„ I actively think about what I have learned in my French class: a) very
frequently (3); b) hardly ever (1), c) once in a while (2)
„ A shorter version, the mini-AMTB: one question per trait

Gardner’s AMTB II
„ Motivation (mini-AMTB items)
„ Desire: My desire to learn French is: Weak <-> Strong
„ Motivational intensity: I would characterize how hard I work at learning
French as: Very little <-> Very much
„ Attitudes toward learning the language: My attitude toward learning French
is: Unfavourable <-> Favourable

Gardner’s AMTB III

„ Integrativeness (mini-AMTB items)
„ Integrative orientation: If I were to rate my feelings about learning French in
order to interact with Francophones, I would have to say they are: Weak <-
> Strong
„ Attitudes toward the target language group: My attitudes towards
Francophones is: Favourable <-> Unfavourable
„ Interest in foreign languages: My interest in languages other than French
and English is: Very Low <-> Very High

Gardner’s AMTB IV
„ Attitudes toward the learning situation (mini-AMTB items)
„ Attitudes toward the instructor: My attitude toward my French professor is:
Favourable <-> Unfavourable
„ Attitudes toward the course: My attitude toward my French classes is:
Favourable <-> Unfavourable
„ Instrumental orientation (mini-AMTB item):
„ If I were to rate my feelings about learning French for practical purposes
 such as to improve my occupational opportunities, I would say that they
are: Weak <-> Strong

Gardner’s AMTB V
„ Anxiety (mini-AMTB items)
„ French course anxiety: My anxiety level in my French classes is: Very Low
<-> Very High
„ French use anxiety: My anxiety in speaking French outside of class is: Very
Low <-> Very High

Integrative motive
„ The Integrative motive is composed of:
„ Integrativeness
„ Attitudes toward the learning situation
„ Motivation
„ Motivation affects the success of learning
„ Attitudes have an indirect effect on learning: their effects are mediated by
motivation

Debates on the expansion of the model I

„ Crookes & Schmidt (1991): “Reopening the research agenda”, Oxford &
Shearin (1994), Dörnyei (1994), criticisms of Gardner
„ His theory has dominated the field too much
„ His approach to motivation doesn’t reflect teachers’ concerns
„ His theory is limited to the affective dimension from a social psychological
approach, without considering other perspective from educational
psychology

Debates on the expansion of the model II

„ Gardner’s position:
„ Some criticisms based on misinterpretations of his theory (e.g. the mistaken
belief that the opposition between integrative and instrumental motivation is
a central part of his model)
„ Need to carry out empirical investigations to validate expanded theory
„ « On with the challenge! »

Empirical research studies

„ Tremblay & Gardner (1995)
„ Gardner, Tremblay Masgoret (1997): full empirical model
„ Gardner at al. (2004): trait, state, changes
„ Gardner & Tennant: expanded mini-AMTB

Tremblay & Gardner (1995)

„ Incorporation of new concepts in a causal model including socio-educational
model elements:
 „ Goal-setting theory, Expectancy-value theory
„ Study of students in French-language secondary school
„ Some results:
„ Language attitudes -> motivated behaviour
„ Goal setting -> motivated behavior
„ Adaptive attributions -> self-efficiency -> motivated behaviour

Gardner, Tremblay & Masgoret (1997) I

„ “Towards a full model of second language learning: An empirical investigation”
„ 102 university students in intro French
„ Comprehensive questionnaire including AMTB items, aptitude, field
dependence/independence, self-confidence

Gardner, Tremblay & Masgoret (1997) II

„ Results show links between:
„ Attitudes and motivation
„ Aptitude and achievement
„ Motivation and achievement
„ Motivation and self-confidence
„ Achievement and self-confidence
„ Strategy use and achievement (negative correlation)

Approaches to motivating our students

„ With all we know (and don’t know) about language learning motivation, can we
language teachers motivate our students?
„ We saw a number of suggestions in Zoltán Dörnyei’s “10 commandments’
„ While these haven’t been demonstrated empirically to have definite effects on
motivation, they are good tips to try

Williams and Burden’s suggestions

1. Recognize the complexity of motivation
2. Be aware of both initiating and sustaining motivation
3. Discuss with learners why they are carrying out activities
4. Involve learners in decisions related to learning the language
5. Involve learners in setting language learning goals
6. Recognise people as individuals

Williams and Burden’s suggestions 2

1. Build up individuals’ beliefs in themselves
2. Develop internal beliefs
3. Help to move towards a mastery-oriented style
4. Enhance intrinsic motivation
5. Build up a supportive learning environment
6. Give feedback that is informational

Dörnyei’s Motivational Strategies I

„ Creating the basic motivational conditions:
„ Demonstrate and talk about your own enthusiasm for the course material,
and how it affects you personally
„ Take the students’ learning very seriously
„ Develop a personal relationship with your students
„ Create a pleasant and supportive atmosphere in the classroom
„ Promote the development of group cohesiveness

Dörnyei’s Motivational Strategies II

„ Generating initial motivation:
„ Raise the learners’ intrinsic interest in the L2 learning process
„ Promote ‘integrative’ values by encouraging a positive and open-minded
disposition towards the L2 and its speakers, and towards foreignness in
general
„ Promote the students’ awareness of the instrumental values associated
with the knowledge of an L2
„ Increase the students’ expectancy of success in particular tasks and in
learning in general
„ Increase your students’ goal-orientedness by formulating explicit class
goals accepted by them

Dörnyei’s Motivational Strategies III

„ Maintaining and protecting motivation:
„ Make learning more stimulating and enjoyable by breaking the monotony of
classroom events
„ Present and administer tasks in a motivating way
„ Use goal-setting methods in your classroom
„ Build your learners’ confidence by providing regular encouragement
„ Help diminish language anxiety by removing or reducing the anxiety-
producing elements in the learning environment
„ Build your learners’ confidence in their learning abilities by teaching them
various learner strategies

Dörnyei’s Motivational Strategies IV

„ Encouraging positive self-evaluation:
„ Promote effort attributions in your students
„ Provide students with positive information feedback
„ Increase learner satisfaction
„ Offer rewards in a motivational manner
„ Use grades in a motivating manner, reducing as much as possible their
demotivating impact

Conclusion
„ Have our ideas about motivation changed since the brainstorming at the
beginning?