Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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.
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.”
Orientations:
Integrative orientation
Make friends
Intellectual stimulation
Personal challenge
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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 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
Conclusion
Have our ideas about motivation changed since the brainstorming at the
beginning?