MA TESOL

School of Education
Semester 1 2021-22
Handout for week 3: L2 Motivation (1)
Session tutor: Xin Gao

Learning outcomes

By the end of this lecture, seminar and any follow-up activities, you
should better understand L2 motivation regarding historical perspectives,
key theories and research into motivational characteristics from 1960s-
2005. You will consider these in light of your own experience as a
language learner.

Instructions

If you have not done so already, please follow the link at the top of the
module homepage so that you can get access to the MS Team – you
need to do this to be able to join the online lecture.

Before the lecture:

Please familiarise yourself with the slides in advance of the lecture on

Monday. Make note of any questions you have, or comments that you
want to make, during the lecture.

Before the follow-up seminar:

You should study the seminar task below and be ready to talk about
your responses in small groups when you meet (either in-person face-to-
face or online in MS Teams).

Key readings

Lightbown, P. and Spada, N. (2013) How Languages are Learned 4th

ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. “Attitudes and motivation” and
“Motivation in the classroom” in Chapter 3.

Dörnyei, Z. (1998). Motivation in second and foreign language learning.

Language Teaching 31: 117-135.

You can access the e-copy of this journal paper via Nusearch or through
the Talis reading list (on the module homepage in Moodle) where you
see this icon:

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Seminar task

English learner Questionnaire

Use the questionnaire to better understand your thoughts and beliefs as

English learners. The questionnaire consists of 42 items and please use
the link to fill in before your seminar session.

Important: remember to click ‘submit’ at the end of the questionnaire.

You can have a copy of your answer after you submit. Please then
complete the following summary of the six motivational scale:

Motivational scale items Mean (= Total/N*)

Integrativeness 1-10 3.5

Appraisal of English class 11-20 4.4

Linguistic self-confidence 21-30 3.7

Instrumentality 31-35 4.8

Direct contact with English 36-39 4.5

native speaker

Milieu 40-42 3.3

* To find the mean, add all the numbers together [-Total] then divide by the number of
numbers [N], Eg 4+ 3 + 5 + 2 + 4 = 18 ÷ 5 = 3.60. The mean is 3.60.

You will be asked to share your answers with a small discussion group in
the seminar to see how similar (or different) your answers were to each
other.

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You will also need to choose a spokesperson for your group and prepare
a summary of the main points of your discussion for them to share with
the rest of the class.

Space for your notes

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Week 3 Learning Circles task

Annotated bibliography is included on p54-55 in the following journal

paper:

Dörnyei, Z. (2001) New themes and approaches in second language

motivation research. Annual review of applied linguistics 21: 43-59.

“An annotated bibliography is a list of the sources you've used in your

research with brief “annotations” for each that describe the source’s
content and summarise its main argument… your annotations
demonstrate your ability to identify arguments and evaluate their
usefulness for your project.” – please find more relevant information
following this links.

Read this paper and fill in the table “Annotated Bibliography”

Below:
Dörnyei, Z., & Clément, R. (2001) Motivational characteristics of
learning different target languages: Results of a nationwide survey.
In Z. Dörnyei & R. Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second language
acquisition (pp. 399-432). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.

You can access this paper following the link to Zoltán Dörnyei's website
on the Talis reading list in Moodle

Table: Annotated Bibliography

SOURCE Context: what kind of source is this?

Dörnyei, Z., & Clément, R. (2001) Motivational

characteristics of learning different target languages:
Results of a nationwide survey. In Z. Dörnyei & R.
Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second language
acquisition (pp. 399-432). Honolulu, HI: University of
Hawaii Press.

What are the aims?

This study discusses the findings of learners’

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 attitude/motivation survey conducted in Hungary.

Who is the intended audience?

Teachers of the L2 teaching, students, researchers

of education or language

THEME/TOPIC What is the focus of the source?

The source focuses on the comparison and

contrast of students’ motivation towards various
L2.

LINKS TO How does this connect to what you know already?

OTHER TEXTS/
THEMES/TOPIC Language is directly related to gender and teachers
S should use this characteristic to personalise their
teaching.（Ziqi）
It is related to my own experiences when I was teaching
high school students in the area of Gender and
Geographical differences.（Chris）

Key source with regard to understanding students

motivation in respect to genders and regional
characteristics

How do these claims connect to other literature?

Could link with Kassabgy, O., Boraie, D., &

Schmidt, R. (2001). Values, rewards, and job
satisfaction in ESL/EFL. In Z. Dörnyei & R.
Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second language
acquisition (pp. 215 240). Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Second Language Teaching and
Curriculum Center.

The two literatures discuss about motivation,

however the second literature explore a more
specific aspects of motivation which are values,

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 rewards, and job satisfaction.

To what extent do others support or oppose these

claims?
The article agrees with...

KEY POINTS What point is the researcher trying to make? What

are the key ideas, themes, theories and concepts?

1. Affective/integrative dimension, referring to a

general affective "core" of the L2 motivation
complex related to attitudes, beliefs and values
associated with the process, the target and the
outcome of learning, including variables such as
"integrativeness," "affective motive," "language
attitudes," "intrinsic motivation," "attitudes toward
L2 learning," "enjoyment" and "interest;"

2. Instrumental/pragmatic dimension, referring to

extrinsic, largely utilitarian factors such as financial
benefits;

3. Macro-context-related dimension, referring to

broad, societal and sociocultural factors such as
multicultural, intergroup and ethnolinguistic
relations;

4- Self-concept-related dimension, referring to

learner-specific variables such as self-confidence,
self-esteem, anxiety and need for achievement;

5. Goal-related dimension, involving various goal

characteristics;

6. Educational context-related dimension, referring

to the characteristics and appraisal of the
immediate learning environment (i.e., classroom)
and the school context; and

7. Significant others-related dimension, referring to

the motivational influence of parents, family, and

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 friends.

Gender differences, language choice and

geographical differences also matters in motivation
of language acquisition.

STRENGTHS Critical analysis: what is the evidence of

researcher’s claims?
Using questionnaires to collect data, which
strengthens the reliability of the research

How do they argue them?

Compare multiple categories at the same time, so
as to increase the breadth of research.

Is the argument logical?

It is logical towards the data provided

What are the underlying assumptions or biases?

The paper has produced an abundance of data

and the findings also shows some compelling
patterns and trends.

LIMITATIONS What is missing?

Is the argument convincing? Is the supporting
evidence robust?
Is it up-to-date? Is the methodology suitable?

Data is only collected from 13-14 year old students

and there is a lack of data for older teenagers and
adults. Given that teenagers do not have a well-
developed perception of their own motivation to
learn, more data should be collected on other age
groups.

The data for this paper is from Hungary only, and

given the cultural factors and linguistic issues, data
could have been collected from more countries or
regions around the world to make the paper more

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 logical and reliable.

The data only focuses on curricular contact, lack

of data of extracurricular contact.

METHODOLOGY How did the researcher arrive at these claims?

What methods were used?

Using others’ research.

Survey for participants using questionnaires.

POSITIONALITY What is the researcher’s positionality, purpose and

agenda?
The researchers tend to support the idea of
motivation might be affected by several factors,
such as gender, language choice, and
geographical differences

EVALUATION To what extent do you accept the researcher’s

argument?

Personally, we believe that the data is reliable, but

it has limited reference value for Asian students in
terms of the different linguistic systems in Europe
and Asian

You should do this individually before you meet with your Learning Circle
to discuss.

Note: please find an example of annotated bibliography from a tutor on a

teacher education programme.

Post your answers as a team on Moodle: EDUC4222 discussion

Forum by 25th October.

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 Suggested reading:

Boo, Z., Dörnyei, Z. and Ryan, S. (2015) L2 motivation research 2005–

2014: Understanding a publication surge and a changing landscape.
System (55): 145-157.
Coleman, J. A., Galaczi, A. R., and Astruc, L. (2007) Motivation of UK
school pupils towards foreign languages: a large-scale survey at Key
Stage 3. Language Learning Journal 35(2): 245-281.
Dörnyei, Z. (1994). Understanding L2 motivation: On with the challenge!
Modern Language Journal 78: 515-523.
Dörnyei, Z. (1998) Motivation in second and foreign language learning.
Language teaching 31(03): 117-135.
Dörnyei, Z. (2001) New themes and approaches in second language
motivation research. Annual review of applied linguistics 21: 43-59.
Dörnyei, Z., & Clément, R. (2001). Motivational characteristics of learning
different target languages: Results of a nationwide survey. In Z.
Dörnyei, Z. & Schmidt, R. (Eds.) Motivation and second language
acquisition (pp. 399-432). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Dörnyei, Z. (2002). The motivational basis of language learning tasks. In
P. Robinson (Ed.), Individual differences and instructed language
learning (pp. 137-158). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Dörnyei, Z. (2005) The psychology of the language learner: Individual
differences in second language acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Dörnyei, Z. and Ushioda, E. (2013) Teaching and researching: Motivation,
(2nd ed.). Routledge.
Dörnyei, Z. and Csizér, K. (1998). Ten commandments for motivating
language learners: Results of an empirical study. Language teaching
research 2(3): 203-229.
Dörnyei, Z. and Ottó, I. (1998). Motivation in action: A process model of
L2 motivation. Working Papers in Applied Linguistics (Thames Valley
University, London) 4: 43-69.
Gardner, R. C., Masgoret, A. M., Tennant, J., and Mihic, L. (2004).
Integrative motivation: Changes during a year‐long intermediate‐level
language course. Language learning 54(1):1-34.
Ushioda, E (2001) language learning at university exploring the role of
motivational thinking. In: Dörnyei, Z. & Schmidt, R. (Eds.) Motivation
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and second language acquisition (pp. 93-125). Honolulu: University
of Hawaii Press.

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