1、Motivation in Language Learning Nowadays, with the quickly development of the world, more and more people make efforts to learn a second language. And when we talk about learning a foreign language, we often talk about different methods, if you should go to school or not and how much time is ideal t

2、o spend on the target language each day. These are common questions to ask by ourselves, but I think they are not as important as one thing: motivation. Different people have different motivations in learning a second language. Here, motivation is a desire to achieve a goal, combined with the energy

3、 to work towards that goal. It seems a simple and easy word. But in fact, it is very difficult define. It seems to have been impossible for theorists to reach consensus on a single definition Here are some definitions:According to the Webster's, to motivate means to provide with a motive, a need

4、 or desire that causes a person to act. According to Gardner (1985), motivation is concerned with the question, "Why does an organism behave as it does? He defines motivation as referring to a combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitude

5、s towards learning the language.Motivation is also defined as the impetus to create and sustain intentions and goal-seeking acts (Ames & Ames, 1989). It is important because it determines the extent of the learner's active involvement and attitude toward learning. (Ngeow, Karen Yeok-Hwa, 199

6、8) It is a term frequently used in both educational and research contexts. Many researchers consider motivation as one of the main elements that determine success in developing a second or foreign language; it determines the extent of active, personal involvement in L2 learning. (Oxford & Sheari

7、n, 1994) Motivation involves four basic aspects: internal condition; inference; initiation, activation, or maintenance; and goal-directed behavior. Motivation reflects an internal condition. The condition may develop from physiological needs and drives or from complex desires, such as the desire to

8、help others, to obtain approval, or to earn a high income. Motivation is an inferred concept that links a persons internal conditions to external behavior. It cannot be observed directly, but we can infer its presence by its behavioral effects. Motivation initiates activates, or maintains behavior.

9、Personality and motivation, expectancy theories show that if people hold beliefs or expectations for success, they will behave, operate, or cooperate in specific ways, however, peoples beliefs and expectations are determined partly by how people perceive the causes of success or failure, if a person

10、 believes a task is impossible, for example, then the cause of the ultimate failure sill have little to do with expectations for success. Similarly, if a person believes that a task is so simple that anyone can do it properly, then success at the task will provide little reward or satisfaction.We sh

11、ould learn the function of motivation and realize the importance of motivation. First, arousal function motivation, it can arouse organism to engender special activity. The organism with motivate, which especially have bearing on certain stimulus, is aroused more early by the stimulus. Second, direc

12、tional function motivation can make activity of organism be aimed at special goal or special object. Third, maintenance and adjust function. After activity is aroused, motivation can maintain the activity to be aimed at a special goal. When it is necessary, motivation can adjust the intensity of the

13、 activity and the time when the activity maintains.Usually, motivation has been identified to various kindsinstrumental, integrative, resultative and intrinsic. Among these four types of motivation, what sort of motivation is better for language learning?We some learners believe that knowing a secon

14、d language may help getting a better job, or get a place at university. A survey of young people in Europe found that 29% wanted to learn more languages to increase their career possibilities, while 14% wanted them in order to live, work, or study in the country. The last figure is a reminder that i

15、nstrumental and integrative motivations are one two of the possible kinds of motivation. Learners might learn a second language well with an instrumental motivation or with an integrative one, or indeed with both at the same time, or with other motivations. Definitely, second language learning motiv

16、ation plays an important role in the process of learners learning success. We all know that motivation is important to our study on foreign language. But we all look for ways to improve our language learning, we forget our motivation. We try to motivate ourselves for many things, but somehow we only

17、 look at methods when learning a foreign language. Only when you are motivated, you can learn a foreign language. When you are not motivated, you wont show up to learn your target language. So, I think being motivated is the most important thing in language learning. It is possible to learn many thi

18、ngs in a short amount of time, but to truly learn a language to fluency you need years to input, study and practice. Zolttan Dornyei, who tested the motivation of learners of English in the typical European situation of Hungary, found that an instrumental motivation concerned with future careers was

19、 very powerful. And integrative motivation became more important as the learners advanced in the language.Some researchers indicated that the stronger and clearer motivation, the higher active in learning and the more effective it may be. However, some studies found that motivation goes both directi

20、ons. Learners who experience success in learning may become more, or in some contexts, less motivated to learn. On the other hand, for instance, if learners have achieved their targets, then they may work harder than before in order to reaching another higher target. In other words, high motivation

21、is one factor that causes successful learning; successful learning, however, may cause high motivation. The latter process of creating successful learning which can spur high motivation may be under the teachers control, if not the former. On the other hand, for example, they may let themselves rela

22、xed for thinking that they have achieved and they dont need to pay more efforts it any more. Whats more, Ausubel pointed out that the relationship between motivation and learning is typically interactive and it is not just a one-way relationship. That means, motivation prompts learning by the way of

23、 enhancing behavior, and what learners gain can increase motivation. So, we should set a goal. Here, goals can be distinguished into two kinds short term goals and long term goals. Short term goals may include wanting to pass a term test or finishing an assignment of a unit in a book. While long ter

24、m goals may have something to do with a wish to get a better job in the future, or a desire to be promoted, or the ability to read articles and books about their major in English.Generally speaking, students with goals are usually easy to teach than those who havent. Then motivation can be separated

25、 into extrinsic motivation, which is concerned the factors outside the classroom, and intrinsic motivation, which is concerned with what takes place inside the classroom. How to improve learning motivation? According to psychological researches, motivation is not genetic, it is learned. In other wor

26、ds, motivation is learnable and teachable. There are some factors that affect ones motivation, such as family, neighbors, prior teachers, learning conditions and so on. They are beyond our control. However, there are some ways that can change your learning habits and establish your motivation. Here

27、are suggestions. 1) Raise ones level of concern. Proper level of concern can activate ones effort to learn. Learners should take care about what to lean and learning results, and have a right attitude toward learning. Suppose learners show indifference or unconcern to their learning, they will make

28、no or little progress in learning. So we can say no learning without concern. 2) Set learning goals. Setting a goal demonstrates an intention to achieve and activates learning from one day to the next. It also directs learners activities toward the goal and offers an opportunity to experience succes

29、s. 3) Acquire the sense of success. Success is more motivating than failure. How to gain success? Normally, the material must be relevant, and learners can choose proper activities rather than those that are difficult (little likelihood of success) or easy (high probability of success). Passing a test or getting a reward is a success. Every minor success is the progress toward goals. The more you get successes, the more satisfied you are, and the harder you learn. This is the emotional ex