Педагогические науки/ 5 Современные методы преподавания

Крашенинникова А.Е.

Сибирский Государственный Аэрокосмический Университет им. М.Ф. Решетнева

MOTIVATION AS A KEY FACTOR TO SUCCESSFUL LANGUAGE LEARNING

In today’s global world knowing a foreign language other than your native language has evolved to be extremely beneficial. In the era of globalization success depends on the ability of an individual to function as a member of a global village whose members speak a variety of languages. That is why, learning foreign languages is no longer a pastime: it is a necessity. However, in spite of the importance of knowing a foreign language (English) most of the students in Russia are still described as low-competent in the English language. They have a lot of difficulties in using English even in everyday situations not to mention the difficulties they have in their professional lives.

There are many factors that might cause the students’ low proficiency in English. One might be attributed to students’ motivation towards the English language. This is because learners’ motivation has been widely accepted as a key factor which influences the success of foreign language learning. McDonough states that “motivation of the students is one of the most important factors influencing their success or failure in learning the language". So, if a student is interested in learning foreign languages (English) and feels the necessity to do it, he will achieve good results. That is way, it is detrimental to study what can motivate students.

What is motivation? Motivation is hard to define. In simple terms, motivation, based on the Latin verb for “move,” is the force that makes one do something. It is a process that involves goals, physical or mental activity, and is both instigated and sustained (Pintrich & Schunk, 1996, pp 4-5; Williams, 1997). It is characterized in terms of direction, duration and intensity. An alternative definition is that motivation is the amount of energy mobilized in the pursuit of goals (Muraven & Slessareva, 2003). That is, motivation to accomplish a given goal will depend on how attractive the goal is felt to be and how attainable it is believed to be.

As there are a lot of definitions of motivation there are a lot of theories of it. The behavioristic approach is based on Tolman’s theory that behavior is more goal-directed than responsive, the following of cognitive maps based on expectancies or rewards. This approach examines how motives are learned and how internal drives and external goals interact with learning to produce behaviour. According to cognitive theories of motivation, changing students’ motivation to learn requires changing their cognitions: expectations for success, valuing of learning tasks, goals, beliefs about ability, and explanations of successes and failures. This theory suggests that there are two motivation systems that correspond to two kinds of motivators: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivators are associated with achievement, responsibility and competence. These are motivators that come from the actual performance of the task or job - the intrinsic interest of the work. Intrinsic motivation in learning is when process of learning is a reward itself. The main goal of a teacher is to foster academic intrinsic motivation, in which students’ exhibit curiosity and persistence and focus on mastery of a foreign language. Extrinsic motivators focus on external rewards for the behavior. Motivation is created by external factors such as rewards and punishments. They can be pay, promotion, feedback, working conditions. The gains one can get are more important. This type of motivators is the most popular among students as the majority of them study due to extrinsic motives. Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators are necessary with regard to language learning especially if they are in admirable proportion.

In this case it is possible to speak about academic motivation which is considered to be a subtype of general motivation. Academic motivation is defined according to some factors: student’s characteristics (sex, self-esteem, grade of intelligence), teacher’s characteristics and his/her attitude to work, the way a learning process organized, particular characteristics of the subject (English as a foreign language)

Thus, according to academic motivation it is possible to mention the following extrinsic motives as: achievement, self-esteem, identification, affiliation, self development. Moreover, academic motivation can be divided into positive and negative. The example of a positive academic motivation is a student’s desire to pass an exam whereas the motive to study a foreign language because of the fear not to pass an exam is a negative academic motivation.

Taking into consideration all the types of motivators, a questionnaire was used as a method to assess students’ motivational levels in learning the English language. Participants were the first, second and third year students of engineering and economics faculty who were enrolled in compulsory English classes.150 students took part in this research. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. Part 1 included questions to identify students’ motivation to learn the English language. In the first part students completed a questionnaire assessing their English learning attitudes, beliefs, goals, and reasons. In the second part, on the other hand, the students were asked to answer a question on whether or not they are interested in attending more English language training courses to improve their proficiency in the English language. Answering such a question is of great importance to know about their desire for learning the language which is considered one of the main components of language learning motivation.

According to the questionnaire results, 24% of the interviewees are highly favoured learning English for the purpose of having an ability to travel and communicate with foreigners. It is certainly connected with the opportunities to travel that students have today in Russia. 21% of the interviewees are studying English because they have to. But students’ attitude to the subject is more neutral than negative. The questionnaire shows that 16% of students admitted that learning the English language for a personal development and to enhance their status among friends (mean=3.8395) are important motives to learn the English language for them. The students also favoured learning English for the purpose of getting a job as this reason had received one of the highest scores (21%). Moreover, 5 % of the students study English as they are obliged to do it and their motives have a negative character. It might be worth indicating that the analysis of the data shows that students are well motivated but extrinsic motivators are in favour. Thus it is up to the teacher to create an atmosphere for the development of intrinsic motivators that is personal interest in language learning.

After analyzing the second part concerning students’ opinions to the idea of attending more English language training courses that would help improve their proficiency. The results indicate that 70 % of them responded positively. The most reasonable explanation for this might be that the students lacked the language skills that would enable them to function effectively in both their academic and professional settings. Having great desires for learning the language is considered to be one of the main components of language learning motivation

To sum up, the questionnaire was conducted to identify engineering and economics students’ motivation and attitudes toward the English language. The findings indicated that the students had strong motives for learning the English language and held significant attitudes toward the use of English language It is recommended for the teachers of English to conduct similar questionnaires to understand their students’ motivators and to work out more effective methods of work with students to increase their interest in language learning.

References

1. Pintrich, P. R., & Schunk, D. H. (1996). Motivation in education: theory, research and applications. Englewood Cliffs: NJ: Prentice-Hall.

2. Williams, M. B., Robert. (1997). Psychology for language teachers: a social constructivist view: New York: Cambridge.

3. http://www.osaka-gu.ac.jp/php/kelly/papers/motivation.html A Review of Traditional and Current Theories of Motivation in ESL Curtis Kelly

4. Motivation And Attitudes Towards Learning English: A Study Of Petroleum Engineering Undergraduates At Hadhramout University Of Sciences And Technology Atef Al-Tamimi, Munir Shuib GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies Volume 9(2) 2009