Report

Part 1: Summary of Lecture

Part 2: Literature Review

Academic Project 2

AEPS Summer Course 2014

Wang

Yue

Student ID Number: 200871737

19th August 2014

Word Count: 1280

Personal Tutors: Indu Meddegama

Thilini Wijeratne
 Report

This report consists of a summary of the lecture, “Understanding people’s motivation to learn

English in the globalization ear” given by Dr Martin Lamb at University of Leeds on 12 th

August 2014 and a review of the relevant literature.

Part 1 - Summary

Tittle: Understanding people’s motivation to learn English in the globalization era.

Lecturer: Dr Martin Lamb

In this lecture about understanding people’s motivation to learn English as a second language,

Lamb (2014) stated that motivation plays a significant role in the process of learning,

particularly in learning and teaching languages. According to the lecturer, as a language

learner, in order to successfully learn English, being self-motivated is a basic element; as an

English teacher, it is necessary to motivate students to love what they are learning.

At the beginning of his lecture, Lamb briefly introduced the definition of motivation.

According to Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011, p.4) motivation equals to the choice of a particular

action, the persistence with it and the effort of doing it. The definition shows the importance

of motivation. However, Lamb indicated that being motivated is not the only component

involved in learning English.

Next Lamb quoted Gardner’s theory (2010, p.3) to illustrate that learning language

needs more individual motivation because it combines one’s own experiences with another

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cultural community. Meanwhile, individual motivation to learn English includes two different

types (Gardner, 1985, pp.82-3):

* Integrative motivation

* Instrumental motivation

‘Integrative motivation’ refers to learning because of positive feelings towards the

community that speaks the language. On the contrast, ‘instrumental motivation’ means that

learning the certain language for the rewards it brings, such as a good job.

However, Lamb claimed that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the differences of

the two kinds of motivation in an era of globalization. According to his research conducted in

Indonesian junior high school students, English is most dominant language within the L2

speakers in nowadays. Therefore, he introduced a new L2 motivational self-system

established in 2009, which clarified self-motivation into three categories (Dörnyei, 2009,

p.13):

* Ideal L2 self

* Ought-to L2 self

* L2 learning experience

The first type is similar to ‘promotion-focus motivation’, which refers to imagine themselves

being fluent English speakers in the future. For ought-to L2 self, it is more like the

‘prevention-focus motivation’ because learners may feel obligation to know English to avoid

future problems. Moreover, the last type refers to an intrinsic motivation and other factors

related to learning process.

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 To be a learner with an ideal L2 self, it is necessary to aware the discrepancy of

present self and future self and then turn this discrepancy into motivation to work and

practice. Nevertheless, there are three conditions for an ideal self to motivate:

* Should not be too big a discrepancy

* Should not conflict with the desires of significant others

* Needs to be accompanied by a plan of action.

In concluding his lecture, he argued that the L2 learning experience system is

essential to teachers. For most of students, learning English does not due to their intrinsic

motivation. Under this circumstance, it is teachers’ obligation to motivate their students to

love English enough to put efforts in it.

Lamb suggested that motivation in learning English is very complex and can be

changed in the process of learning. It is very important for teachers to motivate their students;

however, the most important point is that being a self-motivated learner whilst learning

English.

Part - 2 Literature Review

The overarching aims of this review is to critically examine the definition of motivation, the

clarification of motivation, and the importance of motivation in the process of learning a

second language.

According to Dörnyei and Ushioda (2011, p.4), motivation refers to “the choice of a

particular action, the persistence with it and the effort expended on it”. Dörnyei (1994,

pp.273-284) also claimed that motivation is an essential point of learning a language

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successfully; without it, learners will achieve nothing. However, he did not give enough

evidence to support his statement that motivation is the most significant element in the

process of learning languages. As a matter of fact, it is also necessary to take other relevant

factors, talent, ability and method for example, into consideration.

The classification of motivation experienced a development in the past three decades.

Gardner (1985, pp.82-3) proposed the theory of dividing motivation into two categories:

integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. The first type of motivation refers to

learners with an intention of identifying with a particular culture; while learners who are

motivated by the second type always relate to desires to attend examinations or find better

jobs. Similarly, Littlejohn (2008, p.215) stated that in general motivation is composed of the

intrinsic motivation, which refers to a personal interest in the language and extrinsic

motivation, which is related to factors of reward or punishment. However, Lamb (2014)

argued that sometimes it is very difficult to distinguish the differences appeared in those two

classifications, especially in the era of globalization because English is more frequently used

within L2 speakers nowadays. Under this circumstance, a new classification of motivation

emerges —— the L2 motivational self-system raised by Dörnyei (2009, pp.13-6). Compared

with the former theories, Dörnyei classified motivation into three types: ideal L2 self, ought-

to L2 self and L2 learning experience. Ideal L2 self means that learners who can persist in

practicing because of they are motivated by imagining the future language-speaking selves.

Ought-to L2 self means learners decide to learn a second language in order to avoid future

problems. L2 learning experience equals to those learners who have the intrinsic motivation

to learn another language. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the third classification from

Dörnyei is not distinct enough. Therefore, it is difficult to tell the differences within language

learners. For example, if a student who intends to study in Britain in the future so that he

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must successfully pass the IELTS examination. Thus, a question has been raised: whether is

he an ideal L2 self learner or an ought-to L2 self learner?

Numerous researchers have already reached an agreement in one point, which is

motivation do play a very significant role in the process of learning a second language.

Coleman (2009, pp.111-127) indicates in his research that due to lack of motivation from

policy, social climate, and media, UK occupies a leading position in three measures of

linguistic incompetence including percentage of adults unable to hold a conversation except

in their mother tongue; average number of foreign languages studied at school, in lower

secondary education; and average number of foreign languages studied at school, in higher

secondary education. Compared with students in the UK, Chinese and Indonesian students

are frequently motivated by their teachers, according to research conducted by Lamb and

Wedell (2013). They suggested that teachers who are enthusiastic about the language could

convey their persistence in studying to their students. Meanwhile, students can be encouraged

to care about the particular language in the learning process. In addition, Littlejohn (2008,

p.219) indicated that motivation could increase language learners’ future achievement in an

upward spiral. Besides, it can also help them to enhance self-confidence and self-image.

Therefore, the importance of being motivated cannot be ignored in the process of language

learning.

To conclude, this literature review has mainly discussed the issue about the definition,

classification and significance of being motivated in learning a second language argued by

Lamb, Coleman and Littlejohn. However, there are several problems remained in their

articles, such as lack of supporting details in the definition part and not distinct enough in the

part of classification.

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References:

Coleman, J.A. 2009. Why the British do not learn languages: myths and motivations in the

United Kingdom. Language Learning Journal. 37(1), pp.111–127.

Dörnyei, Z. 1994. Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroom. The Modern

Language Journal. 78(3), pp.273-284.

Gardner, R.C. 1985. Social psychology and second language learning: the role of attitudes

and motivation. London: Edward Arnold.

Lamb, M. 2014. Understanding people’s motivation to learn English in the globalization era.

12 August, University of Leeds.