Motivators That Do Not Motivate: The Case of Chinese EFL Learners and the Influence of Culture on Motivation

Learning a second language is something that numerous people have attempted to do throughout the years. The motivation for doing this, be it intrinsic or extrinsic, varies from student to student. Learning a second language becomes effective when teachers are able to identify students’ individual learning problems, apply diverse methods and approaches to solve them, and nourish students’ learning motivation.

My research for this topic consisted of observations within different school districts in the Houston area, articles which exposed me to new ideas and a strong base of information from my own personal experiences. As an outcome of these research fountains, I will focus on three important points which come together in a student’s motivation and willingness to learn a foreign language. I will focus on the benefits

Schools around the world teach English to their students. In Europe especially 85 percent of students learn English as their second language (Source B). Why spend time learning another’s language while they already speak your own? There is no concrete justification. English is already one of the most spoken languages around the world and it continues to grow diminishing the value of other languages. Responses to this may include that while English is very widespread the future of languages is unpredictable, English may not in fact become the ‘global language’ it aspires to be(Source F). Mandarin is a language spoken by many people, it’s reach isn’t as far but China is an emerging superpower so who’s to say Mandarin won't become the ‘global language’. But, for now we must live in the present and not be ignorant of the fact that here and now English is the one at an upward

In “A comparison of Foreign Language Learning Social Environments, Motivation, and Beliefs between Chinese and American Students,” Yang and Chen focus on the differences between Chinese and American students’ learning foreign languages and do a survey. They find that American students agree that learning foreign language can help “break cultural biases”, while Chinese students believe that learning foreign language is an essential skill to

Jameel Ahmad, in his article, “Traditional & Socio-Cultural Barriers to EFL Learning: A Case Study” suggests that Arabic children that lack intrinsic motivation to learn English will have a detrimental impact towards their learning. Long standing traditions and culture that teach students to not value learning a new language, since they believe that by doing so, it will not encourage students to

Language learners’ motivation plays a significant role in learning a second language since persistence and determination are necessary to deal with the stress of a difficult language. “Motivation has been widely accepted by both teachers and researchers as one of the key factors that influence the rate and success of second language learning” (Dörnyei, 2014, p. 1). Motivation answers the fundamental question of why people act in a certain way, generating the energy, effort, and persistence necessary to achieve a design goal at the beginning (Trotsky; Zebra as cited in Dörnyei, 2014, p. 519; Bernard, 2010, p. 4). Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation are two different types of motivation which have influenced and shaped the foundation of human behavior. In reference to second language learning, extrinsic motivation is related to external gain which is outside of the passions and personal self-esteem that those people need to obtain and acquire to increase motivation. Extrinsic motivation in usually driven by the wish to increase future occupation or business opportunities, while another incentive is to gain more prestige or more power. In contrast, intrinsic is coming from a personal interest that truly motivates people internally as the more powerful factor in achieving the goal language. (Giani & O’Fuinn, 2010, p. 2). Those who set out to learn without such motivation find it much more difficult to succeed. If they are lacking in motivation, even individuals with the most

Krashen placed the variables affecting second language acquisition into three categories: motivation, self-confidence, and anxiety (Schutz, 1997). According to Kocher, motivation of an ESL student is “primarily connected with the desire to become part to the L2 speaking community (2013, pg. 14). This is primarily known as integrative motivation, an orientation that is socially and culturally oriented (Brown, 2014). Kocher outlines that motivation is often negatively impacted in a classroom setting due to embarrassment in messing up the second language (Kocher, 2013).

Stress and conflict in the workplace can cause major emotional and physical damage to the facility and workers. In the past, there have been reports of tragedies caused by disgruntled workers who may have clocked in with a gun in hand. We are going to look into ‘three motivational theories including the relationship of stress and conflict in relation to individual motivations.’

Several recent studies illustrate that student disaffection in English Language classrooms is a very real problem in many counties. In the following studies various terms are used to describe English Language Learning. The abbreviations: ESL (English as a Second Language), EFL (English as a Foreign Language), and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) are used within the context of each of the following studies in keeping with the original authors’ terminology. The common thread among these studies is a focus on disaffection and/or motivation of students learning English as a second or foreign language.

In order to study how people learn a new set of behaviors, we are going to apply three learning theories which learned though this course: classical conditioning, operant conditioning and social cognitive theory .In this paper, only one example would be applied by the theories. The chosen example is a commercial of LNYX body wash which will be further described in the next paragraph. First, we will briefly describe the cases. Then, the application of the theory will be presented part by part from classical conditioning, operant conditioning to social cognitive theory .In each part, we will briefly introduce the major concept of the theories used , followed by the studies on the effectiveness of the commercial.

Student motivation and engagement is crucial for success in language learning. Motivation has been widely discussed by leading scholars like, Dornyei and Gardner (use first names) of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), particularly focusing on how it affects English Language Learners (ELLs) performance in various aspects of the L2 language and learning process. Teachers and students commonly use the term motivation to explain what causes success or failure in learning (Guilloteaux & Dornyei, 2008). Without sufficient motivation, even learners with the most remarkable abilities, excellent teachers, and curriculum, still cannot accomplish long-term goals.

Teachers play the first and foremost role in undermining or enhancing the motivation of students. They can facilitate self determination and essential motivation to students if the teachers are in practice of autonomy supporting style. Such a motivation is also likely to create positive consequences among students. The students of such a teacher will be less distracted in their classes and will be anxious to what is being taught. He will be associated with more positive emotions and his learning will be comprehension centered and will be ready to put more effort in his studies. He will gain better grades in class and there is only very less chance for a drop out. Only those teachers who

Motivation was firstly studied by Gardner & Lambert in 1959. During the past decades, L2 motivation has been a focus in the empirical studies under the context of second language learning. In terms of L2 motivation, Researches on the time dimension of L2 motivation are essential to our developing investigations of L2 motivation throughout the lengthy process of learning and teaching (Ghenghesh, 2010). This essay is a review about Judit Kormos and Kara Crizer work named Age-related Differences in the Motivation of Learning English as a Foreign Language: Attitudes, Selves, and Motivated Leaning Behavior in 2008 on the motivation of learning English as a foreign language (EFL) among three different age group population in Hungary. They also verify the validity of Dornyei’s L2 motivational self system. The system

Learners’ motivation has become more commonly recognized as perhaps the major determining factor for successful learning in general, whether one is a high school student pushing one's way through the battery of required courses needed to graduate, or an adult learner taking distance education courses. In any learning setting, the dynamics of motivation will be different. What will help a high school student sustain motivation may not apply to an adult learner, for example. Similarly, what factors affect and enhance learner motivation in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting (in our case) will differ as well. Furthermore, motivation for EFL learners in a middle school or high school class

Now, millions of people are learning English in every country in their school. While it’s important to continue improving English in every country, it’s critical to provide students with many sources in school they need so they can take the advantage of learning. English should continue to be taught in many countries including Thailand because the benefit of teaching well in school will allow students to be able to compete with English speakers for jobs, adapt to the progression of technology and science, and strengthen student’s their communication skills in the future. These will provide better opportunities for lots of people in the future. On the other hand, class-sizes should be reduced, funds should be allocated for better learning technologies, teaching load should be restructured because these affect student from being taught well in school. In order for students to be taught well, students should have what they need. Learning English is important for many Thai students, so that the understudies can contend with English speakers for employment later on. However, there’s been a issue in