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The Study of Motivation Essay

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Literature Review
Motivation
MacIntyre et al. (2001) define motivation as “an attribute of the individual describing the psychological qualities underlying behavior with respect to a particular task” (p. 463). The study of motivation as a predictor of second language learning performance was initiated by Gardner and his Canadian colleagues (1972).
According to Gardner and Lambert (1972), there are two kinds of motivation: integrative motivation, referring to a holistic learning approach toward the speech and culture of the target language group, and instrumental motivation, referring to language learning for more immediate or practical goals. Intrinsic and extrinsic are the new classifications of motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the …show more content…

Both types are important. A learner might learn an L2 well with an integrative motivation or with an instrumental one, or indeed with both (Cook, 1991). . The level of identification with bilingual or trilingual identity is also influenced by the learners’ attitudes toward the learning situation. These attitudes refer to the individuals’ reactions to anything associated with the immediate context (e.g., the course and the teaching environment) in which the language is taught (Gardner, 1985).All the men show higher instrumental motivation towards foreign language learning than woman.
Instrumental motivation, also called rational, pragmatic and utilitarian, refers to the individual’s desire to acquire a second language in order to use it for operational purposes, to pass an examination, acquire a job, or visit a foreign country (ibid). Rahman explains rational language learning as the learning of a language “in order to empower oneself by acquiring the potential to acquire employment” (2002). . It has been pointed out that Gardner’s motivation theory includes an educational dimension and that, the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB), that he and his colleagues developed contains several items focusing on the learner's evaluation of the teacher and classroom learning situation. Gardner and MacIntyre (1991) themselves had noted later that "the old characterization of motivation in terms of

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