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Motivational Orientation in English

Language Learning

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Motivational Orientation in English Language Learning:

A Study of Iranian Undergraduate Students

By

Marjan Moiinvaziri M.A.

Islamic AzadUniversity: Sirjan Branch

Abstract

This paper analyzes and determines the various socio-psychological orientations of

undergraduate students studying General English in universities of Sirjan. The study focuses

on instrumental and integrative orientations of students in learning English as a foreign

language. In order to determine the students¶ tendency towards the mentioned orientations a

population of 255 university students were given a questionnaire based on Gardner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB). In effect, the research shows that contrary to some

researchers¶ beliefs that in foreign language situations instrumental orientation is thedominant orientation, students were highly motivated in both instrumental and integrative

orientations. This study of socio-psychological variables of the students will possibly provideadditional insights in better identifying existing motivational challenges and taking more

realistic perspectives about the ELT (English Language Teaching) situation in the country. Finally, several suggestions for teachers and some recommendations regarding future

researches in this area in Iran have been highlighted.

Introduction

Motivation has been widely accepted by both teachers and researchers as one of the keyf actors that inf luence the rate and success of second/foreign language lear ning. The or iginal

im petus in second/foreign (L2) motivation research comes f r om the social psychology since

lear ning the language of another community sim ply cannot be separated f r om the lear ners¶

social dispositions towar ds the speech community in question. Lam ber t (1963b) has pr o posed a 'social psychological model' in which he has em phasized cognitive f actors such as language

aptitudes and intelligence as well as aff ective f actors such as attitudes and motivation. In hismodel, he pr o poses that the extent to which an individual successf ully acquires a second

language will depend upon ethnocentr ic tendencies, attitudes towar ds the other community,

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or ientation towar ds language lear ning and motivation. Another pioneer in this field, Gar dner

(1985), defines L2 motivation as ³the extent to which an individual works or str ives to lear n the language because of a desire to do so and the satisf action exper ienced in this activity´ (p:

10); more specifically, motivation is conceptualized to subsume three com ponents,motivational intensity, desire to lear n the language, and an attitude towar ds the act of lear ning

the language. Motivation in Gar dner¶s theory does not contain any integrative or instrumental

elements. There does exist an integrative or instrumental dichotomy in Gar dner¶s model but this is at the or ientation (i.e. goal) level, and as such, is not par t of the core motivation com ponent; rather, the two or ientations f unction merely as motivational antecedents that help

to ar ouse motivation and direct it towar ds a set of goals, either with a str ong interpersonal

quality (integrative) or a str ong practical quality (instrumental). The present study intended to

highlight the extent of Iranian university students¶ motivation in lear ning English as a foreign

language and their diff erences in instrumental and integrative or ientations. Fur ther more, the

findings of study may pr omise some im pr ovements and changes regar ding teaching and

lear ning L2.

Literature review

Status of English in Iran (a brief overview)

Consider ing the gr owth of inter national relations of our society with other nations and theextended interest towar ds today¶s gr owing technology and science thr oughout the world,

lear ning English language as an inter national language has found a greater im por tancecom pared to previous years. Increase in the num bers of language institutes and their students

also increasing interest of parents for their children to lear n English can be a good evidence

for the recent value of English language in our country. But unfor tunately most of the students

are not satisfied with their abilities in English after studying it for seven years in their schools

and also passing some credits in universities. There are cer tainly diff erent reasons for this

pr o blem but one of the reasons which is the pr imary concer n of this study is motivation. As it

was mentioned in the previous par t motivation is classified into two par ts: instrumental and integrative. Having a greater k nowledge of these subjects can help teachers, text book

develo pers and the educational author ities to find new ways for im pr oving the quality of

teaching and lear ning English in our educational system. The question addressed thr ough this

study is: To what extent the university students of Iran are instrumentally or integratively

or iented towar ds English language lear ning?

Motivation, orientation and second language learning

A key f ramework that has dr iven much of the research on L2 motivation is Gar dner's (1985,

1988; see also Gar dner and Macintyre 1993) Socio-Educational Model of SLA, in whichmotivation is conceptualized as a com plex of var iables, specifically, "the com bination of

effor t plus desire to achieve the goal of lear ning the language plus f avorable attitudes towar dslear ning the language" (Gar dner 1985: 10). Motivation is hypothesized to have a direct eff ect

on L2 achievement and is itself purpor tedly inf luenced by a num ber of other social- psychological var iables. One such var iable that has received extensive attention in the L2

literature is the lear ner's or ientation or reason for lear ning the L2 (Gar dner 1985, 1988; see

also Gar dner and Macintyre 1993). Br own (2001) states that:

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Motivation ref ers to the intensity of one's im petus to lear n. An integrative or ientation sim ply

means the lear ner is pursuing a second language for social and/or cultural purposes, and within that purpose, a lear ner could be dr iven by a high level of motivation or a low level.

Likewise, in an instrumental or ientation, lear ners are studying a language in or der to f ur ther acareer or academic goal. The intensity or motivation of a lear ner to attain that goal could be

high or low. (p.75)

Gar dner and his colleagues found that integrative motivation, which ref ers to µa sincere and personal interest in the peo ple and culture represented by the other language gr oup¶ (Lam ber t,

1974, p.98), was a more power f ul predictor of linguistic achievement as it was consistently

correlated with L2 linguistic achievement. Instrumental integration, which ref ers to µthe practical value and advantages of lear ning a new language¶ (Lam ber t, 1974, p.98), was found

to be related to L2 linguistic achievement in some studies. One area where instrumentalmotivation can pr ove to be successf ul is in the situation where the lear ner is pr ovided with no

o ppor tunity to use the tar get language and therefore, no chance to interact with mem bers of the tar get gr oup. Luk mani (1972) found that an instrumental or ientation was more im por tant

than an integrative or ientation in non-wester nized f emale lear ners of L2 English in Bom bay. The social situation helps to deter mine both what k ind of or ientation lear ners have and what

k ind is most im por tant for language lear ning. Therefore, one concer n of this study is to investigate Iranian students¶ motivational or ientation to see in Iran as a country in which there

is no chance to use tar get language or interact with native speakers is the instrumental

or ientation the dominant type of or ientation?

English in universities of Sirjan

There are three major universities in Sirjan: Islamic Azad University, technological f aculty

(under super vision of Bahonar university of Ker man) and Payame Noor University. Diff erent majors of these three universities have to pass a three credit course of General English. They

attend two class sessions a week (each 75 minutes) and the purpose of the course is mostlyreading com prehension. There is an average of 40 students in each class.

Research questions and hypothesis

Theoretical and exper imental investigations show that in a foreign language context instrumental or ientation should have dominance but there was no practical work for pr oving

or rejecting this idea among Iranian students. More specifically, the following corresponding directional hypotheses were for mulated for the following study:

H1: Students are highly motivated in lear ning a foreign language.

H2: There is a significant diff erence among the integrative or ientations of university students

of Sirjan. (Among students of each university and also among students of all three

universities)

H3: There is a significant diff erence among the instrumental or ientations of universitystudents of Sirjan. (Among students of each university and also among students of all three

universities)

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H4: There is a significant diff erence between the instrumental and integrative or ientations of

university students of Sirjan.

H5: There is a significant diff erence between the instrumental and integrative or ientations of students of each university in Sirjan.

Methodology

Participants

In this study a sum of 255 university students (male and f emale students) were selected by

stratified random sam pling f r om the total po pulation of university students of Sirjan(758students). The reason for selecting these universities (Islamic Azad University, Technological

f aculty and Payame Noor University) is mainly twofold: firstly, these are the only universitiesof the city and secondly university students seem to be a better choice for such an

investigation. Because of the diff erence in num ber of students in each university the num ber

of par tici pants was separately com puted for each one.

Percentage Frequency (f) University

69.4 177 Azad

9.8 25 Technological

faculty

20.8 53 Payame noor

100 255 Total

Table 1: Frequency and percentage of participants

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Procedure and Instrumentation

The Integrative and Instrumental Or ientation scales of the or iginal 7- point Liker t Scale for mat

of Gar dner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) (Gar dner, 1985) were adapted to a 5-

point scale, ranging f r om µStr ongly Agree¶ to µStr ongly Disagree¶. The AMTB is repor ted to

have good reliability and validity (Gar dner, 1985; 1980; Gar dner and Smythe, 1981) and the

inter nal consistency estimate of reliability for the modified questionnaire was calculated, and Cr on bach's Alpha was 0.7. Since the students came f r om diff erent academic and socio-

economic back gr ounds with diff erent levels of pr oficiency in English, the questionnaire was

administered in the mother tongue along with the English or iginal. The purpose and diff erent ter ms of the questionnaire were explained before the distr i bution. Dur ing the com pletion

pr ocess of the questionnaire, the researcher was present physically to monitor and also to helpthe respondents to understand cer tain par ts. Respondents were given 5 minutes to com plete

the questionnaire and were infor med that the infor mation they gave would be kept confidential and be used for research purposes only.

A sam ple of the questionnaire is pr ovided in Appendix 1.

Design

In this study, the major focus was on var ious socio- psychological var iables rather than

language pr oficiency levels which were not tested. The questionnaire as mentioned above was

ado pted f r om Gar dner¶s AMTB (1985).

Followings are the var iables that were assessed using Liker t scale (modified 7 point to 5 scale

point) ranging f r om agreement to disagreement:

a. Integrative Orientation: The scale includes four items to find out how much the lear nerslear n English with a genuine interest to assimilate with the tar get language, culture

,community, their way of lif e, literature etc; this would show their Integrativeness towar ds thetar get language.

b. Instrumental Orientation: On this scale, there are four items and the respondents are

asked to measure their utilitar ian reason for lear ning English.

Results and discussions

The raw data was f ed into the com puter and then was analyzed by using SPSS. The results are

discussed below.

The respondents were asked to indicate on a five point scale how im por tant each reason was

for their lear ning English as a foreign language. The focus was on two types of motivational

or ientation: Integrative and Instrumental following Gar dner and Lam ber t¶s (1972) definition.

Eight statements were designed to find out the dominant reason for studying a foreign language among under graduate students of Iran in general and the students of universities of

Sirjan having the course General English in par ticular .

Descr i ptive statistics were carr ied out for all measures involved in this study. Com par ison between the mean scores of the three universities illustrated that students were highly

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motivated in Q1, Q2, Q5, Q6 and Q7. Questions three, four and eight (Q3, Q4, Q8) showed

the students¶ medial motivation and no lack of motivation was o bser ved among these eight questions.

Questions Mean score Questions Mean score

Q1:behave like

native speakers 4.16 Q5:English for

graduation 4.07

Q2: understandnative life

3.90 Q6:for higherstudies

3.98

Q3: appreciate

literature 3.43

Q7: to get high

ranking job 4.19

Q4:emulate native

speakers 3.47

Q8:to receive

people¶s respect 2.67

Tables 2 & 3: Mean score of integrative motivation Table 3: Mean score of instrumental

motivation

Less desirable Desirable Highly desirable

1 2.3 3.7 5

Table 4: Desirable level of motivation among the university students of Sirjan

As it is shown in tables 1, 2 and 3 most of the university students are highly motivated in lear ning a foreign language. In com par ison to other questions, question num ber eight which

asked if peo ple had a more respect for those who have k nowledge of a foreign language,showed the lowest level of motivation. It can be concluded that students¶ language ego and

cultural f actors might have prevented them f r om showing a higher motivation for thisquestion. Var iables such as identity and social-cultural distance are significant in acquir ing a

language in a foreign context.

But still this question along with the questions num ber 3 and 4 show a desirable amount of

motivation. No question is repor ted to show lack of motivation. The results show moderate to

high motivation towar d foreign language lear ning. Therefore, the first hypothesis is appr oved.

In or der to find the answer to the second question and investigate the second research

hypothesis, statistical method of one way analysis of var iance (one way ANOVA) wasconcluded.

Source of

changes

Sum of

squares

Df Mean

squares

F Sig. of F

Between

groups 20.695 2 10.347 2.028 0.134

Within

groups 1285.643 252 5.102

Grand mean 1306.337 254

Table5: F value for differences among integrative orientation of university students

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As table 5 illustrates, there are no significant diff erences in integrative or ientation of each

university¶s students and also among the students of all three universities. This result rejectsthe second hypothesis and confir ms that university students are closely related in their

integrative or ientation.

Table 6 illustrates the diff erences in instrumental or ientations of each university¶s students

and students of the three universities. No significant diff erence is o bser ved in their level of instrumental motivation. Therefore, the thir d hypothesis is rejected as well.

Source of

changes

Sum of

squares Df

Mean

squares F Sig. of F

Between

groups 13.444 2 6.722 0.88 0.41

Within

groups 1919.82 252 7.618

Grand mean 1933.271 254

Table6: F value for differences among instrumental orientation of university students

Table 7 shows the diff erences between the instrumental and integrative or ientations of

university students of Sirjan.

Variable Orientation Mean Std. T test Df Sig. of T N

Motivational

orientation

Integrative

Instrumental

14.94

14.91

2.26

2.75

0.14 508 0.88

255

255

Table7: T test for differences between integrative and instrumental orientations of

university students.

In or der to deter mine this diff erence among the students T-test for independent gr oups has

been selected and the results do not show any meaningf ul diff erences in this regar d. As a

result, the four th hypothesis is not confir med.

In the last table (table 8) a T- test was used to deter mine the diff erence between integrative

and instrumental or ientations of each university. As the following results show there was no significant diff erence between these two or ientations and students are both instrumentally and

integratively motivated.

This means that the last hypothesis is also rejected.

University Orientation Mean Std. T Df Sig. of T N

Azad

Integrative

Instrumental

15.1

14.97

2.21

2.77 0.48 352 0.62 177

Technological

faculty

Integrative

Instrumental

14.16

14.16

2.39

2.39

1.95 48 0.056 25

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Payame Noor

Integrative

Instrumental

14.81

14.52

2.34

3.04

0.53 104 0.59 53

Table 8: Differences between instrumental and integrative motivation of students of each

university

Conclusion

This study was conducted to pr o be the motivational or ientations of Iranian university

students. The findings present a picture which establishes that Iranian university students are both instrumentally and integratively or iented. This pr ovides a sufficient answer to the

research questions addressed, and contradicts the o pinion of some researchers who believethat in a foreign language situation students are instrumentally or iented. Also it was shown

that students are highly motivated towar ds lear ning English.

An im plication of the findings is that motivational or ientation of students, as a significant

f actor, should be considered in teaching and lear ning of a foreign language. Many teachers believe that by stick ing to the language mater ials and trying to disci pline their ref ractory

students, they will manage to create a classr oom envir onment that will be conductive to

lear ning. Never theless, these teachers seem to lose sight of the f act that, unless they accept

their students¶ personalities and work on those minute details that constitute their social and

psychological make-up, they will f ail to motivate them therefore teachers can im pr ove their

methods of teaching by consider ing the domain of motivation. Fur ther more, other related

researches regar ding the relationshi p between these two or ientations and students

achievements are considered to be usef ul.

The study did not aim to find out the link between var ieties of motivational or ientations and

the language pr oficiency of the lear ners. The f uture studies could aim at these issues and

could give more insights to the linguistic realities of Iran . The results of the present studythough show that university students are both instrumentally and integratively motivated, but

the limitation of par tici pants to three universities of one city i.e. Sirjan do not allow one to

conclude that in general all students of Iran are purely instrumentally and integratively

motivated. More research in this area needs to be conducted.

Suggestions for Teachers

In or der to make the language lear ning pr ocess a more motivating exper ience instructors need

to put a great deal of thought into develo ping pr ograms which maintain student interest and

have o btainable shor t ter m goals. At university level this may include, as suggested by

Berwick et al. (1989), any num ber of foreign exchange pr ograms with other universities,overseas "homestay" pr ograms, or any other activities which may help to motivate students to

im pr ove their tar get language pr oficiency. At the secondary school level, and especially in the

senior years, this task may pr ove more difficult. For the foreign language teacher this may

result in a cer tain level of f rustration due to the general lack of interest and commitment by

some students. Teachers need to create interesting lessons in which the students¶ attention is

gained. This can sometimes be accom plished by the use of teaching strategies which are not often called upon by other teachers in mainstream subject areas. Encouraging students to

become more active par tici pants in a lesson can sometimes assist them to see a purpose for

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im pr oving their communication sk ills in the tar get language. Successf ul communication using

the tar get language should result in students f eeling some sense of accom plishment. Researchin the area suggests L2 achievement str ongly aff ects lear ner motivation (Str ong 1983, cited in

Ellis 1997).

The use of an interesting text can also help to increase the motivation level of students in the

classr oom. Many Iranian texts often contain mater ial which f ails to capture the interest of students due to the heavy em phasis on vocabulary and grammar . Many foreign texts,however, which have been designed for EFL, and specifically the Iranian market, often

contain to pics which can create a great deal of classr oom interaction and help to motivate

students to develo p their language sk ills. It is im por tant for the instructor to take advantage of such discussion to pics and help students to realize that, even though they may see no need to

become pr oficient in a second language, the study of another language and culture can onlyenhance their perception and understanding of other cultures.

No matter what the underlying motivation to study a second language, what cannot be

disputed is the f act that motivation is an im por tant var iable when examining successf ulsecond language acquisition. Iran is perhaps, a unique envir onment in which to lear n English,

especially when tak ing into consideration the many f actors which inf luence the manner in which the language is taught. Although change may be slow to the education system, but

recent struggles for intr oducing the English language as a subject in elementary school,

changes made in methods of teaching and wr iting new text books can be really helpf ul for

f ur ther motivating students to achieve higher levels of pr oficiency in the f uture.

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http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/motivationvariables

Motivation Variables and Second Language

Learning

by R . Narayanan

Vinayaka Mission Research Foundation University, Aarupadai Veedu Institute of

Technology, Kanchi puram, India

This ar ticle is a theoretical study of the integrative and instrumental motivational

f actors related to second language lear ning. In addition, this ar ticle focuses on

four key questions:

1. What is meant by the ter m

motivation?

2. What are diff erent types of

motivation?

3. What are the character istics of

motivated lear ners?

4. What is the r ole of the teacher in

English lear ning?

Finally, this theoretical study gives special em phasis to the r ole of the teacher in

the context of lear ners¶ motivational levels.

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If asked to identif y the most power f ul inf luences on language lear ning,

motivation f actors would pr o bably be high on most teachers¶ lists. Because of the

multif aceted nature of the concept of motivation, I shall begin this ar ticle by

discussing the four questions.

Krashen (1975) makes the connection between for mal o perations, the

µpersonality changes occurr ing at puber ty¶ and language lear ning in the following

ter ms:

According to Elkind

((1970)), µthe ability

to think abstractly, a

characteristic of

formal operation

(sic), leads the

adolescent to

conceptualize his

own thought«.¶

(p.66) «.. Another

consequence,

according to Elkind,

is that the adolescent

can now also

µconceptualize the

thoughts of other

people¶ ««. The

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adolescent¶s

resulting self-

consciousness, his

reluctance to reveal

himself, his feeling of

vulnerability, may

have a great effect on

second language

learning¶.

(Krashen 1975:220f.)

1. What is meant by the term motivation?

The ter m motivation in a second language lear ning context is seen accor ding to

Gar dner (1985) as µref err ing to the extent to which the individual works or str ives

to lear n the language because of a desire to do so and the satisf action exper ienced

in this activity (p.10).¶

Accor ding to the Pocket Oxfor d English Dictionary (2004), motivation is '1. the

reason or reasons behind one¶s actions or behaviour . 2. Enthusiasm.' (p.587).

Hence, the abstract ter m µmotivation¶ on its own is rather difficult to define. It is

easier and more usef ul to think in ter ms of the µmotivated¶ lear ner: one who is

willing or even eager to invest effor t in lear ning activities and to pr ogress.

2. What are different types of motivation?

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Gar dner and Lam ber t (1959, 1972) have done pioneer ing work to explore the

nature of motivation specific to language study. Gar dner highlights two diff erent

types of motivation:

1) Instrumental motivation: the desire to lear n a

language because it would f ulfill cer tain utilitar ian goals,

such as getting a jo b, passing an examination, etc.

2) Integrative motivation: the desire to lear n a language

in or der to communicate with peo ple f r om another culture

that speak that language; the desire is also there to identif y

closely with the tar get language gr oup.

Instrumental motivation vs integrative motivation

A distinction has been made in the literature between µintegrative´ and

µinstrumental¶ motivation: the desire to identif y with and integrate into the tar get-

language culture, contrasted with the wish to lear n the language for the purpose

of study or career pr omotion. Gar dner and Lam ber t (1959, 1972) showed that

success in a foreign/second language is likely to be lower if the underlying

motivational or ientation is instrumental rather than integrative. But research

since then has cast doubt on the application of this claim to foreign language

lear ners in general. In any case, at least one other study (Burstall et al., 1974) has

indicated that it may be im possi ble in practice to distinguish between the two.

(Penny Ur (2005) A course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory,

Cam br idge: Cam br idge University Press. p.276).

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Another distinction, perhaps more usef ul for teachers, is that between µintr insic¶

motivation (the ur ge to engage in the lear ning activity for its own sake) and

µextr insic¶ (motivation that is der ived f r om exter nal incentives).

3. What are characteristics of motivated learners?

The author of a classic study of successf ul language lear ning (Naiman et al.,

1978) came to the conclusion that the most successf ul lear ners are not necessar ily

those to whom a language comes very easily; they are those who display cer tain

typical character istics, most of them clearly associated with motivation.:

y Positive task or ientation

y Ego involvement

y Need for achievement

y High aspirations

y Goal or ientation

y Perseverence

y Tolerance of am biguity

4. What is the role of the teacher in second language learning?

In the second language classr oom envir onment, what undoubtedly inf luences

lear ners¶ lear ning outcomes is their interpretation of interpersonal teacher

behaviour . So, in language lear ning, the teacher plays the main r ole.

Accor ding to Mickey Nasir i, General Manager at Cam br idge Silicon Radio:

" For the drivers in my city, it is

obvious how bad the pedestrians

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behave. They walk on the roads,

slow down the traffic, and they don¶t

even care about their own safety.

The drivers have to honk to make

the pedestrians aware of the danger

they put their lives in. For the

pedestrians in my city, it is obvious

how bad the drivers behave.

Drivers don¶t let the pedestrians

cross the roads and they honk and

pollute the city.

A simple psychometric test shows

that hyped self-perception is a

widespread human trait. A good

leader is aware of this myth and

surrenders to the belief that ³people

are like me, and they try to do the

best job they can´ which helps in

effective delegation.

This belief makes the good leader

wonder why one succeeds and the

other fails.

If understanding the concept of

'hyped self-perception' is a

foundation for effective delegation,

the answer to the above question,

'condition', is the heart of

motivational skills.

Although everyone tries one¶s best,

the conditions are different. The

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obstacles in one¶s condition could

de-motivate the individual, and

demotivated people are normally not

successful.

A good leader works for creating

the condition conducive to success

for people around him/her.

People do the best they can; the

leader just need to remove the

biggest obstacles. Now, if the good

leader¶s belief in people would lead

to less honking cars, well, that is

also positive for the reduction of

noise pollution. "

(Leader speech motivating leaders,

Don¶t honk!: The Hindu Business

Line Monday, August 14, 2006

p.11.)

The above-said wor ds were meant not only for a good leader, but also for a good

teacher or f acilitator - who helps to remove the biggest language lear ning

o bstacles f r om his/her lear ners, and creates conditions conducive to language

lear ning success.

A successf ul f acilitator should therefore ask questions such as these:

y What things puzzle my lear ners?

y What issues concer n them?

y What pr o blems or traits do they wish I could help them solve?

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A good teacher or f acilitator should listen to his/her students with em pathy, and

pr ovide them with the suppor t that they so greatly need.

References

y Burstall, C., Jamieson, M., Cohen, S. & Har greaves, M. (1974). Pr imary French in the

balance. Slough: NFER Publishing Co.

y Elk ind, D. 1970. C hildren and Adolescents: Interpretative Essays on Jean Piaget.

New York: OUP.(p.66)

y Gar dner, R . C. (1985). Social psychology and language learning: The role of attitudes

and motivation. London: Edwar d Ar nold (p.10). y Gar dner, R . C., & Lam ber t, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second

language learning . R owley, MA: Newbury House.

y Gar dner, R .C., & Lam ber t, W.E. (1959). Motivational variables in second language

acquisition. Canadian Jour nal of Psychology: 13.

y Krashen, S. (1975). The cr itical per iod for language acquisition and its possi ble bases.

In D. Aar onson and R . Rei ber (Eds), Developmental psycholinguistics and

communicative disorders (P.66). New York: Newy York Academy of Sciences

(pp.220f ).

y Mickey Nasir i (2006) The Hindu Business Line: Leader speech motivating leaders,

Don¶t honk!, (p.11) Monday, August 14, 2006.

y Naiman, N., Fr ohlich, M., Ster n, H.H. and Todesco, A. (1978). The Good Language

Learner . Tor onto, Ontar io: Ontar io Institute for Studies in Education

y Soanes.C.( Ed) (2004) The New Pocket Oxfor d Dictionary ,New Delhi: Oxfor d

University Press.(pp.587)

y

Ur .P. ( 2005 ) A course in language teaching : practice and theory , Cam br idge:Cam br idge University Press (pp.276).

Bio-data:

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R . Narayanan works as an English lecturer for VMRF-Deemed University,

Kanchi puram, India. He is par ticularly interested in Indian wr iting in English

and English language teaching. He has presented two papers, and holds an MA

in English Literature, an MA in Linguistics, and an MPhil in Indian wr iting in

English. Presently, he is doing research in the area of applied linguistics in the

Depar tment of Linguistics at Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, India.

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http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ass/article/viewFile/541/522

Motivation and Language LearningBo WangCollege of Foreign LanguagesDaqing Petroleum InstituteDaQing 163318, ChinaAbstractMotivation is one of the important factors that influences English learning achievement. So in order tohelp the studentsto maintain a proper strength in English learning motivation is very necessary for the teachers in the

daily teachingprocedure.This paper discusses the issue of motivation in foreign language learning in four main sections .Itstarts with thebackground information .Then it is concerned with the motivation issues in EFL in China, and finally,tries to providesome advices for teachers to enhance students¶ motivation in English teaching for non-English majorsat tertiary level.Keywords: Motivation, Language learning, EFL in China1. Introduction

1.1 Background about motivationWith regard to research into motivation, numerous studies have been carried out by researchers aswell as languageteachers. The first one, by Gardner and Lambert (1972), is regarded as one of the well-known studiesof motivation inlanguage learning, and the other two, by Brown (1980) and Harmer (1983) respectively, also havereceived widespreadattention. As we all know, motivation is one of the most important factors that will influence students' Englishachievements or Performance. It has a close relationship with students' success or failure in English teaching incollege. Therefore,Teachers must pay more attention to this aspect. As Gardner (1985) emphasized that the motivationconstructed the

primary factor to influence students on English learning. He believed that motivation for languagelearning can not onlyinclude goal orientation but the combination of effort, desire to achieve the goal of learning thelanguage and favorableattitudes toward learning the language. A number of studies conducted by Gardner and Lambert on instrumental and integrative motivationshow how eachappears to relate to language proficiency. Whereas in their earlier studies, it appeared that integrativemotivation wassuperior to instrumental, their later investigations demonstrated that in situations where the practicalvalue of the secondlanguage is necessary.In addition to the study by Gardner and Lambert, several empirical studies by other researcher alsoproved that both

types of motivation have positive effects on the level of proficiency achieved by different learners andone type may bemore effective than the other under certain conditions. Nowadays in China, as English is viewed as autilitarian tool for science, technology, national development and modernization as well as a key element in furthering acareer, eventhough students approach the learning of English with instrumental motivation, many of them are verysuccessful indeveloping proficiency in English .This indicates that the relative importance of instrumental or integrative motivation

depends to a large extent on the context in which a new language is learned.

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1.2 Task motivation Another research on motivation was carried out by Brown, He especially identified one type of motivation--Taskmotivation. Task motivation is drive for performing particular learning tasks, that is, if the teacher designs appropriatetasks which will lead students to successful performances, such constantly pleasant and rewardingexperiences will

provide students with increasing confidence and consequently, they will gradually develop a liking for second languagelearning. So learning a foreign language obviously requires some types of motivation. Asian Social Science January, 200999

1.3 Extrinsic and intrinsic motivationHarmer (1983) categorized motivation into two major types; extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsicmotivationconcerns the factors outside the classroom. It essentially consists of two sub ±types: instrumental andintegrativemotivation which corresponds to Gardner and Lamber¶s sense of motivation .Intrinsic motivation, onthe contrary,concerns the factors inside the classroom. To them, what happens in the classroom will be of vitalimportance indeveloping their motivation, Intrinsic motivation is primarily made up of two parts; task and situationalmotivationwhich is as the same as Brown¶s point of view.However, no matter how motivation has been classified, all kinds of motivation work in the secondlanguage learningcontext, and each kind contributes to the learners¶ progress in different ways and to different degree, Itis hard to saywhich is the most effective since they are sometimes overlapping with one another.2. Issues of motivation in EFL in ChinaIt is well known that in China, there has also been an increasing awareness and interest amongresearchers and teachersalike in the role of motivation in foreign language learning, In 1989, Zhang Bensheng did research on70 outstandingstudents including English and non-English majors from seven key colleges and universities in Wuhan.The results

showed that the achievements of the students had a close relationship with their motivation. All of thestudentspossessed some kind of motivation for learning English: some were intent on making a usefulcontribution to society,while others wanted to improve their professional prospects .Such students seemed to haveinstrumental motivation.Still others were interested in the learning environment or encouraged by their previous success. Theyhad task andsituational motivation. A few of them were attracted by the target culture; they were integrallymotivated.Nowadays, most students in key universities have high motivation to learn English well. because agood level of English will help them more considerably to obtain better jobs, especially those in companies or jointventures which

have international connections; to read technical materials ,and to study abroad. At this point, ateacher should intend tosuggest some principles we can make use of in foreign language teaching process.3. Some ways to the enhancement of students¶ motivation3.1 The student-centered classIn China, college English teaching follows a prescribed syllabus, which consists of EGP (English for General Purposes)and ESP (English for Specific Purposes) stages. The EGP stage is divided into six bands, namelycollege English Bands

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1-6. In the ESP stage, students are required to read and comprehension books or articles related totheir specialties. Ineach band, there are specific requirements for vocabulary, grammar knowledge and students¶ readingskills. After a careful consideration, we can see the actual reasons lying in our teaching method. Theclassroom is the placewhere the learning process goes on. Only when students are involved in the class activities will they

have the interest inlearning the language. The teacher, instead of requiring students to recite language points and learnvocabulary by heart,should introduce some elements from communicative approach, that is, providing students withenough opportunities topractice the new language and learn how to use it in actual context. Rather than domination the class,the teacher shouldinitiate some questions for students to discuss, encourage students to ask each other questions, or even to argue aboutwith each other about some controversial issues. During the periods of teaching, the teacher shouldpresent an elementof challenge to the students, and the challenge can lead to higher motivation and more effectiveresults.3.2 Developing Students Cultural Empathy In our own teaching practice, we may find there is one point deserving our attention: some studentswith instrumentalmotivation may lose it when they consider what they have acquired to be sufficient to realize their

goals. Since studentsof this kind usually have little or no personal interest in learning the language, they may have anegative attitude aboutlearning the language. As we all know that language and culture are so interlinked that they cannot be separated in theprocess of foreignlanguage teaching. It seems reasonable to assume that development of positive attitudes toward theculture and thenative speakers of the language we teach will carry over into integrative motivation for learning thelanguage3.3 Encouraging and praising students timely Encouragement and praise should be seen as a reward. Learning English is a hard work needsreward. This reward canbe successful communication or complement of a required task either .As we know, for the majority of students, to learnEnglish well is no easy job, it requires countless practice and great effort .If students¶ hard work andprogress are ignored by the teacher, they may feel disappointed, or even lose their heart. On thecontrary, if students¶efforts and progress are praised timely by the teacher, they will expend more efforts and consequentlymake greater progress in learning the language.Nevertheless, excessive praise can cause uneasiness to the praised and constitute an impliedcriticism to the rest, whichVol. 5, No. 1 Asian Social Science100

can do more harm than good. Proper praise and encouragement help students feel successful, gain

confidence in their ability. Since praise costs nothing of the giver, it is a cheap, easy but effective way to foster andreinforce students¶motivation for learning

4. ConclusionFrom above we can see as a teacher, we should try our best to stimulate students' enthusiasm inlearning English inorder to improve teaching efficiency. As for students, a best choice for them is to follow the instructionsand thesuggestions when they study, and they had better adjust their cognition, strategies to their studies.

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Lastly, I want to stress the point that motivation is not the single factor influencing students¶ foreignlanguageproficiency. Other factors, such as aptitude, attitude, learning cognitive style, and learning strategies,also playimportant roles in foreign language learning process. In this paper, we have simply attempted toexplore motivation andto provide teachers with some approaches to coping with studies. We hope that the discussion will

help languageteachers have better and more effective approaches to classroom teaching in order to improvestudents¶ foreignlanguage.

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http://www.etni.org.il/etnirag/issue1/peggy_barzilay.htm

Why Readers have Problems:Vowel Pronunciation and Syllable Typesand How They Relate to Reading

by Peggy Barzilay, PhD

Abstract:

As we begin each new school year, every English teacher is surprised to find a child who cannot read,or one that isn't making progress. In this column, one of Israel's remedial reading experts ... PeggyBarzilay, talks about one of the reasons why!

In this column:

y What is a syllable

y Short and long vowels

y Basic syllable types

y Table of of vowel combinations

The English vowel system can represent a major stumbling block to proficient reading. Despite thisfact, many teachers are unaware of the relationship between vowel pronunciation and syllable typeand therefore, seldom discuss this all-important subject with their students. This is unfortunate,because knowledge of syllable types provides invaluable insights as to how vowels within words arepronounced. Although there will also be exceptions to these insights, this does not detract from their potential for making life immeasurably easier for beginning readers.

What is a syllable?

Before introducing the concept of syllable types, the concept of the syllable has to be discussed.

Some children may have problems with this. For them, it is best to present syllabification throughrhythm and clapping, using the names of the children themselves. Normally a quick demonstration isenough for most pupils.

For example: Your name is Dan. Her name is Margalit . Dan has one syllable (Clap to illustrate.)Margalit has three syllables,

For others, the following generalizations can be used:

1. A syllable is the smallest unit into which a word can be broken. Sometimes it forms a word initself (mar/ket, go, it, see).

2. A syllable has one vowel sound. This is important for students to remember since syllables or short words can have more than one written vowel and still have only one vowel sound. For example, the word coal is a one syllable word with two vowels but only one vowel sound, the

long /o/, is actually heard.3. A syllable is produced by one push of breath.

Short and long vowels

Once the concept of the syllable is understood, long and short vowels have to be introduced.Students should be told that according to convention, the 5 vowel letters in English (a,e,i,o,u)represent a minimum of at least two different sounds, one called long and the other, short. The longsound of each vowel says its name (bike = /i/ ), while the short vowel sounds have to be taught:

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a says /a/ as in cat e says /e/ as in Eddy i says /i/ as in in o says /o/ as in orange u says /u/ as in umbrella

Normally, a half circle is placed above short vowels and a straight line appears above long vowels.These diacritical marks should be taught as they appear in dictionaries and will make classroomdiscussions easier.

Basic Syllable Types

After long and short vowels have been introduced, syllable types can be discussed. How and where aparticular syllable type is introduced will depend on the students, their level and their reading material.However, under normal circumstances, closed syllables, followed by open syllables should beintroduced first because basic reading texts are normally made up of a relatively high proportion of closed, one syllable words.

There are six basic syllable types:

1. closed syllable2. open syllable3. magic e syllable4. consonant + le syllable5. r controlled syllable .

6. double vowel syllable

1. Closed syllable The closed syllable ends in one or more consonants and has one vowel before it. (e.g. van / an).The vowel in closed syllables is normally short. This can effect both reading and spelling. For example: because we know that vowels in closed syllables are short, when we see the word

cat, we immediately know that the a says short /a/, and therefore we have the word cat , notKate.

One important sub-category of the closed syllable, which occasionally confuses students, ismade-up of words ending in ind (find), olt (colt) or old (cold). These words can be treated as aword family. Tell students that although these words look like closed syllables, the vowels inthem usually say their name. There are some exceptions however. For example, the wordwind can be pronounced two different ways and mean two different things.

2. The open syllable ends in a vowel and the vowel says its name. e.g. she, go, mu/sic .

3. The magic e syllable has the following structure: vowel + consonant + silent e (vCe). Although the e at the end of the syllable is silent, because it is there, the vowel preceding theconsonant is pronounced as a long sound. Thus the vowel in the wordlike is long and says its

name.

4. consonant + le The consonant + le or regular final syllable, as its name implies, ends in the letters -le preceded by a consonant. The letter 'e' is silent.

This combination of letters (consonant + le) can not be divided, which has implications both for reading and spelling. For example, if a student wants to spell the word apple, he has to be toldto listen to the vowel which comes immediately before the consonant +le combination. If thevowel sound is short but there is another consonant before the consonant + -le combination,

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(can/dle) there is no problem. The word is divided before the consonant + le and what is left,(can) is a closed syllable (short vowel). However, if this vowel is short, and there is noconsonant before the consonant + le combination, then the consonant in the consonant +lecombination must be doubled. In other words, the student hears [a/pl]. Because of the 'pl'combination at the end of the word, the student should know two things:

a) he has to add the letter 'e' at the end of the consonant combination, and

b) he has to double the consonant in the consonant +le combination.

The 'p' in apple has to be doubled to close the syllable, thus keeping the vowel sound short. If the 'p' were not doubled, the student would have a two syllable word, a/ple and the firstsyllable would be an open syllable which would says its name.

On the other hand, if the vowel sound before the consonant is long, there is no need to doubleit. For example, there is no need to double the f in the word rifle, because this word is dividedri/fle, the first syllable is open and says its name.

From a reading point of view, it is much easier. Since students have been taught that theconsonant + le can not be divided, they have to divide before the consonant. Ap/ple is a twosyllable word. The first syllable ends in a consonant and is therefore a closed syllable and thevowel within it is short. If however, the word was ri/fle, the syllable before the regular finalsyllable (the ri) ends in a vowel and therefore, the vowel says its name.

5. r controlled The r controlled syllable contain a vowel + r combination: ar, er, ir, ur, or. These combinationsconstitute a separate syllable type because the presence of the r effects the quality of thevowel which precedes it.

a) er, ir, and ur are normally pronounced /er/ as in (bird, turn).b) ar is normally pronounced /ar/ as in car , andc) or is pronounced /or/ as in Ford .

Note however that when the letter 'w' preceded an ar word, the 'ar' combination is normally

pronounced /or/ as in war/warden. If the 'w' precedes an 'or' word, than the 'or' is normallypronounced /er/ as in word .

6. Double vowel The double vowel syllable contains two vowels but only one vowel sound is heard: boat,f eed, out.

The double vowel syllable is the most complex of all syllable types because the double vowelcombination can represent more than one sound. For example, oy or oi say /oi/.

However, the 'ea' combination can represent three different sounds: the long /e/ sound as inbeat , the short /e/ sound as in treasure, and the long /a/ sounds as in the word great .

Double vowels should be introduced as they appear in the material students read. For example, if a beginning student comes across the word boat in one of his/her texts, it'senough to tell them that this is a new syllable type and the 'oa' says /o/. More information willbe provided as they come across other double vowel words or syllables.

Table of vowel combinations

The following table* divides vowel combinations according to the number of pronunciations they have

and how accurate these pronunciations are.

One Sound:

Ay = /a/ play 96.4%

Oa = /o/ coat 95%

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Ee = /e/ feet 95.9%

Ai = /a/ rain 75%

Ey = /e/ key 77%

Aw = /aw/ saw 100%

Oy = /oi/ boy 100%

Oi = /oi/ join 100%

Au = /aw/ cause 78.9%

Two Sounds:

Ow = /o/ snow 68%

/au/ how 31.9 %

ew = /oo/ blew 88.3%

/u/ few 18.7%

oo = /oo/ boot 50%

/u/ book 40.4 %

ei = /a/ eight 50%

/e/ either 25%

ie* = /e/ field 49% /i/ tied 27.2%

There are only 12 words which use the long /i/ sound. This can beintroduced on a Word family card: lie, die, tie, pie, untie, necktie,belie, magpie, tie, fie = shame, vie = struggle, enter competition,hie = speed

Three Sounds:

Ea = /e/ seat 49.6%

/e/ head 16.7%

/ear/ fear 14.3%

ou = /au/ out 43.2%

/u/ touch 17.8%

/or/ your 7%

oe = /o/ toe 44.4%

/oo/ shoe 33.3%

/u/ does 22.2%

One of the major problems in learning how to read is deciding how to pronounce the vowel within

words. Vowel pronunciation is problematic because of the number of possibilities the student has to

choose from. The knowledge of syllable types will not provide all the answers. There will always be

exceptions to these generalizations. Nevertheless, teaching children about syllable types will go a long

way toward solving the vowel pronunciation problem and making students lives easier.

____________ * Table appears in the journal, Reading Teacher, 2001, by B Johnson.

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http://www.teacherjoe.us/ConvSkills01.html

Overcome Common Pronunciation Problems in English

There are three pr o blems with pr onunciation that students in China often have: pr o blems

pr onouncing gr oups of consonants, pr o blems pr onouncing cer tain vowels, and pr o blems with

the rhythm of English. In addition, there are smaller pr o blems such as pr onouncing THsounds and the letter V, which will be discussed at the end of this ar ticle. Not all students

have the same pr o blems, but maybe one of these causes tr ouble for you. Look at each

pr o blem, and if you think you have some tr ouble, practice saying the wor ds in this ar ticle

many times. When you can pr onounce a language well, and be understood easily, your

confidence level will r ise dramatically!

Pr o blem One - Consonants

The first pr o blem is difficulty in pr onouncing gr oups of consonants. (Remem ber, vowels areo pen sounds made with the letters a, e, i, o and u. Consonants are har d sounds made with all

the other letters.) Consider the wor d "descr i be". Many students try to speak too quickly and

end up missing one or more sounds. They pr onounce it as "decr i be" or "desr i be" or even

sometimes as "der i be". The wor d "instinct" is even more difficult, with two gr oups, each

having three consonants. It's im por tant to practice by saying each sound slowly at first: IN-S-

T-IN-C-T. Then say it a bit f aster: IN-ST-IN-CT. Then say IN-STIN-CT. Finally, you can put

it all together as INSTINCT. The im por tant thing is to take your time at first, then speak f aster

later . Here are some other wor ds you can practice saying: IMPRESS, STRONG, ABSOLVE,

EXPLAIN, ADMIRE, ADJECTIVE.

Pr o blem Two - Vowels

The second pr o blem students encounter is with vowel com binations. There are four teen

diff erent vowel sounds in English, and they can be spelled in so many diff erent ways.

Consider this pair of wor ds. How would you pr onounce them?

CHILD - CHILLED

Many students say these two wor ds with the same pr onunciation. They pr onounce CHILLED

correctly. The "I" is just like in SIT or WITH. The "I" in CHILD, however, should be

pr onounced like the wor d EYE. Other wor ds with the same sound are WILD, TIME, SIGN.

Here's another vowel sound that is f requently mispr onounced: FAIR . Students pr onounce it well in AIR, WEAR, or CARE, but often pr onounce FAIR as FIRE. Diff erent spellings can cause conf usion. I have also hear d students mispr ounce PET, STRAW, FUN, PLUS, TONE,

HATE and SPEED. The best way to lear n is to listen to these sounds. You need to listen very

caref ully in or der to "inter nalize" these sounds. You can listen either to your teachers or to a

cassette tape. With just a little practice, you can train your ear and mouth to pr onounce such

sounds accurately.

Pr o blem Three - Rhythm

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The thir d pr o blem many students have is with English rhythm. One of the unique aspects of

the English language is that it is a "stress-timed" language, whereas most other languages are"syllable-timed" languages. Let me explain. Chinese is a "syllable-timed language because

each syllable, or par t of a wor d, gets one beat. If you say "Ni hao", it has two syllables and two beats. If you say "Ni hao ma", it has three syllables and three beats. "Ni xianzai mang bu

mang" would have six beats, etc. English is not like that at all! If we say "How are you", it has

three syllable, but only two stress points (HOW and YOU), so it has only two beats. If we say"How's your little sister", it now has four syllables, but still only two stress points (HOW and SIS), so it takes the same amount of time as "How are you"!

TH and V

There are two TH sounds, one har d and one soft. Many students pr onounce the har d TH like Zand the soft TH like S. This is not too bad, but can sometimes make language har d to

understand. With both Z and S, you use both your upper teeth and lower teeth to pr oducesound. With TH, just use your tongue in place of your lower teeth. You can star t by biting

your tongue slightly with your upper teeth, then blowing out air as with Z or S. Using thetongue makes the TH sounds quite a bit softer than Z or S.

V is actually quite sim ple to pr onounce. Many students try to pr onounce it like B, but it is, in

f act, like the letter F. The only diff erence is that with F, you do not use your voice, but withV, you DO use your voice. Try saying FAST and then VAST. The teeth remain in the same

position for both wor ds. If you have tr ouble mak ing the r ight sound with your voice, think of

Z and S again. Say SUE and ZOO now. With SUE, there is no voice in pr onouncing the S.

With ZOO, you DO use your voice. It's the same with F and V.

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E nglish Conversation 7: Jerry tells Fei about his first visit to a pr imary school

Jerry: Hi Fei, how was your day?

Fei: Hi Jerry, I've been look ing for you. Where have you been?

Jerry: I just had a very interesting exper ience. I spent the whole day with dozens of littlechildren!

Fei: That sounds like f un.

Jerry: Yes, it was f un... but exhausting! K ids have so much ener gy.

Fei: Where did you meet all these k ids?

Jerry: At the pr imary school down the street. I visited some of their classes in the mor ning,

then taught them some sim ple English in the after noon.

Fei: English must be very difficult for them.

Jerry: Actually, they were very eager to lear n. I was quite im pressed.

Fei: What did you teach them?

Jerry: One teacher gave me some sentences to practice. The k ids love to repeat things out

loud! Sometimes I shouted the sentences, and they shouted back at me. Other times I

whispered, and they whispered back . They were very cute.

Fei: Yes, I can imagine.

Jerry: We also sang songs and played some English games together .

Fei: That's great. You k now, when I was in pr imary school, we never had English lessons.

Jerry: How about in middle school?

Fei: We studied English, but only for a test. It wasn't very practical.

Jerry: Well, you've managed to lear n English very well. I guess it's because you're a "Super

Student".

Fei: Ha ha ha. Not me! The k ids you saw today seem to be much more "super" than I am. They're the f uture of China.

Jerry: Yes, they are, so China must have a br ight f uture! I wonder what this country will be

like in 15 or 20 years when these k ids are adults...

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