Motivation in Second Language Learning: A Historical Overview

The concept of motivation always regarded in human societies particularly for scholars and educational experts.  In this paper, we review the theoretical perspectives that have been submitted over the past 4 decades and associated with language acquisition, this review also covers the important results of relevant and recent research studies on motivation.

Introduction

There is an agreement through the researchers that the motivation has been paying a key role leads to success or failure of a language learner to master second language. Motivation which been defined by Oxford Dictionary as the “desire or willing to do something “. In addition, has defined the motivation as 'Powering people to achieve high levels of performance and overcoming barriers in order to change”. All educators know that the motivation is a vital element in learning, and teacher language commonly uses this term when they describe successful or unsuccessful learners. There are many benefits for knowing other languages, but they are not absolutely necessary, and as a consequence, motivation (as well as ability) can play an important role in learning a second language. Therefore, teachers and tutors play a relevant role in this process as they should know how to motivate their students.

Language Learning Motivation: Historical Evolution

Dörnyei reports that there are two distinct phases in the history of motivation in teaching and learning the foreign language. The following are: the social psychological period and the cognitive-situated period.

The Social Psychological Period (1959–1990)

This period has been related to the work of Robert Gardner in a bilingual context with his associated in Canada. According to Gardner, motivation to learn second language is not a simple construct and cannot be easily defined, however, he states that a motivated person is someone who sets a goal and perseveres to achieve it. Motivation is also the result of an interaction. It really is not possible to give a simple definition of motivation, though one can list many characteristics of the motivated individual.

Although many researches have criticized Gardener’s work, his theories have evidently served as the foundation and starting point for the others to encourage them to understand motivation in the second language by proposing most of the theories in second language motivation. In general, the focus in the social psychological period was on the importance of attitudes and feelings of language learners towards the second language communities and the second language itself

The Cognitive-Situated Period (1990’s)

The cognitive-situated period designed to return the focus of research to the psychological area, which primarily studies cognition (or mental operations). This period mainly emphasized on the classroom situation. It considered the learning context and the need for students and teachers in the classroom more important than the community and the social context. The idea was not to ignore the social and psychological results, but to enlarge the earlier theories, taking account of other cognitive perspectives.

Dörnyei in his research and based on the literature review also contributed to this period, he has proposed motivation framework on three different levels including the Language Level, the Learner Level, and the Learning Situation Level.

1. Language level: it takes into account the language and the community as well as the instrumental and integrative motivational theory proposed by Gardner.
2. Learner level: discuses about the personal characteristics and cognitive process.
3. Learning situation level: it focuses on three main factors (teacher, course, group).

Moreover, during this period Crookes and Schmidt examined three distinct motivation theories. They consisted of theory of accommodation of speech, theory of acculturation, and model of monitoring. In their research, these two authors used motivation determinants from Keller –interest, significance, expectation and results–to comprehend motivation in more particular situations, such as the classroom and the curriculum. During this period it becomes more apparent that the second language motivation is being transitioned from a general to a more particular conception.  

Conclusion

Overall, Motivation is usually associated with commitment, interest, and persistence to achieve goals. In recent decades, there has been a remarkable growth of interest in the concept of motivation, many theorists and researchers in Educational Psychology have been put theories and particular role for motivational and psychological patterns on educational behaviours.