Motivation and language learning: the case of 5 successful independent students

Motivation and language learning: the case of 5 successful independent students Cecilia Araceli Medrano Vela Roxana Cano Vara Centro Universitario de Auto Aprendizaje en Lenguas Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango Abstract Thousands of Mexican students throughout the country are embarked in learning English as a foreign language. Some seem to make quick progress while others struggle to see results. Sadly, not all are able to achieve the levels of proficiency they would like. There are many features exerting influence over the learning process. Among the factors affecting language learning, motivation has always had a key role. Many researchers agree that motivation is crucial in learner s success and there is an increasing interest in knowing more about this topic. Our objective is to illustrate the effect motivation has in a successful learning process by providing real examples taken from questionnaires and interviews with a group of Mexican students learning English independently and, on the basis of the results, make some suggestions that could be useful for those involved in contexts of autonomous learning. This paper describes a case study performed with 5 independent successful Mexican students with the purpose of knowing the role motivation has had in their language learning process, the kind of motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic, integrative or instrumental) present in each learner and the role it has had in their being autonomous learners of English. The findings are contrasted with different theories (Gardner s, Dörnyei s, among others etc.) and other published studies. Introduction According to Chomsky (1959), all human beings are born with an innate capacity to learn our mother tongue, and we all do. Motivation, according to Mowrer (1950 cited in Larsen-Freeman and Long 1994), to communicate, become part of the family is what makes children succeed in learning their mother tongue. Needs satisfaction can also exert strong influence in children s first language acquisition. When comes to learning a foreign language in the classroom, however, the situation changes. Seems there are other elements that come into play when learning another language. In his work, Gardner (1985) presents four aspects 385

which make a difference in the success of individuals learning a second language; language aptitude, personality, attitude and motivation. Not surprisingly, teachers around the world find that some students learn more and/or faster than others. Some students do might want to learn the target language, though, not all. Regardless of the many positive reasons that can be given for learning another language, individuals may perceive things in a different way. All around the world there are teachers trying to find ways of making their students want to learn the target language; thinking of ways to motivate them. Research has been carried out in different countries, such as, China (Yihong, etal, 2007), Japan (Norris-Holt, 2001), Lithuania (Liuolienė and Metiūnienė, 2006) and many others. However, there is not much information available on studies done in México related to motivation and language learning. We can learn about motivation and language learning from studies done in different cultures, however, each context is different. Even in the same country, findings may vary. Nevertheless, these provide insights to begin exploring this vast an interesting area. Motivation Motivation, according to the Oxford Advanced Learner s Dictionary is the reason why somebody does something or behaves in a particular way. Motivation related to learning English, could be then defined as the purpose for doing things that will lead to learning a foreign language. According to Gardner (1885), to be motivated, the learner needs to have something to look forward to, a purpose related to goal or objective. This objective would be learning a foreign language. There must be something that the learner wishes to accomplish or gain, being the target language the vehicle to attain it. The learner s reasons for another language could vary from achieving a sense of success, fulfill other s expectations or being able to buy a new car through getting a better job due to command of the target language. Learning a second language when there is an immediate need to use the language for everyday activities proposes a different scenario than a student 386

learning the target language in his/her own country and access to everyday interaction in the target language is limited. English in México is a foreign language, hence the relevance of Gardner s work, which is centered on the foreign language classroom (Norris-Holt, 2001:1). Gardner (1985: 51) claims that the number of reasons for studying a second (or foreign) language could be as numerous as individuals are. Studies have been carried out in the attempt to learn more about the drives learners might have for learning a foreign language. Two reasons for learning a target language, first introduced by Gardner and Lambert in 1959, are the integrative and instrumental orientations, in the authors terms. The former is related to the learner s attraction to the target language s culture and people. Integrative orientation refers to the learner s desire of belonging to the target language community, to become part of their culture and mix among them. The latter sees English as a means to an end. As a vehicle to obtain something, which could be from the learner s own desire, or to satisfy or full fill others expectations, such as parents or school requirements. Among the reasons Mexican language learners might have to learn the target language are pleasing parents, passing an exam which is part of their undergraduate requirements, getting a job or a promotion, travelling, business, pleasure (or entertainment, such as video games) or academic purposes. Types of motivation Motivation is often classified as intrinsic or extrinsic. The first kind is when something external and independent of the activity is what provides a sense fulfillment; the second one is when the activity per se is what gives a sense of accomplishment. (Pintrich and Schunk in Matsuzaki, 2005). Deci and Ryan (1985) consider these two types of motivation, although they do not consider them as opposites, but as part of a continuum which goes from Motivation to external compliance to Self commitment. They also proposed that intrinsic motivation emerged from three psychological needs: need for competence (being able to do things), need for autonomy (making his/her own choices) and need for relatedness (connecting with others). 387

There are other ways to classify motivation; Gardner (1985) proposed that it is necessary to understand the learner s goal for learning a language in order to understand what motivates them. He proposes two orientations for learning a language: integrative and instrumental. The first one refers to having an interest not only in the language, but also in the community who speaks the language, a desire to assimilate the culture as well as the language. It involves being open and respectful to other groups, lifestyles, ideas, etc., and the possibility of identification with another culture (Dörnyei, 2003). Instrumental motivation, on the other hand, refers to the desire of learning the language to use it as a toll to obtain non interpersonal purposes such as passing an exam, obtaining a job, etc. (Liuolienė and Metiūnienė, 2006). Independent learning Kesten (1987) defines independent learning as that learning in which the learner, in conjunction with relevant others, can make the decisions necessary to meet the learner's own learning needs." Motivation has a key role in learners independence; a student who has strong interest in learning a language might succeed in his/her purpose in spite of finding difficulties in the process. Learning a language independently from a classroom could be described as the motive that drives a language learner to study without the need of a group of learner peers to encourage his studies. Context Even though traditional face-to-face English classes are more well-liked among the great majority of the students coming to the Language Center (CELE) of the Centro Universitario de Auto-Aprendizaje en Lenguas (CUAAL) at the Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango (UJED), there are a few students who decide not to enroll in a traditional face-to-face class. Instead, they decide to study in the independent learning modality. Among the reasons, and probably the most popular, for choosing this form of study is the issue of schedule. Students selecting 388

to work on their own decide the time and amount of it to devote to their studies. They meet with an assigned tutor once a week for half an hour on a previously agreed schedule for the semester. During each meeting, goals for the semester are revised to check on progress, doubts are clarified and materials for more practice in a certain language aspect are suggested when necessary. Study techniques are also suggested if required. Exams, oral and written, are applied twice in the semester. The participants Five language learners considered for this study are or were users of the Self-Access Centre (SAC) at the Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango s (UJED) Language Centre. They were selected for their good performance studying English as a foreign language in an individual mode for at least one year. They have all been studying English for more than six years. Three of the participants are women while the other two are men. Three of them (two women and one men) have all finished their BA studies, while the other two (one man and one woman) are following their medical undergraduate studies. Their ages vary between 21 and 29 years old. All participants started their high intermediate level in the self-access mode and have reached the low advanced level through this learning modality. Two of the participants have lived in an English speaking country; however none of them have studied English in a target language country. The instrument The purpose of this study is to learn the type of motivation that drives students to learn independently, and not needing a group or a teacher to encourage or accompany their studies. A questionnaire (see Appendix 1) was adapted from Yihong et.al. (2007), in this instrument there are seven areas in which the thirty questions of it have been grouped according to the source of the learner s motivation: 1. Fondness of the target language and other aspects related to it: positive feelings towards the target language, to its people and to its culture; 389

2. Going abroad: the idea of visiting English speaking countries and become part of the target language speaking community; 3. Immediate achievement: obtaining external reward or approval; 4. Learning situation: the learning environment (materials, tutors, schedule); 5. Social responsibility: learning English to full fill a sense of patriotism towards México, considering that one s professional effort will contribute to the country s improvement; 6. Individual development: pursuing individual s self recognition or an improvement in job opportunities; 7. Information medium: Language is seen as a vehicle to access updated information; The 30 questions included in the questionnaire can also be classified according to the types of motivation previously mentioned (see Table 1.) Set of Intrinsic Extrinsic Integrative Instrumental questions motivation motivation motivation motivation 1 X X 2 X X 3 X 4 X X 5 X X 6 X X 7 X Table 1. Questions and motivation types The above table proposes that there is no one way to classify motivation. In most cases, we can observe two types of motivation involved. If we take the first set of questions related to the feelings the learner has towards the target language, its people and culture, we can see that having a positive way of thinking towards the language, liking the people who speaks that language, appreciating the target language s culture and perhaps wanting to adopt some of its customs might lead to 390

wanting to become part of the target speech community. All these elements are part of an integrative motivation to learn the foreign language. These positive feelings are not imposed, they emerge from the learner s inner self, and therefore the motivation is intrinsic to the learner. Results The results of the questionnaire were summarized considering the group of questions previously mentioned and presented in graphs. Intrinsic interest The selection of number 3, indicating uncertainty in the aspects asked reveals that learners were not aware of the changes occurring in themselves in relation to their feelings towards English. In question No. 1, a male and a female selected No. 3, indicating (by the time the questionnaire was answered) that they do not know whether they started loving English since their very first contact with the target language or whether they started learning it for other reasons and they started liking it later. Overall, however, it can be seen that intrinsic interest is high in almost all the participants and this reflects both intrinsic and integrative motivation because it shows interest not only in learning, but in the language per se. 391

The information shows that there is some interest from learners in travelling to an English speaking country mostly to experience its culture. This demonstrates that this group of students is integratively motivated to an extent. Becoming an immigrant does not seem an important objective for most of them at the moment; however, they are intrinsically motivated to visit the country and to gain opportunities for a better job or higher education, not necessarily in an English speaking country. Data in graph 3 suggest that the participant learners are not strongly motivated by external reasons. This information is important because for two of them, studying English is mandatory in their schools. This information supports the intrinsic motivation shown in the first graph. 392

It is interesting to point out that what the learners consider more important about the learning situation is the access to a variety of materials and their quality more than schedule flexibility or their relation with the tutor. The quality of the tutoring session does not seem so important to these learners, therefore, changing tutor will not affect their motivation. This reflects the degree of autonomy they have reached, a degree in which there is no dependence from the tutor and the most important thing for them is to have access to materials they can use to learn. From the data in graph 5, it can be assumed that there is not a clear interest in learning English for being socially responsible or that there is not a clear idea of how learning a language could help them contribute to the country s prosperity. 393

This information shows that students consider English as a tool which could help them obtain professional and personal development. Students consider the language as an instrument to obtain multiple benefits being the main one career development. English is perceived as an important information medium. Two of the participants are following undergraduate studies, while one is enrolled in a graduate program. These learners consider English important for their studies. There is an acknowledgement on English as the language used to communicate and share information in their areas of interest. Conclusions and suggestions The information gathered from these five independent language learners reflects intrinsic, integrative and instrumental motivation. According to Little 394

(1989:20-21) instrumental orientation is stronger in foreign language contexts, which is the case of México. This seems to be the case of our five independent learners, which, although wanting to experience the target language s culture, they are not really interested in becoming immigrants in a foreign country. Learners see English as a medium to obtain Motivation plays a key role in language learning. Autonomous language learning is not the exception. After analyzing the obtained data, it can be concluded that intrinsic motivation plays a key role in learning a language independently. Self access students need to be intrinsically motivated because most of the work they do is individual and, therefore, they do not have the opportunity to receive frequent external gratification such as teacher s congratulations or recognition from others. External motivation was present in a much lower extent than the intrinsic one, and it was mentioned only when students had to study English as a requirement to graduate; however, even when that happened, students did not consider this binding to be something very important. From what is concluded some suggestions can be made: 1. It would be very useful to spend at least one self access session talking to the learner to know what reasons s/he has to study English so both the tutor and the student can work on defining objectives and goals and the language learning process can be personalized. 2. The learner along with her/his tutor could design a pathway s/he would like to follow in order to obtain her/his goals in learning English. 3. Since access to materials seems to be an important reason for studying in an autonomous way, the learner should know the kind of resources available and the procedure to use them. Little (1989:21) states that when learners are given the opportunity to decide on the materials and programs to be used the learner s inner motivation is encouraged. 4. Integrative motivation was constantly present; therefore, it would be important to use authentic resources and to dedicate time of the sessions to the study of the culture of English speaking countries. 395

5. The use of English as a medium to get access to information could be reinforced to let the learner know what a useful tool language can be. The above proposals could be part of the aspects to consider as part of the SAC tutoring sessions. Including them would reinforce learner s intrinsic motivation. However, how can tutors help learners whose intrinsic motivation is poor? Mostly, all of the above. It would be important for the tutor to find out how motivated the student is and the kind of motivation present in him/her. This would be the starting point to decide which of the above suggestions would best suit this particular situation. However, these learners might need tutors to help them realize their progress and hence have a sense of success more than strongly intrinsic motivated learners do. According to Little (1989: 21), learner motivation is not reinforced by success in language learning, but it is the feeling of achievement which increases learner motivation. Independent learners do not have the benefit of being encouraged by a peer-group; it is then the tutor s role to help them realize their accomplishments. 396

References MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009) 1. Chomsky, N, (1959). Review of Verbal Behaviour by B.F. Skinner, in Language No.35, p. 26-58. 2. Deci, E.L. and Ryan, E.M. (1985) Intrinsic motivation and Self-determination in human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum Press 3. Dörnyei, Z. (2003) Attitudes, Orientations, and Motivations in Language Learning: Advances in Theory, Research, and Applications. Language learning. Vol. 53. S1. Pp. 3-32 4. Gardner, R.C. and Lambert W. (1959) Motivational variables in second language acquisition. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 13, 266-272. 5. Gardner, R.C. (1985) Social Psychology and Second Language Learning, The role of attitudes and motivation. Edward Arnold 6. Kesten, C. (1987). Independent Learning. Regina, Sask.: Saskatchewan Education. 7. Little, D. (1989) Self-Access Systems for Language Learning. Authentik. 8. Liuolienė, Alvyda; Metiūnienė, Regina (2006) Second Language Learning Motivation Santalka, Filologija, Edukologija. T 14. Nr. 2, ISSN 1822-430x print 1822-4318 online 9. Matsuzaki, J. (2005) New framework of Intrinsic/Extrinsic and Integrative/Instrumental Motivation in Second Language Acquisition, The Keiai Journal of International Studies, No 16. http://www.u-keiai.ac.jp/issn/menu/ronbun/no16/039.pdf 10. Norris-Holt, J. (2001) Motivation as a contributing factor in Second Language Acquisition, The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VII, No. 6 http://teslj.org 11. Yihong, Gao; Yuan, Zhao; Ying, Cheng; Yan, Zhou (2007) Relationship Between English Learning Motivation Types and Self-Identity Changes among Chinese Students, TESOL QUARTERLY, Vol. 41, No. 1 (March). 397

Biodata Cecilia Araceli Medrano Vela has been involved in teaching English for over 14 years, both as a face-to-face teacher and self-access tutor. She was part of the team which started up the Self-Access Centre at the CUAAL and took the initial training given by the British Council in support of the SAC establishment. She was been the Academic Coordinator of the CUAAL s Language Center for five years. She holds a Masters degree in Educational Technology and ELT. She currently teaches at the CUAAL-UJED BA in Language Teaching program and is in charge of the Language Certification Department. Contact: cecilia.puaali@gmail.com Roxana Cano Vara has 10 years of experience teaching English, four of them as a self Access tutor. She was the Academic Coordinator of the CUAAL s Language Center for a year. She is the current coordinator of the BA in English Language Teaching program at CUAAL-UJED. Contact: roxanacano.ujed.cuaal@gmail.com 398

Appendix I MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009) Motivation Types Questionnaire Read each statement below, and tick a number that indicates your opinion of the statement. 1 = Strongly Disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Uncertain 4 = Agree 5 = Strongly Agree 1. I fell in love with English at first sight, without particular reasons. 2. I began to study English because my parents/school required me to learn it. 3. My effort of English learning has depended to a large extent on test scores. 4. My effort of English learning has depended to a large extent on whether I like my English teacher/advisor or not. 5. My effort of English learning has depended to a large extent on the quality of English classes/ self access sessions. 6. My effort of English learning has depended to a large extent on the quality of materials available in the Self access center 7. My effort of English learning has depended to a large extent on whether 1 2 3 4 5 x xl ll l xx l l l lxx l l xx ll l ll x l x l lx l lx l x l 399

the self access sessions are programmed in a comfortable schedule for me. 8. An important purpose for my English learning is/was to obtain a university lx l lx degree. 9. The direct objective of my English learning is to have the possibility of x ll lx going abroad or career development. 10. The direct objective of my English learning is to have the possibility of career development. 11. Learning English is important for xll lx me, because English is a very useful lx lx l tool in contemporary society. 12. Learning English can give me a sense of achievement x lx ll 13. I learn English in order to facilitate the learning of other academic l xll x subjects. 14. Only with good English skills can I find a good job in the future. ll xx l 15. Having access to extra resources such as videos, recording and other multimedia is an advantage of learning x lx ll English in a self access center. 16. I learn English so as to catch up with economic and technological x ll lx developments in the world. 17. I learn English because I am interested in English speaking peoples l xxll 400

and their cultures. MEMORIAS DEL V FORO DE ESTUDIOS EN LENGUAS INTERNACIONAL (FEL 2009) 18. I have special interests in language learning. 19. Out of my love of English l lxxl songs/movies, I have developed a great interest in the language. lx lxl 20. I learn English just because I like this language. 21. I learn English in order to let the world know more about my country. x l xll xxlll 22. Out of my love of English literature, I have developed a great interest in the ll x xl language. 23. Only when I have a good command of English can I well contribute to my l xl lx country s prosperity. 24. Only when I have a good command of English can I live up to the l l lxx expectations of my parents. 25. I learn English in order to find better education and job opportunities abroad. 26. I learn English so that I can go abroad lx xll to experience English-speaking x l xll cultures. 27. The ultimate purpose of my English learning is to become an immigrant in English-speaking countries. llxl x 28. Acquiring good English skills is a stepping-stone to one s success in life. x xl ll 401

29. Fluent oral English is a symbol of good education and accomplishment 30. Using software and multimedia lx lx l resources for learning English is l xlx l important Adapted from YIHONG,G., YUAN,Z., YING, C and Yan Zhou (2007) x= male learner l= Female learner Color code: Fondness towards the target language Immediate achievement Learning situation Going abroad Social responsibility Individual development Information medium 402