An investigation into high school students motivation to study english

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY
---------------

DUONG MINH CHAU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TO STUDY ENGLISH

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghe An, 2017


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY
---------------

DUONG MINH CHAU

AN INVESTIGATION INTO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’
MOTIVATION TO STUDY ENGLISH

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Code: 60 14 01 11

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION
SUPERVISOR:
Nguyen Gia Viet, Ph.D.

Nghe An, 2017


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that thesis entitled "An investigation into high school students'
motivation to study English" is entirely my own work, except where I have given
fully-documented references to the work of others, and that the material contained in
this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course of study.
Author

Duong Minh Chau

i


ABTRACT
Motivation plays a significant role in the process of learning language.
Moreover, it is also one of the key factors that influence the rate and success of
second/foreign language learning. For this reason, the central concern of this study is
to investigate the type of motivations that exists among English major students and
non-English major students at Huynh Man Dat High School for the Gifted Students
to study English and examine whether English major students and non-English major
students have the same or different types of English learning motivation. Data was
collected through a questionnaire contained 29 items asking about the learning
motivation. The questionnaire was adapted from Gardner’s (1985) AMTB (Attitude,
Motivation Test Battery) questionnaire. A questionnaire, an adapted version of
Gardner's Attitude and Motivation Test Battery was used by to collect data from 100
high school students at Huynh Man Dat High School for the Gifted. The data were
analyzed on the basis of quantitative approach. The findings indicated that the

student surveyed had high motivation of learning English, and the types of motivation
among those students were intrinsic, extrinsic, instrumental and integrative
motivation. Moreover, it was also found that English major students were more
integrative motivation than the other types of motivation, and non-English major
students were more instrumental motivation.

ii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis would not have been possible without the inspiration, and support of
a number of significant individuals who have accompanied me on the journey of
scientific research. I would like to thank, and appreciate to all of them.
First of all, I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Gia Viet.
Thanks to his research experiences, critical thinking, enthusiastic support, and
encouragement that inspired me during my master journey. I have learned a lot from
him.
Second, my gratitude also goes out to all lectures at Department of Foreign
languages, Vinh University for their valuable teaching, and tremendous assistance.
I am thankful to my colleagues and friends for their friendship and support.
I also would like to give my special thanks to Mrs. Phan Thi Phuong Lan, the
English teacher at Huynh Man Dat High School for the Gifted where my research
was located without her enthusiasm, and excellent support this thesis would hardly
have been completed.
In addition, I would like to thank the students there for their active participation
in my research.
Last but not least, my deep and sincere gratitude to my family for their
continuous and unparalleled love, support, and trust me. I am especially grateful to
my mom for always being there for sharing the hardship with me. I am forever

indebted to my parents for giving me the opportunities, experiences trust, and accept
me that have made me who I am. They have encouraged me to explore new directions
in life, and seek my own destiny. This journey would not have been possible if not
for them.

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TABLE OF THE CONTENT

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ..................................................................... i
ABTRACT ............................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................ii
TABLE OF THE CONTENT ............................................................................ iv
LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................. vi
LIST OF FIGURES ...........................................................................................vii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale ..................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Aims of the study ........................................................................................ 3
1.3. Research questions ...................................................................................... 4
1.4. Methodology ............................................................................................... 4
1.5. Scope of the study ....................................................................................... 4
1.6. Significance of the study ............................................................................. 4
1.7. Thesis outline .............................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................... 6
2.1. A brief overview of foreign language teaching in Vietnam ....................... 6
2.2. Theoretical background............................................................................... 7
2.2.1. Definition of motivation ....................................................................... 7
2.2.2. Importance of motivation in second/foreign language ......................... 8
2.2.3. Language learning motivation ................................................................. 10

2.2.3.1.Socio-Psychological Perspective: Gardner’s Socio-Psychological
Theory of L2 …………………………………………………………...........10
2.2.3.2. Cognitive revolution: .................................................................... 16
2.2.3.2.1. Self-Determination Theory…………………………………......16

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2.2.3.3. Goal Theories ............................................................................... 24
2.2.3.4. Attribution Theories ..................................................................... 26
2.2.3.5. Factors that affect motivation in second language learning ........ 27
2.3. Previous studies ......................................................................................... 31
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ................................................................... 34
3.1. Participants ................................................................................................ 34
3.1.1. General demographic information about students………………..

34

3.2. Research instrument ................................................................................ 347
3.3. Data collection .......................................................................................... 38
3.4. Data analysis ............................................................................................. 38
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ................................. 40
4.1. Data analysis ............................................................................................. 40
4.1.1. Students’ motivation........................................................................... 40
4.1.2. Results from open-ended questions.................................................... 49
4.2. Discussion ................................................................................................. 53
4.2.1. Research question 1 ............................................................................ 53
4.2.2. Research question 2 ............................................................................ 54
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ...................... 56
5.1. Summary of the study ............................................................................... 56

5.2. Recommendations ................................................................................... 567
5.3. Limitations of the research ........................................................................ 59
5.4. Suggestions for further research ............................................................... 59
REFERENCES................................................................................................... 61
APPENDICES .................................................................................................... 75

v


LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1

Framework of L2 motivation (Dornyei, 1994a) .......................... 28

Table 2.2

Framework of L2 motivation (Williams and Burden, 1997)
cited in Dörnyei, 2001a) .............................................................. 29

Table 3.1

Information about participants .................................................... 34

Table 3.2

English scores among different groups of participants………. .

Table 3.3

Spending hours of learning English in a week besides class

35

hours of grade 12 students ........................................................... 36
Table 4.1

Interpretation of score results in terms of motivation levels…...

Table 4.2

Descriptive statistics of 4 types motivation of grade 12 students

40

(100 participants) ......................................................................... 41
Table 4.3

Descriptive statistics of integrative motivation items ................ 42

Table 4.4

Descriptive statistics of instrumental motivation items .............. 43

Table 4.5

Comparative analysis of motivation degree between the two
groups .................................................................................................. 44

Table 4.6

Descriptive statistics of intrinsic motivation of items ................. 46

Table 4.7

Descriptive statistics of extrinsic motivation of items ................ 47

Table 4.8

Comparative analysis of motivation degree between the two
groups .................................................................................................. 48

Table 4.9

The main factors affecting students learning English ................. 52

Table 4.10

Mean comparison of types of motivation among the
participants .................................................................................. 53

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1

Socio-Education Model of Second Language Acquisition
(Gardner, 2006) ........................................................................... 16

Figure 2.2

Types of Motivation in Self-Determination Theory .................. 24

Figure 2.3

General Model of Goal Setting Theory (Lunenburdg, 2011) .... 26

Figure 3.1

English learning result of 100 grade 12 students in the previous
semester ..................................................................................... 36

Figure 3.2

English learning result of 52 grade 12 English major students
in the previous semester (2 classes of English major) ............... 37

Figure 4.1

Descriptive statistics of 4 types motivation of grade 12 students
(100 participants) ....................................................................... 41

Figure 4.2

Integrative and instrumental motivation of English major
students and non-English major students .................................. 45

Figure 4.3

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of participants of English
major students and non-English major students ........................ 49

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Today, English is the most widely spoken language in the world therefore
English has become a global language. Thanks to the “Open-door” policy or in other
word-Reform policy in 1986, English has been widely chosen as a foreign language
in Vietnam because there have been English-speaking people coming to, visit or work
in Viet Nam. Therefore, Vietnamese needs to acquire an English level proficient
enough to communicate effectively in a global working environment. To catch up
with globalization trends, nowadays English has been identified as an important and
compulsory foreign language in most educational institutions in Vietnam by the
Vietnamese government. It has been highlighted in the legal documents issued by the
Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training
(National Foreign Language 2020 Project, or Project 2020) that most Vietnamese
students to be able to use a foreign language, especially English, confidently in their
study, daily communication, and work by 2020. Hence, the need for teaching and
learning English is increasing rapidly.
The Ministry of Education and Training has been taking a lot of action in an
ambitious important reform education so that by the year 2020 all students will reach
B1 level adopting CEFR standard after leaving high schools; however, a recent
statistic on Vnexpress.net regarding national exams in Vietnam shows that 90 percent
of students had less than a five score in English from the 2016 national high school
finals and only 8.8 percent students got higher than the average mark. What are the
causes to the figure?

According to researchers, there are many factors that affect the success of
language learning, including motivation is considered the main cause contributing
greatly in success of language learners. Similar to language learning, the second
language acquisition (SLA) literature is determined by a range of factors, including
aptitude, intelligence and motivation (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011; Ellis, 1994;

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Gardner, 1960). However, a large of research in SLA has found that motivation has
a great potential to enhance learners’ levels of second language proficiency (Brown,
2004; Dörnyei, 1998, 2001a; Ellis, 1994; Gardner, 2010; Gardner & Lalonde, 1985;
Ushioda, 2006).
As we all know that English is important because it can help us express our
opinions, hopes, and even our dreams. People learn and use English for a variety of
purposes such as social communication needs, getting a good job, getting a
promotion, or study abroad. However, almost learners have not succeeded in learning
English because of their lack of motivation or having a low motivation. The success,
or failure of a language learner to master second language (L2) depends on their
motivation. According to Jafari (2013), one of the factors influencing the success of
the learners in learning English is the person’s motivation. If students who have low
motivation in learning, they will not want to learn English, or other subjects. Many
educators consider motivation as “a key of a model of language learning
achievement” (Gardner, 1985; Spolsky, 2000; Elyildirim & Ashton, 2006). Brown
(1994) suggests that learners will be successful if they have appropriate motivation.
Dornyei (1994) also states that motivation is one of the important factors in studying
foreign languages. “Motivation seems to be the biggest single factor affecting
language learners’ success” (Jafari, S.S. (2013). According to Jafari, if learners have
good motivation in studying language, they will be more successful than the others
who are only intelligent without good motivation. Moreover, Dörnyei (2009: p. 65)

also states that “Without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most
remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long term goals”. Therefore, teachers play a
relevant role in this process as they should know how to motivate students. Thus, as
a teacher, we need to know the students’ motivation in learning and help them to build
motivation intrinsically and extrinsically. Specially, by understanding learners’
motivation can help teachers to design lessons, or apply pedagogical methods more
appropriate than in teaching English that nourish, capitalize on the motivation of each
student, and improve teaching quality. These will help students establish the right

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goal to enhance their learning English well.
Moreover, motivation is considered as one of the most important factors in
learning English. Motivation can also be classified into different categories,
depending on different theories of language learning. In addition, it can be classified
into two subcategories, namely the motivation to integrate with the target language
community, or the language is only a mean to an end (integrative and instrumental
motivation). According to Self-Determination Theory, it can be intrinsic motivation
and extrinsic motivation. Furthermore, motivation is perceived by Goal Setting
Theories to consist of internal and external aspects; or two types, performance, and
mastering oriented goals according to goal orientation theories. The two categories,
internal, and external reasons given by Attribute Theories are also another way of
classification. Classifying motivation is to more easily determine the learners’
motivation, and the way to boost their incentives of learning. That is also the reason
why there have been, recently, a lot of studies revolving around this topic. This study,
mainly, based on the Socio-Educational Model, and Self-Determined Model. This
means that instrumental, and integrative motivation and intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation are theoretical basis of the research.
In my experience, I realize that motivation in studying English of high school

students is very important and not be separated in teaching English. For the mentioned
reason, I would like to conduct a study on “An investigation into high school
students' motivation to study English”.
1.2. Aims of the study
This study aims at investigating high school students’ motivation to study
English at Huynh Man Dat High School for the Gifted in Rach Gia City, Kien Giang
Province. Specifically, was carried out to:
- Identify types of motivation of Huynh Man Dat High School for the Gifted
in studying English.

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1.3. Research questions:
This study is guided by the following questions:
1. What types of motivation exist among students at Huynh Man Dat High
School for the Gifted? And which types of motivation are dominant?
2. Are there differences about motivation between English major students, and
non-English major students? And what are they?
1.4. Methodology
This study utilizes descriptive-quantitative method in which information was
collected through the use of the modified motivational survey questionnaire which
was adapted from Gardner’s (1985) Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) to
answer the research questions. The survey data will be analyzed statistically, using
computer software, Microsoft Excel. The results will be presented in the form of
percentage, frequencies, and some mean scores. The study was conducted in Huynh
Man Dat High School for the Gifted Student, and the respondents of the study were
100 of grade 12 students.
1.5. Scope of the study
This study only focused on investigation of the motivation of learning English

of grade 12 students (major and non-English major students) at Huynh Man Dat High
School for Gifted Students.
1.6. Significance of the study
The result of the study will reflect a full picture of Huynh Man Dat High School for
the Gifted students’ motivation in English learning consist of quality of students in

English learning, and teachers’ methodology. The purpose of the survey of grade 12
students is to know that are they aware of the importance of learning a foreign
language, and its application in the future or not? And how to set up a clear goal to
achieve their goals in studying language. Many studies prove that when students find
a learning task interesting, engaging, meaningful, and useful, they tend to be highly
motivated to carry it out. About theory, the result of this study will help to verify that
whether or not there is any coincidence with the results of previous studies. The result

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of the study will help teachers can better understand students’ motivation in English
learning by selecting appropriate methods to improve their students’ motivation.
Besides, this research helps managers and policy makers adjust their programs
of study, and learning materials to make a more appropriate material with the hope
of improving the quality of the teaching and learning English at Huynh Man Dat High
School for Gifted Students. For me, the result of the study will be a great and precious
lesson because it is a basic preparation to help me have the necessary experience to
carry out other relevant studies.
1.7. Thesis Outline
The study consists of five chapters.
Chapter 1: Introduction, will present the rationale for the study, aims, scope,
research questions, methodology, significance of the study, and chapter outline.
Chapter 2: Literature review, will present the background of motivation in

studying English.
Chapter 3: Methodology, will discuss the context of the study, the informants
and data collection instruments.
Chapter 4: Data analysis and discussion, will analyze the results through
relevant statistics, the findings of the study, and the discussion of the results.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendation, will conclude the main points of
the study, give some suggestions for teaching and learning, points out the limitations
of the study, and make some suggestions for further research.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. A brief overview of foreign language teaching in Vietnam
From 1975 and 1986, Russian is the main language of the foreign country in
Vietnam. At the end of the 1980s, with influence decreasing of Russia and the impact
of globalization in higher education refers to the use of English as the lingua franca
for the science communication; development of information, and communication
technologies, international laboratory for our market researchers and research
integration (Altbach & Knight, 2007). The period from 1986 to the present English
replaced Russian became a compulsory subject in the education system and it has
been grown rapidly and expanded in Vietnam. Thanks to the open-door policy,
English was taught as the first foreign language in schools, universities and the
language centre the evening across the country. In 1994, the Government of Vietnam
has signed an Order No 442/TT to require that all government officials had to learn a
foreign language, preferably English, because the government hopes English will
become the most popular foreign language (No 442/TT, 1994). Besides, since 2003,
the MoET has placed on English in the elementary education curriculum. English is
taught from third grade with 70 hours a year because the government expected that

the students out of the school, they are able to communicate in English at the novice
level, knowing the basic linguistic properties of the language, and introductory
information about the cultures and people of some English-speaking countries
(MoET, 2003b).
The Government of Vietnam would like to see most Vietnamese students
graduating from secondary school, vocational schools, colleges, and universities can
use a foreign language in daily communication. Therefore in 2008, an ambitious
project entitled “teaching and learning of foreign languages in the national education
system, 2008-2020 period” had been ratified, and put into force, demonstrating a
strong will of Vietnam to make “foreign languages an advantage for Vietnamese
people, serving the cause of industrialization, and modernization for the country”

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(The Government, Decision No. 1400/QĐ-TTg, 2008). This project indicated that
English was identified as the most important foreign language besides the other
language (MoET, 2008b; Nguyen, 2003). MoET’s National Foreign Language 2020
Project, or Project 2020 for short was established in 2010 to implement this national
renovation. The project aimed to reform the teaching, and learning of foreign
languages at all educational levels in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government’s
prioritizing English over other foreign languages can be seen in many different ways,
such as reforming English course books for students from grades 3 to 12 (aged from
9 to 18 years), implement an extensive English language program in which the class
hours by increasing English learning, under Project 2020, a workforce with at least
level 4 of English competence on the Common European Framework of Reference’s
scale by the year 2020.
It is expected that by 2020 policies will be implemented, including adopting the
Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), and establishing a Language
Proficiency Framework for Vietnam. The CEFR was selected because MoET needed

a guideline to measure, and get accessible language proficiency. The CEFR provides
a guide in setting the curriculum, teaching and learning practices, and evaluation.
People think that in order to promote democracy, and accountability in education. It
is considered friendly to the teacher, with there being an abundance of supporting
teaching and research material, it also empowers students to have more independence
than in learning. When the CEFR is used widely in Europe and beyond, it is an ideal
standard to apply appropriately in Vietnam.
2.2. Theoretical background
2.2.1. Definition of motivation
Motivation is something that inside internal to human being. It drives human
beings to act for the satisfaction of their needs and achieving a goal. Oxford Advance
Learners’ Dictionary defines “to motivate” means “to make somebody want to do
something, especially something that involves hard work and effort”. According to

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Maehr (1984), motivation is critically important in all human affairs, and motivation
and learning are inextricable. Gardner (1985) states that motivation consists of four
factors such as goal, effort, desire for achieving the goal, and positive attitude to the
activities mentioned. Brown (1994) states that “Motivation is commonly thought of
as an inner drive, impulse, emotion, or desire that moves one to a particular
action”.(p. 152). Williams and Burden (1997: 120) who see motivation as “a state of
cognitive and emotional arousal, a state which leads to a conscious decision to act
and gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort”. Ames &
Ames (1989) also define motivation is the impulse to create and sustain the intentions
and actions for searching goal. Deci and Ryan (1985) state that motivation concerns
the “why” question in behaviour and Deci’s (1995) “Why we do, what we do”. In
contrast, according to Maehr (1984), the study of human motivation “begins and ends
with the study of behaviour” (p. 132). In addition to The Oxford Online Dictionary

also defines motivation as the “desire or willingness to do something” (Motivation,
2014). According to Gardner (1985: 10), motivation is “the extent to which the
individual works, or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and
the satisfaction experienced in the activity”. Moreover, Oxford and Shearin (1994)
state that motivation determines the active participation of individuals in learning
second language. Shearin (1994) states that “Motivation determines the extent of
active, personal involvement in L2 learning” (p. 12). Motivation does not seem to
have a particular definition; different people will define motivation from different
views. Thus, the most important thing for the language learner is that motivation is a
key.
2.2.2. Importance of motivation in second/foreign language
It is common to hear saying “Given motivation, anyone can learn a language”.
Successful learning is closely related to motivation, as cited in Houston (1985)
motivation is something that causes a person to act. Then, Brown (2001) added that
motivation is the extent to which you make choice about goals to pursue, and the
effort you will devote to that pursuit. Gardner and Lambert (1972) illustrated that

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motivation to learn a language is grounded in positive attitudes toward the language
community, and in a desire to communicate with valued members of that community,
and become similar to them. Moreover, Gardner (1985:45) showed that motivation
refers to the combination of the effort plus desire to the achieve the goal learning the
language plus favourable attitudes toward learning the language. According to
Gardner (1985:P10), motivation for language learning as “the extent to which an
individual works or strives to learn the language because of the desire to do so and
the satisfaction experienced in this activity”. Some experts believe that students with
positive attitudes, and high level motivation will be more successful compared to
those with negative attitudes, and no motivation, cited in Thang (2011). It can be said

that students who lack of motivation will not be encouraged to achieve success in
learning. The highly motivated learners with self-confidence, a good self-image, and
a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success in second language learning.
(Krashen, 2002).
Thus, motivation is important because it determines the level of participation
and the positive attitude of students towards learning. It is interesting to know that
many researchers have considered motivation is one of the main factors determining
success in the development of second language/foreign language. McDonough
(1981) also believes that motivation has an important influence to the success, or
failure of language learners. In addition, motivation is curiosity, the desire to be
encouraged, and have new experiences. Therefore, if learners are motivated in
learning language, they will certainly succeed. The same idea in different word,
Spolsky (1990, p. 157) also states that motivated students can learn more and more
quickly than less motivated students. In a particular learning situation, less motivated
students may lose their attention, misbehave, and cause discipline problems. On the
other hand, higher motivation students will actively participate and pay more
attention to a specific task or learning activity. In sum, motivation plays an important
role in success and failure in studying second/foreign language.
Researchers classified motivation into different categories. It was depended on

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the different theories of language learning. It can be classified into two subcategories. That is named the motivation to integrate with the target language
community, or the language is only a mean to an end (integrative and instrumental
motivation). According to Self-Determination Theory, it can be intrinsic motivation
and extrinsic motivation. The final goal of motivational classification is to more
easily identify the learners’ motivation, and the way how to boost their learning
motivation. This study is mainly based on both the Socio-Educational Model, and the
Self-Identified Model. It means that the two major categories, instrumental,

integrative motivation, and intrinsic, extrinsic motivation, and internal, external
motives are the theoretical basis of this research.
2.2.3. Language learning motivation
Language learning motivation was looked into on the basis of a behavioural
framework to work out “what moved a resting organism into a state of activity”, with
heavy reliance on concepts such as instinct, drive, need, energisation, and
homeostasis (Weiner, 1990). However, this does not relate much to the educational
issue. Moreover, the appearance, and advance of another approach, cognitive
approach led to a shift to why students engage in the academic tasks. There are several
following that influent models in the language learning motivation.
2.2.3.1. Socio-Psychological Perspective: Gardner’s Socio-Psychological
Theory of L2 Motivation
The social and cultural impact on language learning, the initial studies on
motivation were carried out by social psychologists. Among several models proposed
during the sixties and eighties, the most influential model was Socio Educational
Model (Gardner, 1985). Gardner and other psychologists such as Lambert and
Clément (1959, 1985), are widely recognized as the founders of L2 motivation
research. According to Gardner (1985), motivation is defined as “combination of
effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favourable
attitudes towards learning the language”. The social psychologists state that learning

10


a second language “must be viewed as a central social psychological phenomenon”
(p. 193), and there is a difference from learning academic subjects such as Maths and
Physics. According to Gardner and Lambert (1972), they argued that motivation to
learn a second language distinguishes itself from motivation to learn other subjects.
They reasoned that a second language learner not only learns new knowledge, such
as grammar and vocabulary, this learner needs also show willingness to be integrated

with the community speaking this second language. As Gardner’s SocioPsychological Theory of L2 motivation is one of the few theories which explicitly
discuss types of motivation and his and colleagues’ Socio-Educational Model
comprises the “motivational intensity” construct (Dörnyei, 2001c), which related to
the present research program, these areas are discussed below. According to Gardner
and Lambert’s (1959) conceptualization of L2 motivation, individuals are motivated
to learn by either integrative or instrumental orientations. While the former pertains
to the willingness to learn the second language in order to identify with the target
language community, the latter refers to motivation to learn an L2 to gain
pragmatic/utilitarian values such as obtaining a good job. Gardner and Lambert’s
(1959) research findings highlighted that integratively-oriented students expended
more effort in learning a second language and were more successful in acquiring the
second language than instrumentally-oriented students. In other words, an integrative
orientation played a more dominant role than an instrumental orientation. While the
integrative-instrumental dichotomy had been “at the centre of L2 motivation research
for several decades” (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 85). In his study, Gardner
mentioned two types of motivation: integrative motivation, and instrumental
motivation.
Integrative vs. instrumental motivation
Gardner and Lambert (1972) classified motivation into integrative motivation
and instrumental motivation. The same perspective with Gardner and Lambert
(1972), Dörnyei (1998) also states that motivation involves both instrumental, and
integrative motivation. They gave the definition of integrative motivation as follows:

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integrative orientation is interested in learning the second language due to sincere
concern of learners for the humanity, and culture belong to the second language. This
motivation occurs when a learner tries to, or has a desire to learn, and integrate
herself/himself into the culture of the second language group, or the target language,

and become involved in social interchange in that group. Crookes and Schmidt (1991)
claim that “ Integrative motivation is defined with positive attitudes toward the target
language group, and the potential for integrating into the group, or at least an
interest in meeting and interacting with members of the target language group” (p.
472). Norris-Holt (2001) also states similarly that integrative motivation shown a
positive attitude of learners towards the target language, and wants to integrate into
the language community. Shaw (1981) states that since English is learned, and
considered as a foreign language, or an international language, and integrative
motivation plays a minor role in the popularity of English. According to Finnegan's
(1999, p. 568), this motivation is the foundation to help learners achieve success in
vocabulary, and pronunciation like native speakers. Integrative motivation is
concerned as a broad term with “positive interpersonal/affective disposition toward
the second language group, and the desire to interact with, and even become similar
to valued members of that community” Dörnyei (2005, p. 5). That means openness,
and respect for the other cultural community such as their values, identities and ways
of life. Cook (2001) points out that students may read literature, practice language,
and thereby they are able to improve their language skills because of respect the target
culture.
Instrumental motivation is another construct of Gardner’s Socio-Educational
Model. According to the studies of Hudson (2000) and Lightbown and Spada (2000),
instrumental motivation is the desire to achieve immediate, and practical goals from
the second language learning. With instrumental motivation, the purpose of the
acquisition of language becomes more practical, such as requirements of school, or
graduation from college, passing exams, and financial rewards, applying for jobs,
asking for higher-paid based on language ability, reading technical documentation,

12


or achieve a higher social status, and so on. Thus, instrumental motivation is related

to the benefits, which can be brought to a second language learner. Ahmadi (2011)
gave an example in his study about instrumental motivation: a designer in Chile who
has just graduated from university, and wants to get a well-paid position which would
result in changing his economic situation completely. However, the job has one
requirement which is a good command of English. And the desiring job with a chance
of improving financial situation becomes an instrument for him to study English.
Dörnyei (2005) defines about instrumentality “perceived pragmatic benefits of
second language proficiency” (p. 6). According to Dörnyei (2005), “ideal language
self-instrumentalities” are divided into two types: promotion vs. prevention.
“Instrumental motivation with a promotion focus (e.g. To learn English for the sake
of professional advancement) are related to the ideal self, whereas instrumental
motives with a prevention focus (e.g. Study in order not to fail the test) are parts of
the ought self” (p. 103). The procedure, and outcome of learning can be affected, and
controlled by these two types of motivation.
Ellis compared these two types of motivation with each other, Ellis (1994) states
that integrative motivation is the best and perfect motivation because he believes that
it is more competent and well-organized. If students don’t have the instrumental, or
integrative motivation, they will face with problems, and difficulties in learning and
gaining knowledge of a second language in the classroom, or another saying that
learning the language would be difficult for them (Cook, 2000). Ellis (1997) claims
that in some research instrumental motivation has been only seemed as a significant
factor, whereas it is linked to successful second language acquisition. Generally,
students select instrumental reasons more frequently than integrative reasons for
studying of the language. Oxford (1996) defines that instrumental motivation plays
the meaningful role to the learner who has had limited access to second language
culture, or foreign language settings. In addition, Dornyei (1996) also states that it is
more important for instrumental motivation, and the learners' need for getting
achievement than the integrative motivation.

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From another perspective, Gardner and Lambert (1972, as cited in Ellis, 1997)
seem that integrative motivation is more important than instrumental motivation in a
formal learning environment. Moreover, integrative motivation is superior to
instrumental motivation for predicting the success of second language learning (Gass
and Selinker, 2001). Unlike above studies, according to Brown (2000), he claims that
both integrative, and instrumental motivation are not necessarily mutually exclusive,
learners rarely select one form of motivation when they learn a second language, but
rather a combination of both integrative, and instrumental motivation. There is no
doubt that both integrative, and instrumental are basic, and essential elements in
language learning that make success in the process of learning foreign languages. In
particular, integrative motivation is considered that it can maintain long-term success
of learners. Instrumental motivation can cause success for learners when learners do
not have the opportunity to use the target language, they will not have the opportunity
to communicate with members of the target language group. However, different types
of motivation are to lie on a continuum, and the concern is the degree of intensity.
The language learner might have neither type of motivation. For example, the
possible situation could be when a language learner in order to go abroad both for
working, and living. Gardner (2001) claims that a person who cannot be considered
neither integrative motivation, nor instrumental motivation. It means that when
somebody learns a second language because of good grade. This is just a reason for
learning, and cannot be categorized as any kind of motivated individual.
In short, both integrative and instrumental motivations are mutually inclusive.
Most situations in learning language involve a mixture of each type of motivation at
the same time. Therefore, it is difficult to point learning language success to certain
integrative, or instrumental causes. However, the importance of integrative, and
instrumental motivation depends on situations or contexts, whether learning language
functions more as a foreign language, or as a second language.
Gardner and Lambert themselves also put more emphasis on integrative

motivation than instrumental motivation in a formal learning environment.

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Socio-Educational Model consists of several components, and they are
measured using Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMBT). The first component,
attitudes towards the learning situation refers to the individual’s attitudes towards
academic environment, including towards teachers, and towards the course.
Meanwhile, the integrativeness is valued based on the attitude towards the target
language group, the interest in the language and integrative orientation. And finally,
motivation is evaluated based on the effort spent on learning the language, the
attitudes towards learning the language, and affinity to learn the target language. He
made it clear that orientations concern the reasons a learner studies the target
language, while motivation relates to his spent “effort”, desire, and enjoyment.
However, the theory also encountered a lot of criticism, mainly because the confusion
in the definition of integrative motivation, which can be perceived differently by
different researchers. A reason can be classified instrumentally by some, but can be
regarded integrative by others. The second important aspect of Gardner’s Theory is
the Socio-Educational Model of second language acquisition (SLA). The SocioEducational Model aimed to represent the role of various individual difference
characteristics of the students in second language learning. According to Gardner’s
(2006), most recently adapted version of Socio-Education Model of second language
acquisition (see Figure 2.1), motivation is made up of effort (motivational intensity),
desire to learn the L2, and attitude towards learning the L2.
A motivated L2 learner displays all these elements in learning a second
language. Motivation is supported mainly by “integrativeness”, and “attitudes to L2
learning situation” (Gardner, 2010).

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Other support

integrativeness

Other factors

Motivation:

Second language

Effort (motivational

achievement

Aptitude to L2

intensity)

learning situation

Desire to learn the L2
Attitude towards the L2

Language
aptitude

Figure 2.1 Socio-Education Model of Second Language Acquisition (Gardner,
2006)
2.2.3.2. Cognitive revolution:

2.2.3.2.1. Self-Determination Theory
Self-Determination Theory (SDT), developed by Deci and Ryan (1985; 2002)
in mainstream motivational psychology, is considered one of the most
comprehensive, and dominant theories of human motivation (Schunk, Pintrich, &
Meece, 2008). And then it elaborated by researchers all over the world, and concerned
with supporting people’s innate and natural tendencies so that they can act in effective
ways (Deci, 1980a, 1980b; Deci & Ryan, 1985). Its central premise is there is a
tendency in each individual towards personal growth, which is either met or
prevented by the environment (Deci & Ryan, 2000). SDT embraces an organismic,
and dialectic perspective of viewing human motivation. By organismic, Deci and
Ryan (1985, 2012) propose that humans are active living creatures who can use their
innate ability/propensity to interact effectively with the environment, and other

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