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Instrumental Motivation in SLA | TESL Issues

Last updated on November 26, 2019 by in TESOL / TESL Issues through CALL Category with No Comments on Instrumental Motivation in SLA | TESL Issues, 72 Views and Reading Time: 4 minutes

Instrumental Motivation

Instrumental motivation is also a component of Gardner’s socio-educational model; it is important to recognize that it can work in conjunction with, rather than in opposition to, integrative motivation. It refers to the motivation that derives from a perception of the concrete benefits that learning the L2 might bring about. Whereas instrumental motivation has been found to be only a weak predictor of foreign language achievement, in several Canadian studies, it appears to be much more powerful in other contexts where learners have little or no interest in the target-language culture and few or no opportunities to interact with its members.

To sum up, learners with an instrumental reason for learning an L2 can be successful although overall it appears less influential than integrative motivation (Ellis, 2008).

Intrinsic

Intrinsic Motivation

It was developed as an alternative to goal-directed theories of motivation that emphasized the role of Keller (1984) identified ‘’ as one of the main elements of motivation, defining it as a positive response to based on existing cognitive structures in such a way that learners’ curiosity is aroused and sustained. Crookes and (1991) observed that “it is probably fair to say that teachers would describe a student as motivated if they become productively engaged in learning tasks, and sustain that engagement, without the need for continual encouragement or direction” (p. 480).

Interest is engendered if learners become (i.e. are able to determine their own learning objectives, choose their own ways of achieving these, and evaluate their own progress. Intrinsic motivation was defined as “motivation to engage in an activity because it is enjoyable and satisfying to do so” (, , & , 2000, p. 61). Again, three types were distinguished: (1) knowledge (i.e. the motivation derived from exploring new ideas and knowledge), (2) (i.e. the pleasant sensations aroused by trying to achieve a task or goal), and (3) stimulation (i.e. the fun and excitement generated by actually performing a task).


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About Dr. Mohammad Hossein Hariri Asl

Dr. Mohammad Hossein Hariri Asl is an English and Persian instructor, researcher, inventor, author, blogger, SEO expert, website developer, and the creator of LELB Society. He's got a PhD in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). Study our guest posting guidelines for authors.

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