1.2. Success in language learning

We will now consider why it is that students achieve success in language learning. It should be said that if we knew the answer to this question the job of teaching and learning language would be extremely easy. We don’t, of course, but we can point to a number of factors which seem to have a strong effect on a student’s success or failure in language learning.

1.2.1. Motivation

It has often been said by people involved in language teaching that a student who really wants to learn will succeed whatever the circumstances in which he studies. All teachers can think of situations in which certain ‘motivated’ students do significantly better than their peers. Students frequently succeed in what appear to be unfavourable conditions. They succeed despite using methods which experts consider unsatisfactory. In the face of such phenomena it seems reasonable to suggest that the motivation of the student is the single most important factor affecting his success.

Motivation is some kind of internal drive that encourages somebody to pursue a course of action. If we perceive a goal (that is, something we wish to achieve) and if that goal is sufficiently attractive we will be strongly motivated to do whatever is necessary to reach that goal. Thus, an internal drive is the result of the need to pursue a course of action. This need evokes a wish that is a desire to do something caused by interest and/or present or future usefulness of the action pursued and the result achieved.

Goals can be of different types. E.g., if we are determined to own a new compact disk player, a bike or a horse we may work overtime in order to earn the necessary money. If we want to win a TV general knowledge quiz we may put in incredibly long hours of fact-learning activity.

Language learners who are motivated perceive goals of various kinds. We can make a useful distinction between short-term goals and long-term goals. Long-term goals might have something to do with a wish to get a better job at some future date, or a desire to be able to communicate with members of a TLC. Short-term goals include such things as wanting to pass an end-of-semester test or wanting to finish a unit in a book.

In general, strongly motivated students with long-term goals are probably easier to teach than those who have no such goals and therefore have no real drive. For such students short-term goals will often provide the only motivation they feel.

At this point we start wondering what kind of motivation our students have and if it is always the same. For the sake of analysis we will separate it into two main categories: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.

1.2.2. Extrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation is concerned with factors outside the classroom. There are 2 main types of such motivation: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation.

1. Integrative motivation

For this kind of motivation students need to be attracted by the culture of the TLC. In the strong form of integrative motivation they wish to integrate themselves into that culture. A weaker form of such motivation would be the desire to know as much as possible about the culture of the TLC.

2. Instrumental motivation

This term describes a situation in which students believe that mastery of the target language will be instrumental in getting them a better job, position or status. The language is an instrument in their attainment of such a goal.

Two researchers, Gardner and Lambert, suggested than the most successful students were integratively motivated. But this conclusion has not really been adequately substantiated. Indeed, it seems that it is not so much the type of motivation that counts as its strength. Certainly, a student who has strong integrative motivation will be likely to succeed. But the same is also true of the student who has strong instrumental motivation.

There are a number of other factors that have an affect on extrinsic motivation. Most of these have to do with a student’s attitude to the language. These, in turn, will be affected by the attitude of those who have influence with that student. If the parents are very much against the culture of the language, this will probably affect his motivation in a negative way. If they are very much in favour of the language this might have the opposite effect. The student’s peers will also be in a powerful position to affect his attitude, as will other members of the student’s community.

Another factor affecting the attitude of students is their previous experiences as language learners. If the student remembers being humiliated by a lack of success as a learner he will find his extrinsic motivation negatively affected. Previous success will have the opposite effect.

It is clear that we cannot create extrinsic motivation since it comes into the classroom from outside. It is clear, too, that students have to be prepared to take some responsibility for their own learning. But with that in mind, we can still create the student’s positive attitude towards the culture of the language. We can still do our best to ensure that students view the language and the learning experience in a positive light. We can do this by creating a positive attitude to the language and its speakers. We can try to be certain that we are supportive and encouraging to our students rather than critical and destructive.