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Date Posted: 18:53:59 10/18/05 Tue
Author: Onildo Paixão
Subject: FINAL PAPER

Motivation in Second Language Acquisition


For a long time researchers have been motivated and have struggled their hard to try to come up with substantial findings supposed to explain, for sure, the main factors that apply to the acquisition of a foreign language. On the other hand, for many years language teachers have also been trying to act out activities in class which call students attention so that they achieve better results on their learning process. Thus, among some important factors directly related to the successful learning on SLA which were raised along the years, we may say the one which has been also practically present in almost all fields of our life, and, surely has been, then, a focus o SLA research; that is, motivation.
Talking about motivation lead us to interpret how we feel while doing certain things in life and how well or bad we can do them. On learning a second language it has basically to do with how attracted, convinced and sure we are about SLA. Dörnyei (2002 p.08) identifies motivation as "why people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity and how hard they are going to pursue it.”
Once taking motivation as a key factor in successful language learning, we may also be aware that even the most motivated students can lose interest and energy during their English language studies. It strongly means that as ESL professionals, we must constantly be searching for effective teaching strategies, as well as for ways / strategies to sustain the interest and engagement of students in our classes. It really works. Just see, for instance, that the students we have, who developed the main skills in the acquisition of a second language, are probably those who feel motivated in learning the target language. According to Murray Greig, ( internet, accessed in 17/10/05 ) “ It is crucial for the teacher to be the motivator, role model, and to inspire the student to achieve a higher level of performance. Marvin Stamm observed, “it doesn’t matter how great the teacher is, if the student doesn’t applies the information presented to him”.
I do not mean teachers should play the role of any “funny character” in order to get attention from the students and motivate them to flow ahead the class. What needs to be clear and food for reflection is that in classrooms we deal with different kind of learners which also might demand different approaches on how teaching them in a way that they feel motivated to learn or, at least, feel able to do it.
We may consider yet that teachers can facilitate motivation by helping learners identify short-term goals and reflect on their progress and achievements. They must take into account that students need to get feedback from them, so that students can have a light on how well they are doing their jobs and start feeling motivated to do their part on the language acquisition.
Researches also suggest that teachers should cultivate opportunities that stimulate language use when learners are not in class. Project work, for instance, provides learners with a bridge between practice in and outside of class. In addition, projects provide opportunities for learners to work with others to accomplish tasks, using English in real-life situations. The work with internet sites surely is another very recommended tool to work with while teaching a foreign language. Students should be asked to browse on English sites in order to accomplish any task previous planned and assigned by the teacher. By doing that, it is expected to get the best of the students attention because the internet, in general, is something that most of the students, specially teenagers, are exposed to.
According to Dr.Theodore Panitz ( internet accessed on 17/10/05) “general guidelines for classroom motivation (for example, Forsyth and McMillan, 1994) suggest emphasis on challenging, engaging, informative activities and the building of enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility in learners. Well-developed instructional strategies such as Cooperative Learning (CL) offer many potential benefits to learners (Panitz, 1998). The definition of CL as a motivational strategy includes all learning situations where students work in groups to accomplish particular learning objectives and are interdependent for successful completion of the objective. Forsyth and McMillan (1994) emphasize intrinsic motivation as a key element in teaching and learning, , noting that successful intrinsic motivation develops attitude, establishes inclusion, engenders competence, and enhances meaning within diverse students.”
The focus of cooperative learning is to actively involve students in the learning process. Whenever two or more students attempt to solve a problem or answer a question they become involved in the process of exploratory learning. And that is communication.
A learner's motivation may vary from day to day and even from task to task depending on some factors, and it can influence the student´s performance in an activity. For instance, while the student is doing a task, fatigue, a bad-hair day, anxiety or a temporary sickness are considerable points for not getting a real result of what he/she knows about the subject. Besides, the learner can get unmotivated if some activity provided in class is not related to a topic not presented in his/her life. According to Moore & Casillas (internet, accessed in 08/10/2005) “the foreign language instructor is not only a teacher, but a motivator. Students will participate if they sense enthusiasm and fresh ideas originating with the teacher.” Again, teachers appear as responsible for providing activities that will make students feel comfortable to participate and that will be worth doing. Of course the type of activity depends on the age and knowledge level of the students, but, most of the time, games involving the subject studied is a good invitation for learning and having fun.
So, as we can see, the topic motivation on SLA is broad. We know students must feel motivated to succeed well on their learning, but in the other hand and at the same way, teachers also need to. How to make use of the strategies to get motivation in classes are only suggestions. Teachers may check what is suitable to do to accomplish the communicative goal. That is, they should have in mind the external factors (too many students in class, poor or none stereo devices, bad classroom environment, extreme heterogeneous group and some others we may find in everyday teaching), as well as the internal factors (unmotivated students, lack of self-confidence, age, change of goals, extreme difficulties in learning of some learners, etc) that might disturb SLA and fall down the teaching planning having no motivation at all. Teachers, at any time, should be ready to try to generate and maintain learners’ motivation and strategies through which learners themselves take control of the similar above factors that have an impact on their motivation and learning. By spotting those factors and feeling able to cope well with them, teachers surely enhance students' self esteem which in turn motivates students to participate in the learning process.

By Onido Paixão




Resourses: Reading in the below sites for reflexion


http://www.trumpetguild.org/2002conference/weds/208.html
http://www.bjup.com/resources/articles/balance/tips/t1408.html
http://home.capecod.net/~tpanitz/tedsarticles/motivation.htm

http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/chat/chat010.shtml

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/m/mo/motivation.htm

http://members.shaw.ca/priscillatheroux/motivation.html

Slavin. R. E. "Cooperative Learning: Student Teams" 2nd Ed. Washington, DC: National Education Association, 1987.
Slavin, R. E. "Cooperative learning." Review of Educational Research,

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