Autor: prof. Bogdan Georgiana
Sursă imagine: https://medium.com/@delacristian553/the-importance-of-motivation-a-key-to-success-e56c5d1f743b
It is accepted for most fields of learning that motivation is essential to success: that we have to want to do something to succeed at it. Without such motivation we will almost certainly fail to make the necessary effort. We need, therefore, to develop our understanding of motivation – what it means, where it comes from and how it can be sustained.
Defining motivation
At its most basic level, motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something. In his discussion of motivation, Douglas Brown includes the need for ego enhancement as a prime motivator. This is the need ” for the self to be known and to be approved by others” ( Brown 2007: 169). This, presumably, is what causes people to spend hours in the gym. Such a motivation also accounts for our need for exploration ( ” the other side of the mountain”).
Marion Williams and Robert Burden suggest that motivation is a ” state of cognitive arousal” which provokes a ” decision to act”, as a result of which there is ” sustained intellectual and/or physical effort” so that the person can achieve some ” previously set goal” ( Williams and Burden 1997: 120). They go on to the point out that the strength of that motivation will depend on how much value the individual places on the outcome he or she wishes to achieve. Adults may have clearly defined or vague goals. Children’s goals, on the other hand, are often more amorphous and less easy to describe, but they can still be very powerful.
In discussions of motivation which comes from ” outside” and from ” inside”.
Extrinsic motivation is the result of any number of outside factors, for example the need to pass an exam, the hope of financial reward or the possibility of future travel. Intrinsic motivation, by contrast, comes from within the individual. Thus a person might be motivated by the enjoyment of the learning process itself or by a desire to make themselves feel better.
Most researchers have come to the view that intrinsic motivation produces better results than its extrinsic counterpart. Even where the original reason for taking up a language course, for example, is extrinsic, the chances of success will be greatly enhanced if the students come to love the learning process.
External sources of motivation
The motivation that brings students to the task of learning English can be affected and influenced by the attitude of a number of people. It is worth considering what these are since they form part of the environment from which the student engages with the learning process.
The goal: one of the strongest outside sources of motivation is the goal students perceive themselves to be learning for. Frequently this is provided by a forthcoming exam and in this respect it is no surprise to note that teachers often find their exam classes more committed than other groups who do not have something definite to work towards.
However, students may have other less well-defined goals, too, such as a general desire to be able to converse in English, to be able to use English to get a better job or to understand English-language websides, etc.
Some students, of course, may not have any real English-learning goals at all. This is especially true for younger learners. In such situations they may acquire their attitude to ( and motivation for) learning English from other sources.
The society we live in: outside any classroom there are attitudes to language learning and the English language in particular. How important is the learning of English considered to be in the society the student lives in? In a school situation, for example, is the language learning part of the curriculum of high or low status? If school students were offered the choice of two languages to learn, which one would they choose and why? Are the cultural images associated with English positive or negative?
All these views of language learning will affect the student’s attitude to the language being studied, and the nature and strength of this attitude will, in its turn, have a profound effect on the degree of motivation the student brings to class and whether or not that motivation continues. Even where adult students have made their own decision to come to a class to study English, they will bring with them attitudes from the society they live in, developed over years, whether these attitudes are thoroughly positive or somewhat negative.
The people around us: In addition to the culture of the world around them, students’ attitudes to language learning will be greatly influenced by the people who are closed to them. The attitude of parents and older siblings will be crucial. Do they approve of language learning, for example, or do they think that Mathematics and reading are what count, and clearly show that they are more concerned with those subjects than with the student’s success in English?
The attitude of a student’s peers is also crucial: if they are critical of the subject or activity, a student may well lose any enthusiasm they once had for learning English. If peers are enthusiastic about learning English, however, there is much greater chance that the same student may feel more motivated to learn the subject.
Curiosity: we should not undersestimate a student’s natural curiosity. At the beginning of a term, most students have at least a mild interest in who their new teacher is and what it will be like to be in his or her lessons. When students start English for the first time, most are interested ( to some extent) to see what it is like. This initial motivation is precious. Without it, getting a class off the ground and building rapport will be that much more difficult.
Even when teachers find themselves facing a class of motivated students, they cannot relax. For it is what happens next that really counts. Sustaining students’ motivation is one area where we can make a real difference – and for that we need a motivation angel.
The motivation angel
In the north-east of England, outside the city of Gateshead, stands a remarkable statue by Antony Gormley, the 20-metre-high Angel of the North. It can be seen from the motorway, from the nearby train line and for miles around. It is, by common consent, a work of uplifting beauty and inspires almost all who see it, whatever their religion or even if they have none at all. The Angel of the North may be a metaphor for teachers having to deal with great difficulties when it comes to students’ motivation. For as Alan Rodgers wrote many years ago, ” … we forget that initial motivation to learn may be weak and die; alternatively it can be increased and directed into new channels ” (Rogers 1996: 61). In other words, we can have a powerful effect on how or even whether students remain motivated after whatever initial enthusiasm they brought to the course has dissipated. We have the ability, as well, to gradually create motivation in students where, initially, there is none. This is not to say that it is a teacher’s sole responsibility to build and nurture motivation. On the contrary, students need to play their part, too. But insofar as we can have a positive effect, we need to be able to build our own ” motivation angel” to keep students engaged and involved as lesson succeeds lesson, as week succeeds week.
