Motivation in foreign language learning: a look at type of school environment as a contextual variable

• Authors: Višnja Pavičić Takać , Nives Berka
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Impelled by the observation that motivation might be one of the most important factors within the affective domain influencing foreign language learning (FLL), the field of second language acquisition (SLA) has seen an intense worldwide interest in empirical research in motivational issues. The studies have been rooted in different theories and methodologies, (most notably those advanced by Gardner and Dörnyei and their respective associates) that have given precedence to a number of variables assumed to play an important role in understanding the phenomenon of FLL motivation. The present study is set between the macroperspective of the social-psychological period–by giving a general view of second language motivation–and the situation-specific period–by taking into consideration the immediate learning context. It focuses on exploring the nature of FLL motivation in Croatia at secondary education level where FLL is part of core curriculum. In particular, it explores the role of one specific contextual variable that has been largely ignored in SLA motivational research, i.e. type of school environment, and its interaction with gender and success in FLL.

Keywords

EN

motivation; grammar school; vocational school; Croatia; EFL

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: ExELL
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 77-103

Dates

published

2014-12-01

received

2015-09-07

accepted

2015-09-15

online

2016-04-22

Contributors

author

Višnja Pavičić Takać

• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Osijek

author

Nives Berka

• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Osijek

References

• Arnold, Jane (2011). Attention to affect in language learning. Anglistik: International Journal of English Studies 22, 11: 11-22.
• Clément, Richard, Susan C. Baker, & Peter D. MacIntyre (2003). Willingness to communicate in a second language: The effects of context, norms and vitality. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 22: 190-209.
• Clément, Richard, & Kimberly A. Noels (1992). Towards a situated approach to ethnolinguistic identity: The effects of status on individuals and groups. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 11: 203–32.
• Clément, Richard, Kimberly A. Noels, & Bernard Denault (2001). Interethnic contact, identity, and psychological adjustment: the mediating and moderating roles of communication. Journal of Social Issues 57: 559–77.[Crossref]
• Cohen, Andrew D., & Zoltán Dörnyei (2002). Focus on the language learning: Motivation, styles, and strategies. Schmitt, Norbert, ed. An Introduction to Applied Linguistics. London: Arnold, 170-190.
• Crookes, Graham, & Richard W. Schmidt (1991). Motivation: Reopening the research agenda. Language Learning 41: 469-512.[Crossref]
• Csizer, Kata, & Judit Kormos (2008). An overview of Hungarian secondary school students’ foreign language motivation. Hans Knudsen, ed. Secondary Education Issues and Challenges. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 59-84.
• Deci, Edward L., & Richard M. Ryan (1985). Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior. New York: Plenum Press.
• Dörnyei, Zoltán (1990). Conceptualizing motivation in foreign language learning. Language Learning, 40, 1: 45-78.
• Dörnyei, Zoltán (1994). Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroom. Modern Language Journal 78: 273–84.[Crossref]
• Dörnyei, Zoltán (1998). Motivation in Second and Foreign Language Learning. Language Teaching 31: 117-135.[Crossref]
• Dörnyei, Zoltán (2001a). Teaching and Researching Motivation. Harlow: Longman.
• Dörnyei, Zoltán (2001b). New themes and approaches in second language motivation research. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 21: 43–59.[Crossref]
• Dörnyei, Zoltán (2002). The motivational basis of language learning tasks. Robinson, Peter, ed. Individual Differences and Instructed Language Learning. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 137–58.
• Dörnyei, Zoltán (2005). The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Dornyei, Zoltán (2009a). The L2 Motivational Self System. Dornyei, Zoltán, Ema Ushioda, eds. Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 9-42.
• Dörnyei, Zoltán (2009b). Individual differences: interplay of learner characteristics and learning environment. Ellis, Nick C., Diane Larsen-Freeman, eds. Language as a Complex Adaptive System. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 230-248.
• Dörnyei, Zoltán, & István Ottó (1998). Motivation in action: A process model of L2 motivation. Working Papers in Applied Linguistics 4: 43-69.
• Dörnyei, Zoltán, & Peter Skehan (2003). Individual differences in second language learning. In: Catherine J. Doughty, Michael H. Long, eds. The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Blackwell, 589-630.
• Dornyei, Zoltán, & Ema Ushioda (2011). Teaching and Researching Motivation. Harlow etc: Pearson.
• Dörnyei, Zoltán, Peter MacIntyre, Alastair Henry (eds.) (2015). Motivational Dynamics in Language Learning. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
• Ehrman, Madeline, Betty Lou Leaver, Rebecca Oxford (2003). A brief overview of individual differences in second language learning, System, 31, 3: 313-330.
• Fehér, Endre (1999). Motivation in Learning English at Three Secondary Schools in Újpest. Szombathely/Budapest: Berzsenyi Dániel Teacher Training College [unpublished M.A. dissertation].
• Gardner, Robert C. (1985). Social Psychology and Language Learning: the Role of Attitudes and Motivation. London: Edward Arnold.
• Gardner, Robert C. (2001). Integrative motivation and second language acquisition. Dörnyei, Zoltán, Richard Schmidt, eds. Motivation and Second Language Acquisition. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1-19.
• Gardner, Robert C. (2007). Motivation and Second Language Acquisition, Porta Linguarium 8: 9-20.
• Gardner, Robert C., & Wallace E. Lambert (1972). Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning. Newbury House: Rowley.
• Gardner, Robert C., & Peter D. MacIntyre (1993). A student’s contribution to second language learning. Part II: Affective variables, Language Teaching 26: 1-11.[Crossref]
• Gregersen, Tammy, & Peter MacItyre (eds.) (2014). Capitalizing on Language Learners’ Individuality: From Premise to Practice. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters.
• Julkunen, Kyosti (1989). Situation and Task-Specific Motivation in Foreign-Language Learning and Teaching. Joensuu: University of Joensuu.
• Julkunen, Kyosti (2001). Situation- and task-specific motivation in foreign language learning. Dörnyei, Zoltán, Richard Schmidt, eds. Motivation and Second Language Acquisition. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 29-41.
• Lambert, Wallace E. (1972). Language, Psychology, and Culture: Essays by Wallace E. Lambert. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• MacIntyre, Peter D. (2002). Motivation, anxiety and emotion in second language acquisition. Robinson, Peter, ed., Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 45–68.
• McGroarty, Mary (2001). Situating second language motivation. Dörnyei, Zoltán, Richard Schmidt, eds. Motivation and Second Language Acquisition. Honolulu, H: University of Hawaii Press, 69–90.
• Mihaljević Djigunović, Jelena (1996). Learner motivation as a source of variance in attitudes, effort and achievement. Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia 41: 211-223.
• Mihaljević Djigunović, Jelena (1997). Research on the affective domain in EFL learning: a study of motivation. Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia 42: 257-268.
• Mihaljević Djigunović, Jelena (1998). Uloga afektivnih faktora u učenju drugoga jezika [Role of Affective Factors in FLL]. Zagreb: Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu.
• Noels, Kimberly A. (2009). The internalisation of language learning into the self and social identity. Dörnyei, Zoltán, Ema Ushioda, eds. Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 295-313.
• Noels, Kimberly A., Richard Clément, & Luc G. Pelletier (1999). Perceptions of teachers’ communicative style and students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Modern Language Journal 83: 23–34.[Crossref]
• Noels, Kimberly A., Richard Clément, & Luc G. Pelletier (2001). Intrinsic, extrinsic, and integrative orientations of French Canadian learners of English. Canadian Modern Language Review 57: 424–44.[Crossref]
• Noels, Kimberly A., Luc G. Pelletier, Richard Clément, & Robert J. Vallerand (2000). Why are you learning a second language? Motivational orientations and self-determination theory. Language Learning 50: 57–85.[Crossref]
• Oxford, Rebecca, & Jill Shearin (1994). Language learning motivation: Expanding the theoretical framework. The Modern Language Journal 78, 1: 12-28.[Crossref]
• Parkins, Róisín (2012). Gender and Emotional Expressiveness: An Analysis of Prosodic Features in Emotional Expression. Griffith Working Papers in Pragmatics and Intercultural Communication 5, 1: 46–54.
• Pavičić Takač, Višnja, & Vesna Bagarić (2011). Foreign Language Acquisition in space and time: A comparative analysis of the Croatian foreign language acquisition context. Brdar, Mario et al., eds. Space and Time in Language. Frankfurt itd: Peter Lang, 329-351.
• Pintrich, Paul R. (2003). Motivation and classroom learning. Reynolds, William M., Gloria E. Miller, eds. Handbook of Psychology. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 103-122.
• Reid, Joy (1999). Affect in the classroom: problems, politics and pragmatics. Arnold, Jane, ed. Affect in Language Learning. Cambridge University Press, 297-306.
• Robinson, Peter (ed.) (2002). Individual Differences and Instructed Language Learning. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Ryan, Stephen, & Zoltán Dörnyei (2013). The long-term evolution of language motivation and the L2 self. Berndt, Annette, ed. Fremdsprachen in der Perspektive lebenslangen Lernens. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 89-100.
• Sarani, Abdullah, & Mehdi Ahmadi (2013). A study of vocational and non-vocational high school learners’ language proficiency and motivation. Advances in Asian Social Science 4, 3: 892-898.
• Sakai, Hideki, & Keita Kikuchi (2009). An analysis of demotivators in the EFL classroom. System 37, 1: 57-69.[Crossref]
• Schumann, John H. (2015). Foreword. Dörnyei, Zoltán, Peter MacIntyre, Alastair Henry, eds. Motivational Dynamics in Language Learning. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters, xv-xix.
• Ushioda, Ema (1996). Developing a dynamic concept of L2 motivation. Hickey, Tina, Jenny Williams, eds. Language, Education and Society in a Changing World. Dublin/Clevedon: IRAAL/Multilingual Matters: 239–45.
• Ushioda, Ema (1998). Effective motivational thinking: A cognitive theoretical approach to the study of language learning motivation. Soler, Eva Alcón, Victoria Codina Espurz, eds. Current Issues in English Language Methodology. Castelló de la Plana: Universitat Jaume I: 77–89.
• Ushioda, Ema (2009). A person-in-context relational view of emergent motivation, self and identity. Dörnyei, Zoltán, Ema Ushioda, eds. Motivation, Language Identity and the L2 Self. Bristol: Multilingual Matters: 215–28.
• Ushioda, Ema (2015). Context and complex dynamic systems theory. Dörnyei, Zoltán, Peter MacIntyre, Alastair Henry, eds. Motivational Dynamics in Language Learning. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Multilingual Matters. 47-54.
• Williams, Marion, & Robert Burden (1997). Psychology for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/exell-2016-0004