Motivation Theory

What is the attitude of the learner towards the target language?

This is influenced by socio-cultural factors like one's friends, parents, and local media's attitudes towards the language and the people of the target culture.

[The following is derived from a study by Gardener and Lambert (1972).]

Integrative Motivation
People with integrative motivation see the language as a way of connecting with the people of the new langauge. They are interested in the language, but are deeply interested in the culture.

Instrumenta l Motivation
Instrumentally motivated people have a practical interest in learning a language. They see it as a means-to-an-end.

Which is better, integrative or instrumental motivation?
People used to believe the students with integrative motivation are better at learning a second language; however this has been disproved recently. It is possible for someone with instrumental motivation to do well in acquiring their new language.

Researchers have shown than English people that are successful at learning French also develop a positive attitude to French people. this is different to what was anticipated, which is namely that people that had a good attitude to the French did well at learning French. [Strong 1984]