Choice motivation in EFL: comparing
English and Spanish motivation
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Unai Santos Marin, UT, Romance Languages
Department
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What motivation is
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What choice motivation is
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Hint at choice motivation differences between English
and Spanish in Estonia
Test and adjust a motivation model and its constructs
What is motivation?
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Motivation is an
umbrella term for
different constructs
Reasons that make
people engage in the
learning activity
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Natural enjoyment
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Desire to get a job
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Free courses, money
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Love...
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Many different
reasons, sometimes
unrelated!
Motivation is a cyclical process
affected by time
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Preactional phase – Choice motivation
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Actional phase – Executive motivation
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Postactional phase – Retrospective motivation
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Motivational construcs are different in each
phase
Choice motivation
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A selection of the main constructs belonging to
the choice motivation
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Integrability: Attitudes, beliefts, be like a native
Instrumental value: do something with the
language, i. e. Find a job.
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Intrisicity: knowledge, achievement, stimulation
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Expectation of success
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Availability: possibility to do so
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Social environment: influence of relevant people on
the learner
Researching motivation
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Narrative approach applied to students written
accounts of their motivation
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28 Students of English Filology writing in English
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28 Students of Spanish Filology writing in Spanish
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Which constructs students mention as their main
reasons to study the language
Methodology and sample not precise enough
but we can:
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Hint at some differences
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Test the model and shape constructs
Differences in choice motivation
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Let's examine choice motivation constructs:
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Integrability
Instrumental value
Intrisicity
Expectation of success
Availability
Social environment
Integrability
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Students of English: 11
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Students of Spanish: 20
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"I don't know when exactly, but some day I'd like to
move and live in Spain"
"I like people from Spain and America, they are very
friendly [...]"
Instrumental value
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Students of English: 13
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Students of Spanish: 8
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“I knew that not matter what I would do,
English will always be useful professionally”
Intrisicity
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Students of English: 7
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Students of Spanish: 20
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“Although this is a highly unpatriotic opinion of
mine, I can honestly say that I like English more
than my own mother tongue. I find it infinitely more
graceful than Estonian, with so many more ways to
express one’s thoughts”
Intrisicity II
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(Spanish) “I began to study it by chance without a
particular reason, I felt passionate about studying and
experimenting a new language, as if the pleasure of
learning was a reason by itself”.
(Spanish) “At the time I was very young and my
decisions were not motivated by practical reasons.
Studying a language seemed fun and I did it looking
for adventure”
Expectation of success
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Students of English: 13
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Students of Spanish: 8
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(English) “It is not that I really love the language [...]
it is just that I have always been better at it than my
classmates”
(English) “I only occasionally thought of other
alternatives. I was too lazy, so having to get really
good results only in the final exams of Estonian and
English, seemed fair enough”.
Language availability
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Students of English: 1
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Students of Spanish: 1
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Study abroad, Spanish in High School
Social environment
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Students of English: 4
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Students of Spanish: 0
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(English) “Frankly, I did not even want to go to
university but it is something that society as such in
Estonia expects us, the young, to do”
“I had chosen English and Spainsh […] I weighed to
pros and cons of each choice and then talked with my
parents who stated that they would rather support that I
study English”
Model and constructs
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Students sometimes mentioned executive
motivation, but construcs clearly belong to only
one phase
All stated reasons could classify under one of
the constructs
Integrability
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Both groups of students wished to integrate with the
L2 community
Sometimes, they also wished to integrate with a global
or a multicultural community
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“English, to me, is so much more than just a language. It is a
natural way of communication, self-expression, seeing and
taking in the world. It is perhaps strange if I were to say that
English feels more like a mother tongue to me than Estonian
does, but that is how I have always felt about it.”
I found it very easy to express myself in English. [...] it is way
easier to express oneself in English than it is in Estonian. [...]
English has a sort of simplicity that is very hard to disturb.”
Useful Bibliography
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Deci, E. L. y Ryan R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behaviour.
Nueva York, EEUU: Plenum.
Dörnyei, Z. (1994). Motivation and Motivating in the Foreign Language Classroom. Modern Language
Journal, 78, 273-84.
Dörnyei, Z. (2001a). Teaching and Researching Motivation. Harlow, Reino Unido: Longman.
Gardner, R. C. (1985). Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: The Role of Attitudes and
Motivation. Londres, Reino Unido: Edward Arnold.
Noels, K. (2001). Learning Spanish as a Second Language: Learners' Orientations and Perceptions
of Their Teachers' Communication Style. Language Learning 51(1), 107-144.
Noels, K., Pelletier, L. G., y Vallerand, R. J. (2000). Why are you learning a second language
motivational orientations and self-determination theory. Language Learning, 50 (1), 57-85.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation,
social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78
Ushioda, E.(1996). Developing a dynamic concept of L2 motivation. En: Hickey, T. and Williams, J.
(ed.). Language, education and society in a changing world. ( pp. 239-45). Dublín, Irlanda:
IRAAL/Multilingual Matters.