Motivation for a Second or Foreign Language Learning

Foreign Language College, Hubei University of Technology, 430074 Wuhan Hubei, China

Abstract

Motivation is a frequently used word both in our daily work and study, which is an important factor which can greatly influence the achievement of learners’ second language or foreign language acquisition. Speaking of the history of research on “motivation”, Gardner and Lamber and their associates should come first, because they have done the most important work, which made the most outstanding contributors in this field. There are several kinds of motivation, like instrumental motivation and integrative motivation, and intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, and there are some relevant debates between them. Through the current researches on the application of motivation in learning and teaching, we can see how effective the motivational system promoted within cooperative situations is, although there is numbers of different motivational aspects. Maybe more researches should be done, but we can just draw a periodical conclusion that motivation in language learning is a very complicated psychological phenomenon, and it is also the single most influential factor in learning a new language.