Table of Contents

Introduction   3

Gardner  ’s Socio Educational Model  3

Motivation  and its role in language acquisition  4

Motivation  and the Korean Learner  6

How  can teachers in the Korean context make the language  8

learning  process more motivational  

Conclusion   10

Bibliography   11

Philip  Elwell (Word Count 3337)  2

Motivation as an Element in Second Language Acquisition and its Affect on the Korean Learner Introduction

Learners come into the language classroom with a vast array of differences that will effect their language acquisition, these differences determine their ability to acquire the target language. A major contributing factor is the amount of motivation that students have towards what they are learning. In Gardner’s Social Education Model which studied the effects of motivation and learner aptitude in the Language Classroom, motivation is defined as being “the learners orientation with regards to the goal of learning a second language” (Norris-Holt 2001). Gardner’s model identified two types of motivation: integral and instrumental, these different types of motivation will effect the individual learner in different ways and will in turn ultimately determine the success of acquisition. This paper will review through Gardner’s Social Education model examining the different factors that can effect language acquisition; briefly look at motivation and its role within the language classroom; examine motivation within the Korean context and finally review through some possible suggestion that teachers could use to help motivate Korean students in regards to language learning. Gardner’s Socio Educational Model

Gardner’s social model was designed to explain learning within a second language classroom. The model attempted to interrelate four aspects of second language learning (1) the social and cultural milieu (2) individual learner differences (3) the setting and (4) learning outcomes (Gardner 1979:193). The social cultural milieu can be defined as being the environment in which the individual learner is situated. This environment will determine their beliefs regarding the target language and the extent to which the learner wants to identify with the target culture (Ellis 2008) The second aspect which Gardner identified was the individual learners differences, according to the model the differences between learners will determine their learning behavior and the way they interact in the class. These learner differences include intelligence, language aptitude, motivation and situational anxiety (Giles and Coupland 1991). The third aspect that was identified was the setting or context in which the learning took place. In Gardner’s model two types of learning environment was identified a formal learning context and an informal learning context. It is

Philip Elwell (Word Count 3337) 3

believed that depending on the context in which the learning takes place differences between learners would be observed, with certain individuals doing better than others (Ellis 2008). The final aspect that was considered was the linguistic and non-linguistic out comes of the learning experience. The non-linguistic outcomes includes the learner’s attitude, self-concept, cultural values and beliefs, where as the linguistic outcomes are considered to be the individual’s second language proficiency (Ellis 2008).

Motivation and its role in Language Acquisition

Motivation plays an important role in language learning and provides the primary force that pushes an individual to learn a language. It is thought to be the driving force that maintains the long and often tedious process that is involved in second language acquisition (Dornyei 1998). Due to the nature of language learning the motivation required to learn a second language is multifaceted in nature. Gardner (1985:10) defines second language motivation as “the extent to which an individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity”.

Traditionally motivation was divided into two clear components, integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. Integrative motivation is based upon the learners genuine interest in learning a second language in order to become closer to the target culture. Individuals who demonstrate a low level of integrativeness would indicate no interest in learning the language in order to identify with the language community, where as those individuals who demonstrate a high level of integrativeness would show a considerable amount of interest in the target language community (Gardner 2001). In situations where a learner has become resident in a new community where the target language is spoken integrative motivation is a key component in assisting the learner to develop some kind of proficiency in the language. In such situations acquisition of the target language ensures that the learner would be able to function socially becoming a functional member of that community. In an EFL setting such as Korea the concept of integrativeness is not so apparent as the learner may never have the opportunity to fully integrate into the target community, therefore a more appropriate approach would be the desire for the individual to become bilingual, while at the same time becoming bi-cultural. Instrumental motivation on the other hand derives from a more utilitarian belief that learning a second language would provide the individual with some kind of positive benefit (Dulay, Burt and Krashen 1982). In Korea instrumental

Philip Elwell (Word Count 3337) 4