第二语言学习者的学习动机

第二语言学习者的学习动机

【摘要】学习动机在第二语言学习中占据着非常重要的作用，直接关系到学习者学习方法运用，以及能够达到的水平。怎样更好地发挥学习动机的积极作用是一个值得深入探讨的问题。

【关键词】学习动机；第二语言学习；个体差异

1. introduction.

learners’ individual differences have long been recognized as crucial factors influence learners’ second language acquisition processes. motivation as one of the most outstanding individual differences has drawn a lot of research attentions, for its complex nature and its importance in language learning. it is believed that motivation is a significant factor that closely related to the language proficiencies that could be achieved (lightbown & spada, 2006, skehan, 1991).

according to lightbown and spada (2006), a definition of motivation in sla should be interpreted from two aspects, which are learner’s communicative needs and their attitudes toward the second language community. moreover, motivation is specific to certain context, and is changeable under the influences of learners’ age, level, and the actual learning

process (dornyei, 1994, skehan, 1991, kormos 2008, hiromori, 2009).

2. current research limitations.

2.1. limited participants and task type.

one of the limitations exist in hiromori’s research (2009) and lambe’s (2004) research, as hiromori has noticed himself, is that the participants included are only students of one language level. only university students of the intermediate level are included in hiromori’s research, and 219 first-year high school students in lambe’s research. the single participant’s type might leads to the research findings not reliable and universal.

2.2. limited research methods.

research methods in all the three studies are mainly questionnaires, which are designed by the researchers themselves, thus tends to be not so much objective. skehan (1991) points out that the drawback of questionnaire is that it is constrained by the researcher’s perspective. therefore, there is the need to use variety kinds of research methods, which combines questionnaires, interviews, direct observations and action research, in order to get more

objective and reliable data crookes and schmidt (1991).

2.3. focus on the goal-linked motivation.

according to crookes and schmidt (1991), most of the l2 motivation research tend to focus on motivations generated by goals. whereas there are motivations supported by other sources, such as motivation linked with task types, teaching materials, and teaching learning strategies, but those have received little research attentions. the ignored area makes the l2 motivation study less integrate, and also makes the l2 motivation theory inapplicable in the classroom, which students’ motivation are associated with various kinds of factors.

2.4. focus on the explanation and interpretation of l2 motivation.

the issue of how to motivate students, which is actually a crucial part of l2 motivation study, has not been fully explored (dornyei, 1994). research on l2 motivation are largely carried out to investigate motivation itself, generally from perspectives such as orientations, influential factors, or impacts, which makes the research not so much instructive for classroom teaching practice.