CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
In this chapter, the related theories supporting the study are explained. It
consists of several subs sections namely the definition of motivation, type of
motivation, the importance of motivation in language learning, relevant study and
basic assumption.
A. Definition of Motivation
The term of motivation has been widely used in psychology. Many
researchers have developed a number of theories to define this term.
Generally, in everyday usage the term motivation frequently refers to describe
why people do something. Similarly, Kendra Cherry defined motivation as a
process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-orientated behaviors. In
other word, motivation is defined as what causes us to act something.
Lately, motivation actually has become a topic of interest for
researchers in variety of fields not only in psychology but also education,
sociology, and business. Apparently, the term also presents in education
especially in learning English. This led some researchers of language learning
to develop some theories to define the term specifically. Hence, Harmer
(1991) defined motivation as some kind of internal drives which pushes
someone to do something. In addition, Dorney (2002) pointed out that
motivation is thought to be responsible for why people decide to do
Besides that, Mahadi and Jafari (2012) considered motivation as a
stimulant for achieving a specific target. It is accordance with Ahmed (2014)
who uttered that motivation refers to a process started by a need and followed
by behaviour that moves someone to achieve the goal. Meanwhile Williams
and Burden (1997) elaborated that motivation refers to a state of cognitive
and emotional arousal which leads to a certain decision to act and gives rise
to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical attempt in order to
achieve a previously set goals. Narrowly, Gardner, (1985) highlighted the
term motivation in language learning as the combination of desire and effort
to achieve the goal of learning the language and favourable attitudes towards
learning a new language. In addition, according to Crookes and Schmidts
(1991) motivation in learning foreign language is the students’ orientation
with regard to the goal of learning second/ foreign language.
From all statements stated above, it can be summarized that motivation
is dealing with a willingness or desire of someone for attaining something of
learning target language. For some students, they have variety of motivation
levels and types of motivation. The motivation comes from is also different.
B. Type of Motivation
Typically, motivation in learning foreign language can be differed into
some types. Some experts have classified the kinds of motivation based on
certain point of views. Harmer (1991) used word “goal” in categorizing the
1. Short-term motivation
Short-term motivation refers to the wish of success in doing
something in the near future for example students who want to pass the
exam with good scores.
2. Long term motivation
Long-term means the wish of the students who want to get better job
in the future or to be able to communicate with people who use the
language that they study. Instrumental and Integrative motivation
explained below can be categorized in this type.
Furthermore, Gardner, a prominent scholar in the field of motivation,
has noted that there are three elements in motivation itself namely desire (the
want of learners), efforts (the drive of learners) and affect (the emotional
reaction of learners). Based on those three elements, Gardner then categorized
the second/foreign language learners into two type namely integrative and
instrumental motivation. According to Gardner, integrative refers to a
positive attitude towards target language group and the potential for
integrating into that group. An integrative motivated learner would tend to
have more positive attitude toward target language; this learner also would be
likely to expand more effort in learning the language. It is in line with Brown
(2000) who uttered that integratively motivation of students is when they
wish to integrate themselves within culture of the target language, to identify
Al-Anshari (1993) suggested that someone would be categorized as an
integrative motivated second/foreign language learner if he or she is found to
own sympathetic attitude toward the culture of the target language and its
speakers: an integrative learner also sees great value in being able to speak
foreign languages experience an appreciation of different cultures. From all
statements, it can be inferred that one is integratively motivated when she/he
has an interest in learning the language in order to meet and communicate
with the community where the language is spoken.
In contrary, Reinders (2011) argued that instrumental motivation refers
to a need of fulfilment some certain purposes. Furthermore, Gardner (1979)
elaborated more that motivation refers to “more functional reasons for
learning a language, to get a better job or promotion, or to pass a required
examination. In addition, Brown (1980) stated instrumental motivation as
motivation to obtain a language as mean to achieve instrumental goals such as
furthering a career, reading technical material, translation, and so forth. It is
accordance with Norris – Holt’s (2001) statement who stated with
instrumental motivation, the purpose of language acquisition is more
utilitarian, such as meeting the requirements for school or university
graduation, applying for a job, requesting higher pay based on language
ability, reading technical material, translation work or achieving higher social
status. It can be summarized that instrumental motivation refers to
instrumental goal or studying the language with non-interpersonal purposes
like passing the exam or getting a career or job promotion.
Regarding both integrative and instrumental motivation in language
learning, recent decades many researchers has debated which ones gives
better influence in second/foreign language learning. Jafari (2013) believed
that the successful learners in the target language learning are those who had
a desire to become familiar with the society in which the target language was
used, this type of motivation is known as integrative motivation. In addition,
it is similar as mentioned by Cook (2001) and Gass and Selinker (2001), for a
long time, integrative was regarded as superior to instrumental motivation to
predict the success of second/foreign language learning since if students
respect to the target culture, they may read literature or practice the language
and thereby be able to improve their language skill.
In contrary, other researchers have opinion contradicted with those
points of views. Moiinzavari, M (2008) considered instrumental motivation
important for EFL learning. Christo Moskovsy and Fakieh Alrabai (2009)
also opined that EFL students are more influenced by instrumental motivation
while ESL students are more integratively motivated. In line with this
Dornyei (1994) suggests that the nature of social pragmatic dimensions of the
target language depends on who, what and where i.e. who learns the
language, what language and where. As conclusion, Egin (2009) draws
to achieve something. Dealing with this, Ditual R.C (2012) opined that
learners with positive attitude towards English language learning are highly
motivated both instrumentally and integratively and claimed that learners’
motivation is not affected by external factors. Furthermore, Ellis (2008)
highlighted both the type of motivations that in English language learning,
both instrumental and integrative motivations are crucial. The researcher will
restrict the study by focusing on Gardner’s theory regarding to instrumental
and integrative motivation in language learning.
C. The Importance of Motivation in Second/Foreign Language Learning
Motivation seems slighted in any learning particularly language
learning. Similarly, Rost (2006) stated that motivation has been called “the
neglected heart” of teaching. This has been considered as a worthy issue of
investigation because it appears implicated in how successful language
learners are. On the other hand Ushido (1996) explained for recent decades,
many studies regarding to this area have been concerned with describing,
measuring and classifying its role in theoretical models of language learning
process.
Most of researchers and teachers have widely accepted motivation as
one of the key factors which influence the rate and success of second/foreign
language learning because it often compensates for deficiencies in language
aptitude and learning. On the other hands, motivation is a complicated
variable and will become more complicated when the target of learning is the
aspect. Therefore, the role of motivation becomes more important. The
importance of motivation has also been addressed in both general psychology
and education, particularly in relation to language acquisition.
The similar view dealing with the significance of motivation in
language learning is also suggested by scholar of motivation, Gardner. Apart
from the role that intellectual capacity and language aptitude play role in
second/ foreign language learning Gardner & Lambert, 1972 cited in Xu
(2008), motivation is a major factor in the successful study of language
acquisition.
Specifically, success and failure in learning a second/ foreign language
depends much on motivation and the way of students learn. Students’
motivation toward English language learning can influence their learning
result. In relation to this, Dornyei (2002) stated that the learner’s enthusiasm,
commitment and persistence are the key of determinant of success or failure.
Along with this thought, Al-Hazemi H (2000) argued that the strong desire
for second/foreign language contributes a lot to obtain high degree of
competence to be successful in accomplishment of learners’ language
learning goal. In addition, Al-Otaibi (2004) explored that motivated learners
can learn foreign language more effectively and can bear high expenses and
make sacrifices in order to achieve their goal in second language learning.
Along with this, the issue of motivation especially in EFL setting is so
because of the stark realities of learning English for most of students
(Anjomshoma and Sadighi, 2015). Bo Wong (2009) also considered that
motivation is one of the important factors that influence English learning
achievement. According to him, in order to maintain proper strength in
English learning, motivation is very necessary for teachers in daily teaching
procedure by encouraging students to be more attractive in teaching learning
process.
Considering the importance of motivation in language learning,
assessing motivation can be great as follow up action to maintain students’
motivation and achieve the goal set. Recently, researchers and practitioners
attempt to assess it in order to know the level of motivation and how to
optimize it. According to Schunk (2008), motivation can be assessed in
various ways namely direct observations, rating by others and self-report. The
most common way done by researchers is self-report. It involves people’s
judgment and statement about themselves. The types of self-report instrument
are questionnaires, interviews, stimulated recalls, think-aloud and dialogue.
Among those types, questionnaire is very commonly used in assessing
motivation.
Gardner and Lambert (1972) suggested in related previous study that
second language learners are integratively motivated since they learn to
socialize with community while those who learn foreign language are
instrumentally motivated. The reason is because they emphasize on practical
community where the language is spoken. It is in line with the researcher
conducted by Ratnawalee after more than decade of Gardner did. The survey
research conducted involved students of EFL majoring both in English and
non-English in Thammasat University, Thailand. The result proved that
majority of them is strongly instrumentally motivated.
However, it is not accordance with the study conducted among UTAR
FAS Chinese students in learning English as second language. The result
showed that students have predominant instrumental motivation whereas they
are ESL students. Obviously, it failed to prove the hypothesis. It should be
integrative motivation which have greater influenced among the students.
Moreover, Zhang Bensheng in 1989 also did relevant research on 70
outstanding students including both English and non-English majors from
seven key colleges and universities in Wuhan. The result revealed that the
achievements of the students had a close relationship with their motivation.
All students investigated have some kind of motivation for learning English:
some intends on making a useful contribution on society, while others want to
improve their professional prospects in the future. Such students appear to
have instrumental motivation while those who are attracted by the target
culture integratively motivated.
Moreover, a number of studies by Gardner also used self-reports to
assess motivation. The Attitude/ Motivation Test Battery is one of technical
describing students’ perception in learning language. AMTB is also made to
assess non-linguistic aspect in language learning.
D. Basic Assumption
Motivation is desire, willingness, or effort to something for reaching a
certain goal. In language learning context both learning English as
foreign/second language, motivation is believed as influential factor as it
drives students to pass the learning well. The higher motivation students have
the easier they reach their goals. The goals among language learners are
varying. Furthermore, Gardner (1972) distinguishes the motivation
orientation of second/foreign language learning into two types namely
instrumental and integrative. Instrumental motivation refers to practical goal
achievement such as getting job, passing the exam, and future study. In
contrary, integrative motivation indicates that students have desire of learning
the language to integrate with the culture of the target language.
According the studies conducted earlier by many researchers regarding
to this, it can be assumed that most English foreign language students have
high motivation in learning English with instrumental motivation type as
predominant. English as foreign language students tend to have instrumental
motivation type while English as second language students mostly are
integratively motivated. It is because EFL students are in the area with
limited opportunity to interact with the target group. The reasons of their
