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innate psychological needs, depending on how internalized they are. It is concerned with the motivation behind the choices that people make without any external influence and interference.
Self-determination theory focuses on the degree to which an individual’s behavior is
self-motivated and self-determined (Deci & Ryan, 2002). Intrinsic motivation refers to initiating an activity for its own sake because it is interesting and satisfying in itself, as opposed to doing an activity to obtain an external goal (extrinsic motivation). Deci and Ryan (1985) state that people will be more self-determined in performing a certain behavior when three fundamental
psychological needs are met. They are autonomy (experiencing oneself as the origin of one’s behavior), competence (feeling efficacious and having a sense of accomplishment), and relatedness (feeling close to and connected to other individuals). Autonomy motivation in psychology is related and influenced by ‘self-determination theory’ (Dörnyei, 2001b:103).
Students’ learning autonomy can be related to ‘self-determination theory’ (Benson, 2000; Deci
& Ryan, 1985) which has been highlighted as one of the most influential motivation theories. As Ushioda (2003: 90-101) states, “Autonomous language learners are by definition motivated learners”. Students are free to choose rather than being forced to perform according to someone else’s preference. In addition, ‘autonomy’ is discussed by Ushioda under the categories of
‘self-regulation’ and much research have been published in L2 field about its significant value.
Gardner’s motivational theory
The most influential of the early studies on motivation and second language learning centered on the work of social psychologists in Canada is headed by Robert Gardner. Gardner and Lambert initially introduced their instrumental / integrative model of motivation in the field of second
language acquisition (SLA) in l959 (Gardner & Lambert, 1959). This theory later became known as
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the socio-educational model. It was the first real attempt to deal with SLA motivation and became the standard research tool and generated many studies until the 1990’s, when it began to undergo some criticism. A key tenet of Gardner’s theory is that attitudes to the L2 community have a strong influence on one’s language learning. It is also assumed by Gardner that there are two broad categories of language learners’ goals, integrative orientation and instrumental orientation.
Integrative motivation occurs when students want to learn a language to become part of a speech community. People who immigrate to new countries are some examples of people who may want to identify with the community around them. An important aspect of this form of language learning is using language for social interaction. Learners may be positively drawn to the culture of the target language and may desire to integrate into that culture.This form of motivation is thought to produce success in language learners.
Integrative motivation is often contrasted with the more externally influenced instrumental motivation. That is to say, when individuals wish to study a language in order to achieve an end, such as getting a job, obtaining a salary increase, or having a competitive edge over another, their goals arise from an instrumental orientation. Instrumental motivation (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1991) means studying a language to gain something, such as money or a better job, both of which can be powerful instrumental motivators (Dörnyei, 1990; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1991; Grosse, Tuman &
Critz, 1998).
Gardner’s main idea was that the integrative orientation is positively related to L2 achievement and there is a direct cause and effect relationship. Gardner also developed the Attitude / Motivation Test Battery to measure student motivation, and it is still the only major published standardized test for L2 motivation.
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However, many researchers are not satisfied with Gardner’s theory regarding L2 motivation.
Ely (1986) states that it is not always easy to distinguish integrative and instrumental motivation in that learners may have both orientations at the same time or might learn the L2 for other reasons that are unrelated to either of two motivational orientations. Similarly, Dörnyei (1990) asserts that instead of being opposite ends of a continuum, these two orientations should be seen as overlapping constructs which have the same nature in part. Lamb (2004) stated that “we have seen that
integrative and instrumental orientations are difficult to distinguish as separate concepts (p.15).”
Also, it is possible that in certain social settings, instrumental orientation is the only prominent reason for learners to acquire a second language as Warden and Lin (2000) in their study in Taiwan concluded, “This preliminary study has discerned the existence of two temporal orientations in the Taiwanese EFL environment. An integrative motivational group is notably absent (p.544).” In addition, Irie (2003) in an article on motivation research in Japan stated ambiguous remark toward integrative motivation: “However, the researchers avoid using integrative motivation as a label, as they believe the factor does not fit the original definition (p.90).”
As Gardner’s theory mainly evolved from the English as a second language(ESL) context and developed mostly in North America, Dörnyei (1990) states that general assumptions derived from the ESL context may not be applicable to the EFL context where English is typically encountered only in academic settings such as schools for example, he believes that integrative motivation might not be as important as instrumental motivation in a foreign language setting where students have limited exposure to the target community and its people. Later Dörnyei extabilshed a framework of second language learning motivation, which is viewed as a great finding in the motivational
theories.