The relevant literatures about English learning motivation, English proficiency and English learning system usage, relationships among 3 variables and 3 hypotheses was explained and listed in this chapter.
English Learning Motivation
In this study, English learning motivation was classified into 3 dimensions, which are instrumental motivation, integrative motivation and effort and commitment according to Larisa et al. (2016). Effort and commitment is the general motivation that learners are willing to expend to learn English in order to achieve their learning goals.
Integrative motivation is the willingness to become part of a member of language community, it could produce by a club we want to participate, an intriguing movie, a vivid novel or an interesting news. In other words, integrativeness is coming from the desire to the assurance from others, or we develop the interest to other cultures which leads the motivation to understand a culture different from us. Instrumental motivation refers to learning in order to achieve a practical objective, such as getting some financial benefits like higher salary or the opportunities along with the learning outcome. Many students in college and university have a specific instrumental goal which is fulfill a school language requirement so that they can graduate, however, the requirement from schools is usually the lowest standard and only focus on reading and sometimes listening. Under this motivation, students commonly stop learning second language once they accomplish the school requirement. Nonetheless, the instrumental motivation is not always impractical, some goals such as getting a decent job and or looking for salary bonus are also important factors in second language learning and could be effective in some cases. Instrumental motivation can be as strong as integrative motivation if the objective is something that learner eager to attain, this motivation can propel them to achieve success.
Another type of motivation can be defined broadly as extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. In the context of second language learning, extrinsic motivation includes three sub-types, external regulation, introjected regulation and identified regulation (Noels, Clément, & Pelletier, 2001). The first type is external regulation, it occurs when a learner learns a second language because of some punishment or reward that comes from the social environment, passing a course, getting better pay or even fulfill a school
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language requirement, these kinds of conditions belong to external regulation. Once the pressure or bonus is not existing, the learner probably stops his learning in second language. Introjected regulation refers to more internalized reasons for learning second language, such as pressuring voice, worry, sense of guilt or shame (Noels et al., 2001).
This form of motivation will lead to anxiety. People who driven by introjected regulation are likely to feel negative and lack of confidence about themselves. Identified regulation is the most self-determined type of extrinsic motivation, under this motivation, people determined to do something because it matches with their value or the goal they have chosen. For example, an English learner chose to learn it because he wanted to be bilingual and able to speak and write it as fluent as his native language.
As long as the goal is meaningful and critical to him, this learner can be expected to engage in learning English.
English Proficiency
In the five stages of second language acquisition, the very first phase is silent (or receptive) phase, which can be contrasted to CEFR Level A1 in this study. In this phase, second language learnersspending time to absorb and learn the new elements from this language, it could be a new vocabulary or the pronunciation of a word. Learners in this stage could not create a new sentence by themselves and neither really understand a term, silent phase may last few days to several months depends on the individual learner.
The second stage is early production, this stage usually last about half year and it happens when learner understanding over one thousand words. They will start to put words together and from some short phrases even the grammar might be wrong sometimes, learners in this stage can be ranked approximately as Level A2. When second language learners enter to the third stage which is speech emergence, they have collected several thousand word. The typical behaviors of this stage are that learners will start to communicate in second language and it is understandable, they will also begin to read and write in their second language, this is a critical stage since the second language is truly start to connect with learners, and it could be compared with Level B1. When learners are capable of communicate with even more complicated sentences and vocabularies, they will enter the fourth stage named as intermediate fluency and their English proficiency are close from Level B2 to C1, learners might start to think in their second language since they already have more connection with it. The terminal
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stage is continued language development, usually it takes more than two years of learning to reach this final stage. To retain the fluency in second language, learners need continuing opportunities to participate in conversations and get to express their feeling in second language. This phase could last more than ten years for learners to truly specialized and accomplish dexterity, when learners step into this phase, their English proficiency would be ranked as Level C2.
One of the key factors that bolster second language learning is the acquisition of a sophisticated vocabulary both actively and passively. Active vocabulary is needed in dialog and written communication, where learners have to come up words and sentences by themselves. Passive word knowledge is needed to recognized when the vocabulary was spoken and written texts (Sandberg, Maris, & Geus, 2011). Buckledee (2008) identified that there are at least four stages that can be identified in second language learning, and they are comparable to those involved in the development of one’s first language. The four stages of language acquisition are identified as elemental, consolidation, conscious expression, and automaticity and thought, these four stages can be contrasted to CEFR Level A1, A2, B1 to B2 and C1 to C2 respectively. The first stage is elemental, in this stage the individual is learning the basics of the language, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciations, trying to learn a new vocabulary, begins to put words together and create a sentence, making a lot of mistakes on grammar, pronunciation and meaning of the words. In this very beginning phase, we are attempting to make other people understand us regardless of anything, and we can see the same process when we just begin to learn second language. The second stage is consolidation, where the elements of the language are brought together and some degree of familiarity with the language is achieved. In the first language, this stage appears in childhood when kids start to realize that language is a system and have a sense of right and wrong about grammar, spell and word usage and the basic understanding of idioms.
In second language, this pattern happens when language learners find some sentence structure can be similar or related to his native language and what is totally dissimilar from it. They can also seek for the meaningful word to express their easy request. The third stage is identified as conscious expression, during which the individual can use the language but with a great deal of conscious effort. The individual can communicate thoughts and ideas, but there is a lot of deliberation about what is being expressed (Buckledee, 2008). This can be observed when young first language learners giving a
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speech or presentation, usually they tend to speak less fluently than usual and use of a lot of speech hesitations because they are already able to know some words are too colloquial and not appropriate in formal situations so they are seeking for more proper and academic word to express themselves without losing the point they meant to convey.
The similar phenomenon can be seen when second language learners trying to articulate their opinion, the hesitation is caused by they are searching help from their native language, they are trying to translate the sentences in their mind into second language.
The very last stage is automaticity and thought, at this eventual process, language and thought merge and language becomes automatic in most contexts (Buckledee, 2008).
In this phase, the language ability of second language no longer limited in translating what we want to say from native language but directly thinks in the language we are going to speak. In other words, second language learners whoever reach this stage can elaborate their viewpoint fluently in formal occasions or daily conversation, knowing how to use proper words and seldom make mistake in grammar or pronunciation. We could only see this phenomenon when someone truly comprehend and master a language.
English Learning System Usage
Multimedia technology transcends time and space, creates more lifelike and entertaining environment for English learning, stimulates learners’ proactivity and conserves class time and build class information simultaneously, one of the aspect of ELS is to improve learners’ ability to listen and speak, and to develop their communicative competence ( Parvin & Salam, 2015; Shyamlee et al., 2012), in such manner, learners can create new learner-based educational materials and their understanding about English can increase. Numerous English Learning System (ELS) have been developed in the past 30 years have confirmed to be fairly successful, especially in the mathematics, science, and technology area. These systems create tremendous learning outcomes and not only limited in campus or classroom (Sandberg et al., 2011). ELS is able to attract most students by provide intriguing game situations or helpful hints, keeping their attention and interest for learning (Chi, Hung, & Chang, 2010; Graesser et al., 2001).
One of a fascinating filed of among ELS is dialog-based tutoring systems (Freedman et al., 2000), the technique of Virtual Human (VM) can be considered the
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demonstration of this skill and researches have indicated it is quite helpful in language learning area. VM are used to simulate the decision pattern of the human teacher to assist learners from the performance they have shown, the VM technique makes it feasible for system to give learners extensive conversational practice. In the meanwhile, the system constantly tracks each learner’s performance of each part of skills to evaluate the learner’s level of mastery of these skills. By these evaluations, the system is able to lead learners to the part they need to focus on their training effort (Johnson & Valente, 2009).
Relationships among the Variables English Learning Motivation and English Proficiency
Buckledee (2008) research pointed out the difference between second language learning versus acquisition is that language learning focus on development of knowledge and skill about the target language which enable the learner to communicate with others. Nonetheless, the process of language acquisition is the learner make the target language become part of him. In a nutshell, the mastery of reading, writing and all the other skills is not adequate to accomplish English acquisition, it requires leaner to truly comprehend the underlying connotation and meaning in English, that is why motivation is imperative in the acquisition process.
Buckledee (2008) identified some points about achieving bilingual, he classified two clusters in the process of becoming bilingual, the vocabulary cluster and the cultural cluster. Vocabulary cluster comprised all the elements of the language, not only limited in vocabulary items, all the skills such as the availability of listening and writing composed this cluster, which is comparatively easier to grasp; Another phase is cultural cluster, it refers to a shared history, religion, economic development, regional proximity, and other factors. The language learners could comprehend this stage only if they transfer the language to part of themselves, and it demands strong passion and enthusiasm toward the language. Further, he conducted a research in United States by compares the individual language performance of three groups. One group was composed of 14 undergraduate students majoring in French, another group contained 14 graduate students majoring in French, and 14 native French speaker who had lived for at least seven years in the United States and all of them used English on a daily basis composed the third group. On some measures, he found the native French speakers’
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performance were fairly superior than others groups. He therefore concludes there was an obvious pattern in the development of competence and bilingual skills considering experience in the other language. Conclusively, students with an openness to cultural identification, and/or a favorable attitude and interest in English speaking communities achieve higher grades in English than those who are less willing or less able to take on characteristics of other cultural community. As it mentioned previously that language learning motivation can enhance the performance, it could state that there might be some connection between English learning motivation and English proficiency.
Hypothesis 1: English Learning Motivation has a relationship with English Proficiency
English Learning System Usage and English Proficiency
Acquiring new languages apart from our native ones by the assistance of technology have been addressed by researches in past few decades (Khemaja &
Taamallah, 2016). Dodigovic (2007) used the software which is called the Intelligent Tutor, the main function of this software is to diagnoses some typical errors that students who are learning English as a second language will make. According to the experiment conducted in 2007 by Dodigovic, the 266 students who participated came from 3 different countries, 107 students came from the United Arab Emirates, 83 from Australia, and 77 in Taiwan. These participants were aged 19 to 21, and their TOEFL score are generally around 500. Before they operate the software, a grammatical pre-test was conducted and also a post-pre-test after the curriculum was completed.
After taking the whole Intelligent Tutor curriculum and the post-test was conducted, the result has demonstrated significant reduction in the error rate. The students from Taiwan attain the best result by decreased 94% error rate, followed by the Australian students (85% error reduction rate), students from United Arab Emirates achieved 79% error reduction rate. Last but not least, the error reduction rate from overseas English language learners in Australia were 73%, which is relatively insignificant compare to other subjects but still quite remarkable. Hence, as the finding listed above, we can summarize that English learning system can facilitate the acquisition process and provide appreciable enhancement for language learners of English as a second language (Dodigovic, 2007). As a result, technology turns into an indispensable part of English learning experience for learners and also a critical change
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for teachers (Eady & Lockyer, 2013). As a result, it could be suggested that English learning system usage might be related to English Proficiency
Hypothesis 2: English Learning System Usage has a relationship with English Proficiency
English Learning Motivation, English Proficiency and English Learning System Usage
Researchers stated the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) acts as a stimulant would shape traditional learning methods into a new way, since learning is no longer limited in campus and learners become more autonomous and independent, it is important for teachers support and facilitate their learners to develop their learning style (Hennessy, Deaney, & Ruthven, 2005). Self-regulated learning refers to an individual choose, arrange and adjust his learning through his cognitive demand and characteristic to attain specific learning task or target. The learner who conduct self-regulated learning can apply his own meta-cognition ability, analyzing the task he was commissioned or the problem he encounters. Broadly, the current study espouses that self-regulated learning through ELS improves students' performance in English (Chang, 2012).
Researches indicated that the use of internet increases learners’ motivation and Learners’ cooperation in learning tasks, learning outcome could effectively increase when technology such as software and internet are used in the learning process, it can be concluded that the true combination of multimedia and teaching methodology is very important to attract learners’ attention towards English language learning (Arifah, 2014;
Gillespie, 2006). Larsen-Freeman and Anderson (2011) also supported the view that technology provides intriguing information and brings learning experience to learners.
By the using of ELS, many credible messages can be provided to users and they can be motivated in learning English, in a nutshell, the combination of multimedia and teaching approach is imperative to keep learners’ interest. In the experiment conducted by Mohammadzadeh and Sarkhosh (2018), he chose 45 students from Azad University of Pars Abad, Ardebil, Iran. They all spoke Azeri Turkish as their native language and were students of Applied Linguistics at BA level, and they all scored 18 to 27 in Oxford Placement Test. Before these students employing self-regulated learning through ELS,
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they have got relatively lower scores on speaking test. Nevertheless, after the application of ELS, students who have strong learning motivation and capable of conducting self-regulated learning behaved obviously better in their speaking tests.
These learners claimed that this system supported them to learn in a more effective way, students were also gratifying to experience how useful ELS can provide them with much remedial feedback and indication.
Harmer (2007) suggested that teachers should encourage learners to find suitable approach through using technology in order to achieve better result in language learning.
The innovation of ELS has changed the English learning approaches from teacher-centered to learner-teacher-centered ones (Riasati, Allahyar, & Tan, 2012). The research conducted in 2007 indicates that the ELS which named Handheld English Language Learning Organization (HELLO) can increase learners’ motivation to learn English.
The results demonstrate that the HELLO can improve users’ listening, speaking and reading ability (Liu, Tan, & Chu, 2007). Another research on Physically Interactive Learning Environment (PILE) system conducted in 2010 also revealed that those students who did not show any interest on regular class continuously showing their willingness to operate the PILE system, it proves that ELS can successfully draw learners’ attention (Chi et al., 2010). From the previous researches, it can be assumed that the usage of English learning system plays an important role between English learning motivation and English proficiency.
Hypothesis 3: English Learning System Usage moderates the relationships between English Learning Motivation and English Proficiency
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