Why do people learn languages? Why are some successful than others? The first question is easier to answer than the second; if we knew the answer to the latter question then our jobs as teachers would be much easier!
Here are some of the reasons why students learn a foreign language:
1. Obligation - Languages are compulsory on many school syllabuses in many countries such as Austria, Poland, Japan, etc. Learners may feel positive, neutral, or negative about this.
2. Advancement - Some people will see an additional language as the means to advance in their chosen career.
3. Tourism and Travel - Tourists and travellers may want to learn the English language since it is the most widely spoken language in the world.
4. Fun! - Many people learn English for fun and excitement. This is partly the reason why English language has become a big business in Japan.
There are many other reasons to why people learn English language.
Motivation
There are many reasons why some students succeed in learning a language and others do not. Some students exceed despite poor teaching, materials and inadequate environment. Motivation depends on many factors such as why do students want to learn English. Some students have a long term goal e.g. new job, university entrance, moving to an English-speaking country etc. These students generally study a great deal, participate actively, and show their interests. Others have short term goals e.g. passing a test, writing a letter, finishing a unit in the book etc. For my personal experience I found students with long term goals easier to teach than those with short term goals.
There are two kinds of motivation:
Extrinsic motivation – this is what students bring to the classroom.
This kind of motivation may be put in two ways. The first is that the student wishes to integrate into the target language community. The second is that the mastery of the language is seen as instrumental in long term goals [e.g. university entrance test and getting a new job] and in short term goals [e.g. understanding movies and passing a short test]. Usually, students choose the former to learn the target language and hence have a good attitude towards learning a new language. On the other hand, negative attitudes can stem from peers and parents. There is little that the teacher can do to change extrinsic motivation as it is not created in the class.
Intrinsic motivation – this is what is created within the classroom.
Many students will come to the class with no extrinsic motivation and hence it is important for the teacher to create motivation in the classroom. A poor physical environment such as overcrowded and badly lit classrooms can often de-motivate the students and make learning difficult. Other causes include uncomfortable seating and poor board visibility. The teacher can solve this problem can display posters or examples of student’s work; also the teacher can rearrange the seats so that everyone has more space and encourage the students to keep the classroom tidy at the end of each lesson. Other factors that contribute to intrinsic motivation are making the learning atmosphere supportive and non-threatening; making the content of the lesson enjoyable and interesting; and making the learning goals challenging so that students would not feel bored or find it too difficult.
There are numerous other means of creating and maintaining motivation in the classroom. Students may be interested in teachers talking about forthcoming activities in the lesson; this can create excitement for the learners as it is something to look forward to. It is important for the teachers to change the activities and pacing during the lesson otherwise the same routine, patterns, and formats can lead to boredom. All students differ in their attitudes to learning and what motivates them. Some learners prefer co-operative games where they must work together and hence increasing self confidence. In this respect everyone has an important role to play. A number of students may like competitive games to boast their motivation.
Social dynamics and power relationships between languages have influences on student’s motivation towards learning a new language. For an example the situation in Japan: Japanese students learning English as a foreign language may have different attitudes and motivation from non-native people learning Japanese; this affects both adults and children. Most children and teenagers have poor extrinsic motivation due to demands from their parents (external pressure). This creates minimum motivation and negative attitude to learning.
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