Instrumental and Integrative Motivation English Language Essay

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3/4/2015 Instrumental And Integrative Motivation English Language Essay Instrumental And Integrative Motivation English Language Essay Robert Gardner established a model of motivation in second language acquisition in 1985. The field of language teaching has been influenced for many years by the model which came from the studies of language immersion in Canada (Ehrman, 1996, p.139). The model describes two forms of motivation, instrumental and integrative. Instrumental motivation refers to learning to accomplish a task, such as passing a course, getting better pay, and so on (Ehrman, 1996, p.139). Integrative motivation refers to a favorable attitude toward the target language community, possibly a wish to integrate and adapt to a new target culture through use of the language (Gardner, 1985, p. 54). One of the Gardner's main ideas is that the integrative motivation plays an important role in second language acquisition. It is directly and positively related to second language achievement. However, the Gardener's model has received lots of criticisms since it was published. The criticisms will be discussed in the following. The model is criticized for overstating the importance of the integrative motive. Gardner simply used the candidates' selection of integrative reasons over instrumental ones as evidence that integrative reasons have a higher level of motivational intensity (Gardner, 1985, p.53). Gardner found that the integrative motivation has an extremely high significance in his studies. Nevertheless, the instrumental orientation such as getting a job and passing an examination is also an important factor in second language learning. If learners with integrative motivation can achieve success since they are active in their learning, the same theory might be applicable to the learners with instrumental motivation. Instrumentally motivated learners may be

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