Are Motivation and Culture Part of Language Learning?

Are Motivation and Culture Part of Language Learning?

Language Learning is not just the learning or acquisition of a set of phonological and syntactical rules, which are important –of course-; language learning also depends on student motivation, student’s native culture, and their understanding of the target language culture linked to the target language.

Motivation is one of the pillars in language learning. Students can have different reasons to learnn a foreign language such as English. What if the job market demands aim at having employees with a “good” command of the language? In this particular case, students can be “extrinsically” motivated to learn the target languae to fulfill his/her future profile for a position and consequently get a better pay. And what about university students (or even high schoolers) who are looking for opportunities to get funded to study abroad in an English-speaking country or in an English-taught program? These other learners are also “extrinsically” moved to learn a second language.

Though extrinsic motivation can be a great driving force to have students learn a foreign language, intrinsic reasons to learn the target language are counted in. A desire to quench one’s thirst for knowledge for another language and a place where that language is spoken is as valid as trying to get a better pay to learn a second language. There are learners whose sole reason to learn English is to travel to the United States and be functional while finding their way around a city and doing business; others just want to see English as a means of communication when they travel to foreign countries where their mother tongue is not spoken. Intrinsic or extrinsic motivation can be great driving forces for students to learn a second language.

Culture, as pointed out in regards to motivation, cannot be “divorced” from language learning. Culture is an important ingredient in language learning that spice up the gaining of knowledge of the target language. Though learners may not be in favor of the target language culture, they need to understand that to acquire a “good” command of the second language implies their ability to deal with conversational events that require certain language (structures, lexical items, phonetics, etc.) and a set of rules that are culturally bounded. The lack of comprehension of these “issues” will definitely provoke cultural misuderstandings that can be embarrassing and misleading.

? To fully comprehend the scope of this teaching reflections, it is highly advisable that the following topics must be expanded further:

·         Extrinsic motivation in ELT

·         Intrinsic motivation in ELT

·         Bloom’s Taxonomy in ELT lesson planning

·         Learners’ feelings towards the target language

Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano ELT Trainer, Instructor & Curriculum Developer based in Costa Rica Active NCTE – Costa Rica Member Resource Teacher & Curricular Developer at CCCN Senior ELT Instructor at Universidad Latina, Costa Rica, since 1998 Contact Information: Twitter @jonacuso Email: jonacuso@gmail.com

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How to quote this blog entry:

Acuña, J. (2014, April 20). Are Motivation and Culture Part of Language Learning? Retrieved from Reflective Online Teaching Website: http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/2014/04/are-motivation-and-culture-part-of.html

Are motivation and culture part of language learning from jonacuso