A Review of Gardners Motivation Theory in Studies on K1- K12 Students

Abstract

Motivation is one of the subjects that attracts the most research in the field of acquiring a second language. Gardner and Lambert are pioneers in the study of motivation theory, they divide motivation for acquiring new languages into two categories: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation, but there is still disunited explanation of the impact of learning motivation on second language learners in K1-K12 stage, so this paper reviews and summarizes relevant literature, and uses systematic review to explore the impact of learning motivation on second language learners in K1-K12 stage. Studies have found that motivation leads to different language learning behaviors in different contexts. Learning motivation directly affects learners effort, learning attitude and emotional state, which requires teachers to pay attention to stimulating students learning motivation in various ways in classroom teaching, such as stimulating students interest in learning, creating situations, providing students with challenging learning task sets as to enhance students learning perseverance and enable students to successfully acquire a second language. The authors summary of the effect of learning motivation on second language acquisition and the illumination of second language teaching primarily begins with the types of motivation.