Motivational development in learning foreign languages

Abstract

Motivation is one of the central determinants of foreign language learning achievement. The purpose of this paper is to help foster further understanding of motivation in foreign language learning. In particular several affective factors which are components of foreign language motivation will be described. These affective factors are categorized into three types: sources of motivation attitudes in learning and experiences of feeling. All of these factors are mutually influential and function cyclically. When these factors circulate smoothly motivation is well developed. Based on the cycle foreign language teachers can gain a better understanding of how they can increase students' motivation in order to achieve more effective teaching. 1. L2 motivation 1. 1 Definition of L2 motivation Motivation is a determinant in the effectiveness of second / foreign language(L2)learning. What L2 motivation is and its effects on L2 learning are intriguing to many researchers but not many clear definitions are given. Chambers(1999)stated the difficulty of defining 'motivation' as an SLA researcher.