This paper posits four stages of language acquisition, identified as elemental, consolidation, conscious expression, and automaticity and thought, and considers the role of motivation in this process. It distinguishes between two types of motivation, language learning motivation and classroom motivation, indicating how these relate to two distinct contexts, the cultural and the educational through their influence on integrativeness and attitudes toward the learning situation. It discusses how the two types of motivation are differentially involved in the four stages, and empirical support for this perspective is presented in the form of path analyses of two samples of students from Catalonia.
The present study was conducted to assess the motivational characteristics of francophones learning English as a second language. A total of 304 grade 10 and 11 Montreal francophone students responded to a number of attitude and motivation scales. The correlations among these scales were factor analyzed together with indices of intelligence, and achievement in French, Mathematics, and English. The results tend to support the generalization that an individual's motivation to learn a second language is dependent upon favourable attitudes towards the second language community (i.e., an integrative motive). However, while the individual's intention to continue studying English is related to an integrative motive, his actual competence in the second language seems to be more closely related to a dimension of motivation which is best described as self-confidence derived from prior experience with the language.
Three experiments were conducted to differentiate the effects of word cpncreteness, image-evoking capacity, and meaningfulness (m) on paired-associate (PA) learning of nouns. In each experiment, within the limits imposed by positive correlation among the variables, one attribute was systematically varied among stimulus and response members of a 16-pair list while maintaining within-pair constancy on the other two attributes. The results indicated that concreteness and imagery were both more effective on the stimulus than response side of pairs, suggesting a common underlying process. Meaningfulness, m, was equally effective on both sides of pairs when varied among abstract nouns, but had essentially no effect when the nouns were concrete.The relations among item attributes, type of mediator, and learning were also investigated. Following the PA experiment, Ss indicated whether they had used a verbal mediator, a "mental image," or no mediator to associate die members of each pair. In support of predictions, imaginal mediators were most frequently reported for concrete-noun pairs and for pairs in which both members are individually high in rated imagery. Conversely, reports of verbal mediation predominated in the case of abstract-noun pairs, particularly those that were also high tn. Further analyses indicated that learning scores were highest for pairs reportedly learned with the aid of mediating imagery, intermediate for verbally mediated pairs, and lowest for non-mediated pairs. The apparent effectiveness of verbal and imaginal mediators also varied with item attributes, although causal relations could not be inferred unequivocally from these data.
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of social factors on motivational aspects of second language acquistion. Indices of attitude, anxiety, motivation, personal contact with anglophones, fear of assimilation, intelligence, and achievement were obtained from 223 grade 11 francophone students from Montreal. Results of a factor analysis of the data suggested that self-confidence with English develops through the individual's opportunity for contact with members of the second language community. Furthermore, fear of assimilation was found to be negatively related to the Integrative Motive factor. A possible dynamic relationship between the integrative motive and self-confidence is suggested, and the implications of the influence of threat to ethnic identity are discussed.Considerable research has demonstrated a relationship between motivation to learn a second language and attitudes toward the second language community (e.g., Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Gardner & Santos, Note 1; Gardner & Smythe, Note 2; Lukmani, 1972; Smythe, Stennett, & Feenstra, 1972). This attitude-motivation cluster, referred to as an "integrative motive," has been a recurrent dimension in various factor analytic studies concerned with motivation in second language acquisition. This motive has been associated with persistence in second language study (e.g., Gardner & Smythe, Note 2), with reported frequency of use of French in an interethnic contact situation (Clement, Gardner, & Smythe, 1977a; Desrochers & Gardner, Note 3), with student participation in French classroom activities (Gliksman & Gardner, Note 4), and with achievement in the second language (e.g., Gardner & Lambert, 1972).Most of the research described above involved anglophones learning French as a second langauge. Only two studies have examined the factor structure of indices of attitude, motivation, intelligence, and achievement in English by francophones. Clement, Gardner, and Smythe (1977b) collected data from grade 10 and 11 francophone students from Montreal. Factor analyses of these data supported the conclusion that achievement was a function of both aptitude and motivation. Measures of motivation, This research was supported by a grant from the Language Administration Branch of the Office of the Secretary of State of Canada under its program to encourage language research in Canada. The authors are grateful to the school principals and the coordinators of the Montreal Catholic School Commission for facilitating access to their students.
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