by Lizzy Cornwell

Created on: October 03, 2010   Last Updated: June 15, 2011

Motivation is one of the keys to successful learning no matter whether it's learning to drive or learning a foreign language. Typically, people have a high level of motivation when they are just starting learning a foreign language. However, there are many factors that can decrease the student's initial motivation and ultimately affect the end result. Helping the students maintain a high level of motivation throughout the course is one of the best ways for the teacher to make the whole process of language learning more successful and enjoyable. As each person is motivated in a different way, the teacher needs to find the right balance of incentives to progress, encouragement, disincentives to fail, and create a supportive learning environment.

A lot of motivation theories are based on goal achievement where people are motivated by the prospect of success. The initial motivation can falter because reaching the goal may seem hard or even impossible at time. That's why it's important for the teacher to encourage the students, set short and medium-term achievable goals and make sure the students feel that they are progressing.

However, some students' primary goal is not mastering the language - their idea of success is getting good grades, being promoted by their employer, or passing an exam. This type of motivation can be a very strong driver to success. Unfortunately, sometimes students like that can be difficult to work with because their motivation can actually be working against developing communicative skills.

Goal-driven motivation works well with adults because they usually know why they are studying a foreign language and what they want to achieve in the end.  However, even the strongest motivation can be marred by negative previous learning experience and fear of failure. The initial motivation seems to be there, but the blockages are so strong that the positive effect of motivation gets completely erased.

Other age groups usually don't have strong goal-driven initial motivation and lack a clear idea about why they want to learn a foreign language. Children and teenagers often attend language classes because their parents made them and or because they struggle with language classes at school. For these age groups being able to speak the language is not the key motivating factor. Things like peer approval and having fun are a lot more important to them. That's why the teacher should boost their motivation by keeping them interested, having lots of fun activities, being their friend, and making them want to succeed by encouraging them and praising their achievements. It’s important to engage the students in production tasks that focus on relevant topics that are of interest for a particular group. For example, teenagers are happy to discuss music, fashion, and school life, whereas business learners are happy to discuss the economy and current affairs.

While initial motivation is a key factor that ensures success, sustaining high motivation levels is equally, if not more, important. The teacher has to encourage the students and be flexible with the teaching methods to keep them interested and make them progress.

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