TITLE: Motivation and individual differences.

AUTHORS: Lic. Ana Margarita Fuertes Elizarde

Lic. María Elena González Chamorro

OBJECTIVES:To give a general account of motivation as a

Psychological category.

To establish the relation between motivation and

Individual differences.

INTRODUCTION

The study of this aspect has always been related to Psychology, although recently
and due to the development of Methodology it has become an important part of
Pedagogy.
Most of the information found regarding this topic is rather complex since the
motivating contents turned out to be the factors that make up the personality, so
motives, their organization and structure become essential bases of the
personality.
Men's motives can not be studied as isolated units which orient them to an
immediate behavior, but in the process of its regulating function through self-
conscious which is considered as a distinctive aspect of a higher mental function.
Motives can be conscious or unconscious, these latter called impulses.
Among unconscious motives the most studied is orientation ,that is, the special
preparation to satisfy a cognitive need.
The conscious motives manifest the objectives of the personality. The object that
may satisfy a need appears in the conscious of a person like an objective.
In the case that takes our attention, that is, motivation in foreign language teaching
it is important to explain how motivational factors show the truthfulness of the
motivation theory stated by psychology highlighting the role of interests, needs and
attitudes of the individual.

DEVELOPMENT

Motivation is something (as need or desire) that causes a person to act.

Most language teachers agree that motivation of the students is one of the most
important factors influencing their success or failure in learning the language.
Motivation is certainly important for any learning operation.
There are some dangers that are inherent to the term "motivation". For example,
some teachers may confuse the generating of enthusiasm, undoubtedly an

i.exe
important motivational element, with the whole task of motivating the students to
undertake and persevere with a work.There is also a danger in assessing
motivation on the basis of questionaries and interviews.
Learning part of a language may increase motivational strength. That is, the
learner may want to learn the rest. The level of aspiration is a crucial variable in
any learning situation. But the value of success is the most important variable.
Success is not a matter of being told "That's right"! Success automatically brings
certain rewards or benefits in terms of the material learned. There are at least five
types of rewards available to a teacher in language teaching materials and classes.

1. Relevance of the content to the students' own language needs.

2. Completeness-Inclusion of all the language needed for the stated aims of the
course.
3. Authenticity-The material should be both, linguistically and culturally authentic.
4. Satisfaction-Students should leave each lesson feeling they have benefited
more than simply progressed.
5. Immediacy-Students can use the material in a lesson straight away.

1,2 and 3 apply to whole courses, 4 and 5 more particularly to individual lessons.
None of these features have any strength unless they are perceived by the learner
to be reliable. If the students are expected to perceive the link with life outside the
classroom, then, the material or classroom activity must have strength, that is,
relevance.
The ways in which a student is motivated to choose to do some learning or to learn
willingly, if he has no choice, are varied and complex. The role of the teacher is
equally delicate. The effects of success on a learning task are not simple. The
effects of failure may be equally complex. Both differ between individuals
according to their needs, characteristics, ideas about the value of learning the
language and the way teachers usually treat them. Language teachers should be
aware of these problems and the results of investigations about them in order to
plan and manage instruction that will be optionally efficient for each student to
influence the students' choice and perseverance.
A primary responsibility of a teacher is to revive motivation without which their
hopes of speaking English fluently would never be true. Your own personality and
outlook may provide students with fresh motivation. If you have genuine interest in
students and their welfare, if you often smile and give praise when deserved, if you
are responsible to students' difficulties, if you show faith in their abilities they will try
harder to succeed in speaking English.

Earl Stevick discussed the sources of motivation in a lecture he gave a few years
ago at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington D.C. He pointed out that there
are four major sources of motivation.

1. The joy of discovery-Students find it thrilling to discover something about a new

language by themselves. If you direct the students to the point where they
 make a discovery about English the benefit is more lasting, they are apt to
remember the point better and are stimulated to make further discoveries.
2. The satisfaction of control-Mastering the new language material provides
students with a feeling of confidence which is of great importance in keeping
their enthusiasm.
3. The joy of remembrance-When you occasionally have students return to
material from an earlier stage of their language program, you give them a
chance to do something they already know well with its resultant psychological
rewards, that is, they have an illustration of how much progress they have
made.
4. The elation of use-If you can provide some way for students to use English
outside the classroom whether through contact with native speakers or writing
to a pen pal in English, you will provide them with the best source of motivation
of all-the elation that comes from truly communicating with native speakers.

Wilga Rivers sums up in one of her articles this aspect of motivation:

"Students cannot be sit down in groups or sent off in pairs and told to
interact in the foreign language. Motivation to communicate must be
aroused."

One device that always helps is to make each student feel that you are a member
of the group too. Arrange chairs(if possible) in a congenial form such as a circle or
semi circle. Be part of the circle, not the teacher who is always in front. And try not
to let students get attached to one chair or part of the room. Move them around so
that they sit next to new neighbors and can get to know each other better. Once
your students develop a strong group identity you will find that they are more
motivated to express themselves in English and to become real participants in the
activities you plan for them.

Individual Differences

We do not all behave or think identically. All teachers know that some of their
students will cope easily with the learning materials and activities and some will
not. Some will succeed and others won't. Many of the differences in achievement
will be due to circumstances, but many will be attributable to inherent
characteristics of the learners.
Individual characteristics of the learners may be directly or indirectly related to
achievement in foreign language learning. For example, motivation may be directly
and positively related, the higher the degree of motivation, the harder the learner
will work and the longer he will persist.
The nature of intelligence and its relation to education has been a matter of
controversy for many years. If intelligence is of questionable relevance to language
learning perhaps there exists a special aptitude or talent for the activity that not
everybody possesses-an ear for language.
Teachers have long been interested in questions in whether certain personality
traits were advantageous or not for learning a foreign language. Talkative
personalities are more successful at language learning than introspective ones
although the association of particular personality traits and language learning must
be regarded as inconclusive at the moment.
It has been suggested that people employ social strategies to obtain and keep
contact in the foreign language in different situations. e.g. Join a group and act as if
you understand what it is going on and give the impression, with a few well chosen
words that you can speak the language.
Social strategies like these are obviously personal and idiosyncratic and can hardly
be taught in normal classes.

It seems essential for teachers to be aware of their students as individuals and to

be sensitive to many kinds of differences which may exist even in one learning
group. Which of the options for coping with this situation will be chosen is a
question that can only be answered by the professional in possession of all the
facts about objectives of the course, the resources of the teaching situation, the
students themselves, their language needs, etc.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Psychology in Foreign Language Teaching.Steven H.Mc Donough.

Weiner,B.(1972 b) Attribution Theory,achievement motivation,and the
educational process vol.42 p.203-215.
Weiner,B.,and Kukla,A. (1970) An attributional analysis of achievement
motivation,vol. 15.p. 1-20.