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it ways, desire that strengthens and leads to goal-oriented behavior. Motivation also strengthens the influence of needs and desires on the intensity and direction
of behavior.
b. Importance of Motivation
Motivation is very important in the learning process because according to cognitive approach called attribution theory, motivation influences individual’s
behavior in the learning process. It brings the individual to the success or failure. Motivation refers to goal-directed behavior, and when one is attempting to
measure motivation and attention, it can be directed toward a number of features of the individual. The motivated individual expends effort; he is persistent and
pays attention to the task at hand; he has goals, desires, and aspirations; he enjoys the activity; he experiences reinforcement from success and disappointment from
failure, and he makes strategies to aid in achieving goals. That is, the motivated individual exhibits many behavior, feelings, cognitions, and the individual who is
unmotivated does not. There are two types of motivation: integrative motivation and instrumental
motivation. Integrative motivation is motivation that comes from the students themselves to learn the target language without any outside factors that influence
them. On the other hand, instrumental motivation is motivation that comes because there are factors from outside that force the students to learn the target
language, for instance, they learn English because they have to pass the English exam, or because they want to obtain a job Gardner and Lambert, 1972.
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Another reason why motivation is very important is because it can influence students’ attitudes toward the learning. Students will be successful when
they have integrative motivation. There is strong support for the proposition that integrative motivation promotes successful second language acquisition, as has
been proposed and shown in many studies Gardner and Lambert, 1972 Motivation has connection to attitudes. If students have positive attitudes
toward the learning, it means that they have high motivation. On the other hand, if students have negative attitudes toward the learning, it means that they have low
motivation. If students have low motivation, it can lead them to the failure.
c. The Relation among Perception, Motivation, and Emotion
Perception and motivation are two important things which can influence people’s attitude toward the learning process. The interaction between perception
of environment or stimuli and subjective cognitive can give a result called emotion. Emotion can influence people’s feeling. Emotion has relation with
motivation; when people have negative emotion such as anger, it can influence their motivations which then affect their attitudes toward the learning. It means
that in the learning process, if people have bad feeling, it can make their motivation lower than usual, and it can lead them to the failure.
2. Theory of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget as cited in Barry, 2003, the most influential researcher in the area of developmental psychology, divided the cognitive development of children
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into four stages. The four stages are sensorimotor stage, pre-operational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage. Below are the
explanations of each stage. a.
Sensorimotor Stage
Infancy until the age of 2 is included in this stage. During this stage, a child learns about himself and his environment through motor actions. His thought
derives from sensation and movement. Teaching for a child in this stage should be carried on to the sensorimotor system.
b.
Pre-operational Stage
Toddler and Early Childhood at about age 7 are included in this stage. In this period, the child begins to use symbols to represent objects. The child learns
to think about things and events that are not immediately present. His thinking is influenced by fantasy such as what he would like things to be. He creates his own
imagination. c.
Concrete Operational Stage
A child about first grade to early adolescence is included in this stage. In this period, the child develops an ability to think abstractly and to make rational
judgments about concrete or observable phenomena. In teaching this child, giving him an opportunity to ask questions and to explain things back to the teacher
allows him to mentally manipulate the information.
