Types of Motivation Motivation

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c. Highly-Motivated Students

Previously, I have presented the definition of motivation by Richard 1994. Richard 1994, p. 4 states that “motivation is concerned with one’s reasons for learning the language, the strategies used to achieve these goals, the effort put into learning and one’s ability to sustain that effort.” From this definition, it can be inferred that highly-motivated students have their own reasons or goals in language learning, employ some strategies used to achieve their goals and put a big effort to achieve their goals. A highly-motivated student wants a greater responsibility for their own learning Oxford, 1990. Self-directed students gradually gain greater involvement and proficiency. Motivation has strong effect on students’ achievement in numerous studies. Bank and Finlapson 1980 concluded that successful students were found to have significantly higher motivation for achievement than unsuccessful students did. Gottfried 1985 explains that students who were reported to have high academic intrinsic motivation had significantly high school achievement. Also, some previous research on college-student populations uncovered that students who had high extrinsic motivation had positive achievement Barron Harrackiewicz, 2001; Elliot McGregor, 2001; Harackiewicz, Barron, Pintrich, Elliot, Trash, 2002 in Lepper, Corpus Iyengar, 2005.

2. Foreign Language Anxiety FLA

In this section , I review the theories and previous studies’ findings of FLA. This section is divided into 6 smaller sections: a definition of FLA, b types of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 17 FLA, c causes of FLA, d manifestation of FLA, e studen ts’ strategies to cope with FLA and f effects of FLA.

a. Definition of FLA

Teachers and students generally feel that anxiety is a major obstacle to overcome in learning to speak another language. In order to understand FLA, it is important to first consider the definition of FLA. Horwitz, Horwitz, and Cope 1986 were the first to treat FLA as a separate and distinct phenomenon particular to language learning. According to Horwitz et al. 1986, p. 128, FLA is “a distinct complex of self-perceptions, feelings and behaviors related to classroom learning arising from the uniqueness of the language learning process.”. In a similar vein, Oh 1992 in Wang 2005, p. 16 perceives FLA as a situation- specific anxiety students experience in the classroom, which is characterized by “negative self-centered thoughts, feelings of inadequacy, fear of failure, and emotional reactions.” Batumlu and Erden 2007 in Worku 2008, p. 10 add that “FLA is different from all kinds of anxiety because it is a distinct complex of self- perceptions, feelings and behaviors related to language learning process. ” Here, the students who feel anxious are caused by the foreign language learning process. Moreover, “foreign language learning process is seen as a unique process because learners are required to communicate or use a language which they have not mastered perfectly ” Keramida, 2009, p. 39. In other words, the worry and negative emotional reaction aroused when the students are learning or using a foreign language that they do not have full competence. For many learners, learning English as a foreign language can make them feel anxious and worried PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 18 because English is something new for them. They have to use or communicate using English that they have not mastered perfectly.

b. Types of FLA

Horwitz et al. 1986 identified three related performance anxieties. They are communication apprehension CA, test anxiety TA and fear of negative evaluation FNE, which are believed to “provide useful conceptual building blocks for a description of foreign language anxiety” Horwitz et al., 1986, p. 128. In the following part, I review two types of FLA used in this study. 1 Communication Apprehension CA McCroskey 1977, p. 28 defines CA as “an individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons. ” Meanwhile, Cubukcu 2007, p. 128 defines CA as “a type of shyness characterized by fear of and anxiety about communicating wi th people.” Horwitz et al. 1986, p. 127 state that “difficulty in speaking in dyads or groups oral communication anxiety or in public “stage fright” or in listening to or learning a spoken message receiver anxiety are all manifestation of CA. ” Gregersen and Horwitz 2002, p. 562 elaborate more by saying people whose typical CA is high tend to encounter even greater difficulty communicating in a foreign language class where they have little control of the communicative situation; there exists a disparity between learners’ mature thoughts and their immature foreign language proficiency, and their performance is constantly monitored. Horwitz et al. 1986, p. 127 state that the inability to express oneself fully or to understand others not only lead to frustration and apprehension in typical apprehensive communicators but also make many otherwise talkative people become silent in a foreign language class. 19 A study by Nor and Normazla 2008 found that the participants of their study experienced the highest level of CA when participating in meetings, interpersonal communication and public speaking. Their study also revealed that the major causes of CA were the personality trait of the students and their inability to pronounce English words correctly. Likewise, Pappamihiel 2002 in her paper wrote that students who come in with fewer language skills tend to be more nervous and anxious about learning the English language. Therefore, anxiety is viewed as a possible stumbling block to the language learning process of these students. Another study conducted in Puerto Rico by Lucas 1984 revealed that only 115 students were found to experience CA when speaking using their mother tongue, Spanish. However, these students were found to display high CA 43 when speaking in English. A similar study conducted by McCroskey 1984 in Japan found that three-fourths of the samples were classified as having high levels of CA in both Japanese and English. Finally, in a study conducted by Shameem and Siti 2006 in Tom et al. 2013, the researchers found that more than half of their subjects were afraid of using English due to poor proficiency in the language. They also found that the subjects had high levels of CA when using the language to communicate. Similar to Nor and Normazla’s 2008 study, they also discovered that one of the main factors causing CA was personality trait. 2 Fear of Negative Evaluation FNE Fear of negative evaluation FNE is defined as “apprehension about others’ evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations and the expectation that others will evaluate them negatively ” Horwitz et al., 1986, p. 128. From the definition of fear of negative evaluation, it can be concluded that many learners seem to be 20 sensitive when they are evaluated by others because they are afraid of having negative evaluations. Consequently, learners who are highly concerned about the impressions of others form them to behave in ways that minimize the possibility of negative evaluations Gregersen Horwitz, 2002. In foreign language classrooms, students with FNE tend to sit passively in the classroom, withdrawing from classroom activities that could otherwise enhance their improvement of the language skills or even cutting class to avoid anxiety situations Aida, 1994, p. 157. Young 1991 found that anxious learners thought their skills in language we re weaker than their peers’ and they were looking down at them. A study from Hilleson 1996 showed that the awareness of performing badly in English seemed to indicate a loss of self-esteem. The students were aware that their performance was being evaluated by their peers and teachers, which made them very anxious in learning.

c. Causes of FLA

Research has indicated a number of ways that learning a foreign language can cause anxiety for language learners. Tallon 2008 comprehensively summarize three main sources of FLA. They are learner’s characteristics, t eacher’s characteristics and classroom’s characteristics. In addition, classmates also act as the source of main source of FLA Horwitz et al., 1986. Learner’s characteristics include personal and interpersonal issues and learner ’s beliefs about language learning. Teacher’s characteristics include teacher’s beliefs about language teaching which determine teacher-learner interactions. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI