Importance of Motivation Motivation a. Definition of Motivation

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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 Christina, 2008. Cognitive approach has stressed the importance of motivation in language learning. Motivation is a tricky concept as there are different kinds. Deci Ryan 1985 distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is motivation external to a person as, for example, provided by an examination one needs to pass in order to graduate from school. Intrinsic motivation is internal, that comes from within a person. For example a desire to be part of certain group can be a motivation to learn a language. However, the distinction is not so clear-cut Van Lier, 1996 because one can have to pass an examination to graduate from school, but at the same wish to learn from it for one’s own benefit. Intrinsic motivation is not necessarily better than extrinsic motivation. An active participation in the learning process relates learning content to students’ personal goals and is therefore a way to increase intrinsic motivation. It brings the individual to the success or failure. As cited from Wiyono 2008:12, one objective of education is to assist students to achieve knowledge and skills Klausmeier and Goodwin, 2005:222. According to Atkinson as cited by Gorman 2004:134 the tendency to achieve success in an individual in connection with any task or activity, or in other words, achievement motivation, is a function of three variables. They are an intrinsic motivation to achieve success, expectancy that the performance of a task will be PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 18 followed by a success and an incentive value after achieving success. Thus, whether or not a person will strive to reach goal depends on: 1 basic need for achieving a degree of excellence 2 how certain or probable that they will be successful 3 how attractive reaching the goal is In line with Deci Ryan, Gardner and Lambert 1972 also distinguished 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. As cited from Christina 2008: 27 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 behaviors, feelings, cognitions, and the individual who is unmotivated does not. According to Gardner and Lambert 1972, another reason why motivation is very important is because motivation can influence students’ attitudes toward the learning. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 19 Wiyono 2008: 16 summarized that students’ motivation is the tendency to increase or keep as high as possible students’ capabilities in all their learning activities that lead to success. The following aspects will be used as the basis for the constructing of the motivation measurement. Students’ motivation contains the following aspects: 1 Self-confidence in facing achievement related task, 2 Persistence is case of failure, 3 Preference for levels of difficulties, 4 Preference for partners in doing tasks, 5 Competition with others. Those aspects will be used as the basis for the construction of the questionnaire measurement.

4. Theory of the Self-Access Language Learning SALL