April 2020
ISSN 2278 0742
87
English Language Teaching Learning a Second Language is a Battle of Heart-Role of Motivation Ameena Kidwai Abstract: Motivating learners to study and use the language is one of the main challenges faced by teachers, specifically in non-English medium education system where opportunities to use English are few. Learners‘ enthusiasm may diminish over time, partly because learning English involves a lot of hard work, partly because English doesn‘t seem relevant to their lives, and partly because they rarely get an opportunity to apply their skills in real life. Motivation ―provides the primary impetuous to initiate learning the second language and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process‖ (Dörnyei, 1998). It is, however, a very complex construct and not easy to understand.
The paper presenter as an instructor for English language in a college in Saudi Arabia proposes to explore the factors influencing second language learner motivation and also the specific approaches for generating motivation in an English language classroom. The paper also aims to discuss how motivation can become an effective tool in teaching and learning English as a second language grounded upon the previous researches on the topic.
Key Words: Motivating learners, non-English medium, education system, generating motivation, English language classroom, researches, English as a second language.
For many learners, their primary motivation is what researchers call extrinsic motivation, that is, motivation based on a reward that comes from outside, for example, the desire to get a good grade or a good job. Such rewards, though motivating, may also be problematic. For example, learners who wish to do well on a test may study only what they need to in order to successfully clear it, and after that, may lose interest in learning. Many researchers have stressed the importance of intrinsic motivation, in other words, motivation derived from learning new things, a sense of accomplishment, or the desire to pursue one‘s own interests. In fact, many researchers suggest that intrinsic motivation is a more powerful driving force than extrinsic motivation (Brown, 2001). One reason intrinsic reward tends to be especially
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