Motivation Theory

MOTIVATION THEORY
Zunaira Syyed
zunaira.syyed@gmail.com

Introduction
Motivation
is a psychological feature that arouses an organism to act
towards a desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains
certain goal directed behaviors. It can be considered a
driving force; a psychological one that compels or
reinforces an action toward a desired goal. For
example, hunger is a motivation that elicits a desire to
eat.

Aim
 To hypothesize Motivation
Process through incorporating
a number of early and
contemporary Motivational
theories.
and
from generally describing the
phenomenon of motivation to
specifically analyzing this
theory in educational field.

Sequence
Part 1
 What is Motivation?
 Early Motivational Theories
a. Maslow‟s Need Hierarchy Theory
Part 2
b. McGregor‟s Theory X Theory X
c. Herzberg‟s Two-Factor Theory

Sequence
Part 3
 Contemporary Motivational Theories
Expectancy Theory
 Motivation in Learning L2
 The Integrative Motivation
Part 4
 The Instrumental Motivation
 The Resultative Motivation
 The Intrinsic Motivation

Motivation Hypothesis
LearningWorkachievement

Definitions of Motivation
“Motivation is the process of arousing the action
sustaining the activity in process and regulating the pattern
of activity.”
Younge
“Motivation refers to states within a person or animal that
drives behaviour towards some goal.”
Morgan and King

Nature of Motivation
Based on
Motives
Affected by
motivating
Goal directed
behaviour
Related to
satisfaction
Person is
motivated in
totality
Complex
process

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Needs and Drives
Motivation may be defined in terms of some
outward behavior.
It is the
willingness to do something
and is conditioned by this action’s ability to satisfy
some need for the individual.

Needs & Drives
An unsatisfied need
creates tension, which
stimulates drives
within the individual.
These drives generate
a
search for particular
goals
that, if attained, will
satisfy the need and
lead to the reduction
of tension.

The Motivation Mind Map
There are a number of key
theories in relation to
motivation.
The Motivation Mind Map
identifies the main ones.
Before we look in more
detail at these, let's look a
little further into the nature
of motivation.

Early Theories of Motivation
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory
1943 paper "A Theory of
Human Motivation"
Theory X andTheoryY
1960s at MIT Sloan School of
Management
Two FactorTheory
1959 bookThe Motivation to Work.

Maslow‟s Need Hierarchy Theory
 Maslow's hierarchy of needs
is a theory in psychology proposed by
Abraham Maslow
in his 1943 paper
A Theory of Human Motivation.
 Maslow subsequently extended the
idea to include his observations of
humans' Innate curiosity.
 His theories parallel many other
theories of human developmental
psychology, some of which focus
on describing the stages of growth
in humans.

Model of Maslow‟s Need Hierarchy
PHYSIOLOGICAL OR SURVIVAL NEEDS
SAFETY NEEDS
Social Needs
ESTEEM NEEDS
SELF-
ACTUALIZATION

Model of Need Hierarchy Theory

Key Notes of Maslow‟s Theory
 As each is satisfied, the next need becomes dominant.
 A substantially satisfied need no longer motivates.
 Maslow separated the five needs into higher and lower
orders.

Appreciation and Criticism on Maslow’s
Theory
 Maslow’s need theory has received wide recognition,
particularly among practicing managers.
 This acceptance is due to the logic and ease with which
the theory is intuitively understood.
 However, research does not generally validate the
theory.
 There is little support for the pre-diction that need
structures are organized along the dimensions proposed.
 Nor does the prediction that the substantial satisfaction
of a given need leads to the activation of the next higher
need seem true.

Theory X Theory Y
Theory X andTheoryY
are two extremes introduced by
Harvard Professor
Douglas McGregor
in his book
The Human Side of Enterprise.
It was published over 50 years
ago. Still, you can find both
theories in practice today.
THE CRITICAL PATH BY DEREK HUETHER

Criticism & Implications of McGregor’s
Analysis
 Though the theory of x and y are not absolute in
how human nature plays out in our places of work,
there will always be those among us who are
polarizing and think of life as a side of a coin.
 Theory X assumes that lower-order needs
dominate individuals.
 TheoryY assumes that higher-order needs
dominate individuals.
 Unfortunately, no evidence confirms that either set of
assumptions is valid.

Two-Factor Theory
 Frederick Herzberg (1959),
a behavioural scientist proposed
a two-factor theory or the motivator-
hygiene theory.
 According to Herzberg, there are
some job factors that result in
satisfaction while there are other job
factors that prevent dissatisfaction.
 According to Herzberg, the opposite
of “Satisfaction” is “No satisfaction”
and the opposite of “Dissatisfaction”
is
“No Dissatisfaction”.

Criticism on Two-Factor Theory
 The two-factor theory overlooks situational variables.
 Herzberg assumed a correlation between satisfaction
and productivity. But the research conducted by
Herzberg stressed upon satisfaction and ignored
productivity.
 No comprehensive measure of satisfaction was used.
An employee may find his job acceptable despite the
fact that he may hate/object part of his job.
 The theory ignores blue-collar workers. Despite these
limitations, Herzberg‟s Two-Factor theory is
acceptable broadly.

Contemporary Theories of Motivation
McClelland’sTheory of Needs
Goal-SettingTheory
ReinforcementTheory
Job DesignTheory
EquityTheory
ExpectancyTheory

Expectancy Theory
 In 1964, Vroom developed the
Expectancy theory
through his study of the
motivations
behind decision making.
His theory is relevant to the study
of management.

Expectancy Theory
 The most comprehensive explanation of motivation is
expectancy theory. Expectancy theory argues that the
strength of a tendency to act in a certain way depends on
the strength of an expectation that the act will be followed
by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that
outcome to the individual.
 Vroom introduces three variables within the expectancy theory
which are valence (V), expectancy (E) and instrumentality
(I). The three elements are important behind choosing one
element over another because they are clearly defined:
effort-performance expectancy (E>P expectancy),
performance-outcome expectancy (P>O expectancy).

Model of Expectancy Theory
http://www.web-books.com/eLibrary/NC/B0/B66/057MB66.html

Motivation in Learning a Language
 Language teachers readily acknowledge the importance of
learner‟s motivation.
 Like “Language Aptitude” the discussion of “Motivation”
occurs in Second rather than First Language Learning.
 SLA research views motivation as a key factor in L2 learning.
 If to satisfy our needs, to influence the actions and thoughts of
others, to pursue our occupation and our recreation, it is
necessary to use foreign language, then we will learn that
foreign language more rapidly and more effectively than under
any other condition.
 However, there have been differences in the way in which
teachers and researchers have conceptualized motivation ( see
Crookes and Schmidt 1990)
The Study of Language Acquisition (Rod Ellis)

Skehan’s Hypotheses
Skehan (1989) puts forward four hypotheses:
These hypotheses have their associates in the study of
motivation in SLA research, but the Internal Cause
Hypothesis has gained a great deal of researcher's
attention.
The Study of Second Language Acquisition (Rod Ellis)

Skehan’s Hypotheses
1. The Intrinsic Hypothesis:
motivation derives from an inherent interest in the learning tasks the
learner is asked to perform.
2. The Resultative Hypothesis:
learners who do well will persevere, those who do not do well will
be discouraged and try less hard.
3. The Internal Cause Hypothesis:
the learner brings to learning situation a certain quantity of
motivation as given.
4. The Carrot and Stick Hypothesis: external
influences and incentives will affect the strength of the learner‟s
motivation.
The Study of Language Acquisition (Rod Ellis)

Integrated Motivation
 Howard Earl Gardner
is an American
developmental psychologist at
Harvard University.
He is best known for his
theory of multiple intelligences,
as outlined in his book
Frames of Mind:TheTheory of
Multiple Intelligences (1983).

Gardner and Macintyre‟s Model

Integrative Motivation
 According to Gardner‟s socio-educational model, an
integrative orientation involves an interest in learning L2
because of a sincere and personal interest in people and
culture represented by other language group‟ (Lambert
1974: 98).
 Gardner has become increasingly critical of research that
focuses narrowly on the role of orientation in L2 learning,
arguing that effects of learners‟ orientation are meditated
by their motivation- that is , whereas orientation and L2
achievement are only indirectly related, motivation and
achievement are directly related.

What is Integrative Motivation
 As Gardner has given different
operational definitions of this concept in
his studies, the answer to this question is
not that clear (Crookes and Schmidt
(1989).
 Gardner‟s research rests on the use of
self-report questionnaires.
 Questions related to a number of
Orientation and Motivational variables
are included and learner‟s response are
factor-analysed in order to study general
factors.
 One of the factors that has emerged from
this procedure is Integrative Motivation.

Integrative Motivation
The following table includes the variable “integrative
orientation” together with a number of other variables
that are concerned with the learners‟ interest, attitude and
desire regarding the learning of French.

Variable Questionnaire Item Example
Attitude towards
French Canadians
Five positively worded
and five negatively
worded items
“If Canada should lose
the French culture of
Quebec, it could
indeed be a great loss.”
Interest in Foreign
Language
Five items expressing
positive interest and
five relative disinterest
“I enjoy meeting and
listening to people who
speak other
languages.”
Integrative orientation Four items expressing
the importance of
learning French for
integrative reasons.
“Studying French can
be important as it
allows people to
participate more freely
in the activities of other
cultural groups.”
Desire to learn French Three positive and
three negative items
“I wish I were fluent in
French.”

 Gardner asserts that whereas instrumental motivation
emerges as an important factor in some studies, the
integrative motivation has been found perpetually
relevant to L2 achievement.
 According to him learners can have both instrumental and
integrative motivation.
 Muchnick and Wolfe (1982) found that 337 students of
Spanish in high school in the United States could not
possibly separate the integrated and instrumental
motivation.

Instrumental Motivation
 The carrot and stick hypothesis sees external
incentives and influences as determinants of
learner‟s motivational strength.
 It is useful to distinguish “orientation” and
“motivation”.
 Gardner and Macintyre (1991) measure
“orientation” by means of self-report
questionnaire.
 They equate “instrumental motivation” with
giving students a financial reward for
performing a task successfully.

Machiavellian Motivation
Ely (1986b) investigated the types of motivations in first-
year university students of Spanish in the USA. He found
that both types of motivation, though emerging as separate
factors, were present in the same students.

 The studies of Oller, Beca and Vigil (1977) have failed to
locate a correlation between the integrative motivation and
L2 achievement.
 Their research found out that women in California who
rated Anglo people negatively were more successful in
learning English than those who rated them positively.
 Oller and Perkins (1978) suggest that some learners may
be motivated to excel because of the negative attitude
towards the target language community.

Gardner‟s defense
Gardner (1980) has vigoroulsy defended his findings by
pointing out a big number of studies which have reported
a significant effect for integrative motivation, and
attacking the self report questionnaires used in the studies
of Oller and associates.

Research on instrumental motivation
 Much of the research whereas shows instrumental
motivation as a weak predictor of a foreign language
achievement in several Canadian studies, (see Gardner and
Lambert 1972), it seems to be much more influential in
other contexts where learners have little or no interest in
the target language culture and few or no opportunities to
communicate with its members.
 The social situation determines both what type of
orientation learners have and what kind is most important
for language learning.

Conclusion of Integrative Motivation
 Integrative motivation has been shown to be strongly
related to L2 achievement.
 It combines with instrumental motivation to serve as a
powerful predictor of success in formal contexts.
 Learners with integrative motivation are more active in
class and are less likely to drop out.
 However, integrativeness is not always the main
motivational factor in L2 learning.
 Learners living in bilingual areas, may be more influenced
by other factors like self-confidence or friendship.

Criticism
 There also have been a number of limitations
to the research model that has been used to
study integrative motivation.
 It takes no cognizance of the latent effect that
learning experiences can have on learners‟
motivation, as opposed to the effect that
motivation has on learning.

Financial rewards
 There have been few researches that have investigated the
direct effect of instrumental motivation .
 Dunkel (1948) (cited in Gardner and Macintyre 1992)
awarded financial rewards to students learning Farsi.
 He found out that although there was not a significantly
better performance on the Grammar test, there was
tendency in this direction.

 Gardner and Macintyre1991) report a study in which 46
university psychology students were rewarded $10 if they
succeeded in doing a vocabulary task, while the same
number was told to do their best.
 The students offered the reward did significantly better,
but they did not perform better on the last part trial, when
the possibility of reward no longer existed.

Conclusion and Criticism
 This lead Gardner and Macintyre to the
conclusion that once any chance of getting a
reward is eliminated, learns may stop applying
extra effort.
 They see this as a major limitation of
instrumental motivation.

Resultative Motivation
 Gardner (1985) asserts that motivation constitutes a
causative variable, although he is flexible in accepting that
some variations in learners‟ attitudes can result from
positive learning experiences, particularly in courses of a
short duration.

Research on Resultative Motivation
 Spolsky (1989) reviews a number of studies which
suggest that “while greater motivation and attitudes lead to
better learning, the converse is not true” (1989: 153).
 Other studies, however, demonstate that learners‟
motivation is strongly affected by their achievement.
 Hermann (1980) also suggested that success plays a
essential role in motivation.

 Hermann advanced the „Resultative
Hypothesis‟ which asserts that learners who
perform well develop strong motivation and
are much more active in the classroom.
 The Resulative Hypothesis may be applicable
only to those contexts where learners have
very low initial motivation.

Conclusion
 The relationship between motivation
and achievement is an interactive one.
 A high level of motivation stirs
learning, but perceived success in
achieving L2 goals can help to
maintain existing motivation and
even creates new types.
Vicious
circle of
low
motivation
Low
motivation
Low
achievement
Lower
motivation

Motivation as Intrinsic Interest
 As Finnocchiaro (1981) puts in:
Motivation is the feeling nurtured primarily by the
classroom teacher in the learning situation. The
moment of truth- the enhancement of motivation-
occurs when the teacher closes the classroom door,
greets his students with a warm, welcoming smile and
proceeds to interact with various individuals by
making comments or asking questions which indicate
personal concern.

 The notion of „intrinsic motivation‟ is an old one in
psychology.
 It was developed as a substitute to goal- directed theories
of motivation that highlight the role of extrinsic rewards
and punishments.
 Keller (1984) (cited in Crooks and Schmidt 1989)
identifies “interest” as one of the main elements of
motivation defining it as a positive response to stimuli
based on existing cognitive structures in such a way that
learners‟ curiosity is aroused and sustained.

Research on Intrinsic Method
 One way in which intrinsic interest in L2 learning can be
achieved is by providing opportunities for communication.
 McNamara (1973) claims that ‘ the really important part
of motivation lies in the act of communication.’
 Rossier (1975) also emphasizes the importance of a desire
to communicate, arguing that without this an integrative
motivation may not be effective.

 One possibility supported by a strong pedagogic literature
is that interest is engendered if learners become self-
directed (i.e are able to determine their own learning
objectives, choose their own way of achieving these, and
evaluate their own progress).
 Dickinson refers to the study of Bachman (1964) which
suggested that engaging students in decision-making
tended to lead to increased motivation, and thereby, to
increased productivity.

Conclusion
 Motivation in L2 learning constitutes one of the most fully
researched areas of individual differences.
 The bulk of the research, however has rested rather
narrowly on integrative and instrumental motivation,
relying exclusively on self-report questionnaire and
correlation designs.
 Little work on motivation as intrinsic interest has taken
place.
 Also little attention has been paid to the effect of
motivation on the process of learning.

 Crookes and Schimdt (1989)
argue that research that correlates
teachers‟ and learners‟ actions
to „persistence‟ and „effort‟ in
language learning would have a
more „real-world- impact.
 Skehan (1989; 1991) argues for
more research on motivation in
naturalistic as opposed to
classroom settings.

Motivation Theory

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