This document summarizes Kimberly Noels' research on language learning motivation. It discusses how motivation is defined according to self-determination theory and how it varies across learning contexts and cultures. The research examines motivation among Japanese and Swiss students learning English as a foreign language. It finds that autonomy, competence, and relatedness predict self-determined motivation in both cultures, supporting the cross-cultural validity of self-determination theory. The research emphasizes the importance of taking a dynamic perspective on motivation that considers how motivational factors influence each other over time.

1. The Contexts and
Dynamics of Language
Learning Motivation
Kimberly A. Noels
CUE JALT
July 2-3, 2011

2. Acknowledgements
 Colleagues and students involved in these
projects include Maureen Ehrensberger-Dow,
Hiroshi Ota, Megan Lau, Kristie Saumure,
and Maya Sugita.
 Many thanks go out to the professors and
students who participated in this study.
 This project was supported financially by the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada.

3. Overview
 Defining Motivation: Self-Determination
Theory
 Motivation across Learning Contexts
 Motivation and the Cultural Context
 The Dynamics of Motivation
 Fostering Motivation in Language Learners

4. Defining Motivation
 The motivated individual is “goal directed,
expends effort, is persistent, is attentive, has
desires (wants), exhibits positive affect, is
aroused, has expectancies, demonstrates
self-confidence (self-efficacy), and has
reasons (motives)” (Gardner, 2006, p. 2).

5. Motivation for Learning
Japanese: Participants
 129 university students registered in Japanese
language courses
 Age 18 to 35 years (M = 20.44, SD = 2.73)
 Gender: 55.9% female
 Mother tongue: 55% English; 39.6% Chinese
 Language used most frequently: 77% English
 According to the Statistics Canada (2007),
Japanese represents 0.4% of the province’s
population.

6. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
The more I find out about Japanese language/culture, the more interested
in it I become; it is very interesting and fun for me to discover each new
kernel of knowledge. … Once again, because it is fun.
-- Canadian, English
… over time I’ve fallen in love with the language itself and its sound and
structure. I love writing Japanese, especially the kanji.
-- Canadian, English

7. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!

8. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
AMOTIVATION! INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
Sigh… 6 credits of LOE [language other than English] in order to
complete a BA. I really don’t understand what is with the Faculty of Arts.
Silly requirements, i.e., LOE make linguistically-challenged people like me…
pretty upset to find out that the university values linguistic capability over
academic achievements. After all, the ability to pick a
language up is innate and not something that can be taught.
Anyway .
-- Canadian, Mandarin

9. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION!
AMOTIVATION! INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
EXTERNAL! INTROJECTED! IDENTIFIED! INTEGRATED!
REGULATION! REGULATION! REGULATION! REGULATION!

10. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION!
AMOTIVATION! INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
EXTERNAL!
REGULATION!
LOE requirement
-- Canadian, English
I am learning Japanese because I would like to get
a job with a Japanese car company as an accountant.
There is a lot of money in Japan, and I want it.
-- Canadian, English

11. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION!
AMOTIVATION! INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
EXTERNAL! INTROJECTED!
REGULATION! REGULATION!
I spent 3 years in Japan… I studied the martial
art of naginata and my teacher and fellow students
knew little English. We communicated pretty well,
but I truly wish I could have known them better. Learning
Japanese would have helped that. I have some shame over
not learning more of the language while I was there.
I didn’t apply myself…
-- Canadian, English

12. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION!
AMOTIVATION! INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
EXTERNAL! INTROJECTED!
REGULATION! REGULATION!
To culture myself, to prove to myself and others that
it is something I can do, and provide me with status
and a sense of intelligence.
-- Canadian, English

13. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION!
AMOTIVATION! INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
EXTERNAL! INTROJECTED! IDENTIFIED!
REGULATION! REGULATION! REGULATION!
… I also like to fix up cars and you’d be amazed at how many
Honda after-market parts come with only Japanese instructions,
and with a lot of dictionary work, I can usually
get the thing put together right.
-- Canadian, English

14. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION!
AMOTIVATION! INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
EXTERNAL! INTROJECTED! IDENTIFIED!
REGULATION! REGULATION! REGULATION!
As part of my research in cultural anthropology, learning the
language would help me understand Japanese culture better
(to some extent at least)
-- Singaporean, English

15. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION!
AMOTIVATION! INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
EXTERNAL! INTROJECTED! IDENTIFIED! INTEGRATED!
REGULATION! REGULATION! REGULATION! REGULATION!
When I was younger I was really interested in Japanese
culture. So when I won a scholarship to do an exchange in
Japan, I was really excited. It was there where I decided to
become an English teacher. So I’m going to get my degree in
Education with my major as Japanese and my minor as
International/Intercultural Education. After I convocate in a few
years I plan on teaching in [X High School] in Sendai….
-- Canadian, English

16. Self-Determination Theory
Deci & Ryan (1985, 2001)
EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION!
AMOTIVATION! INTRINSIC!
MOTIVATION!
EXTERNAL! INTROJECTED! IDENTIFIED! INTEGRATED!
REGULATION! REGULATION! REGULATION! REGULATION!
I’m learning it because in my heart,
I know that is what I was meant to do.
-- Canadian, English

17. Motivation for Learning Japanese:
Motivational Orientations
 Students often have
multiple reasons for
learning a language.
This group of
students expressed
high levels of
identified regulation,
followed by intrinsic
Adapted from Noels, Sugita, Saumure & Sharma, 2011
motivation, followed
by external regulation.

18. Context and Language
Learning Motivation
 Foreign Language Students (n = 20)
 Age: M=24.90 years (SD=6.27)
 Sex: 55% female
 Heritage Language Students (n = 12)
 Age: M=21.33 years (SD=2.27)
 Sex: 91.7% female
 English
as a Second Language (ESL)
Students (n = 30)
 Age: M=24.86 years (SD=5.40)
 Sex: 46.7% female

19. Focussed Essay Technique:
What are your reasons for learning
your second language?
Proportion of responses (main theme)
Adapted from Noels, Marchak, Saumure & Adrian-Taylor, 2011

20. BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS
AND SELF-DETERMINATION
 Autonomy
 sense of making a conscious and voluntary
decision to engage in a personally relevant
activity
 Competence
 sense of being effective in performing the
activity; capacity to rise to “optimal challenges”
 Relatedness
 sense of secure and satisfying connections with
others in one’s social surroundings

21. Hypothetical Model
Autonomy + Intrinsic
Motivation
+ +
+
Motivational
Relatedness
+ Intensity
+
+
Extrinsic
Competence + (Self-Determined)
Motivation

22. Motivation and Culture
 Motivational models developed in North America
are often transported elsewhere, a practice that
can be problematic.
 Autonomy is a central value in many “Western”
societies, especially in (North) America, and is
associated with an “individualistic” cultural
orientation.
 Cross-cultural researchers suggest that other
countries (often exemplified by East Asian
nations) might be more “collectivistic”.

23. Motivation and Culture
 Is Self-Determination Theory valid cross-
culturally?
 Do more self-determined extrinsic orientations
and intrinsic motivation predict positive learning
“outcomes”?
 Is autonomy an important predictor of self-
determined orientations in more collectivistic
societies? Or are other needs more important
(e.g. relatedness)?
 We need a comparative perspective to
examine cultural differences in patterns of
relations between motivational variables.

24. Individualism-Collectivism
Individualism
From: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

25. Method
 Participants
 101 students enrolled in EFL courses at the Aichi
Shukutoku University in Japan
 All native Japanese speakers
 Mean age = 20.57 years; 68.3% females
 Years studied English = 8.83 years
 217 students enrolled in the EFL program at the
Zurich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur
in Switzerland
 All native (Swiss) German speakers
 Mean age = 23.79 years; 41.7% females
 Years studied English = 6.57 years

26. Materials
• Cultural Differences
• Interdependent and Independent Self-Construals
(Cross, 1995)
• Intrinsic and Extrinsic Orientations
• Language Learning Orientations Scale (Noels et
al., 2000)
 External: To gain the benefits (eg., job, money, course
credit) which English will provide.
 Introjected: Because I would feel guilty if I didn’t know
English.
 Identified: Because English helps me to achieve goals
that are important to me.
 Intrinsic: For the enjoyment I feel when learning English.
• RAI = (-2 * External Regulation) + (-1 * Introjected
Regulation) + (+1 * Identified Regulation) + (+2 *
Intrinsic Motivation)

27. Materials
• Hypothesized Antecedents/ Psychological
Needs
• Self-Perceptions of Autonomy
• I feel that learning English is imposed on me rather
than chosen by me. (reversed)
• Self-Perceptions of Competence
• I don’t think I am capable of learning English well.
(reversed)
• Self-Perceptions of Relatedness
• I feel a sense of welcome from others (e.g.,
teachers, the English community, etc.)

28. Materials
• Hypothesized Consequences
• Motivational Intensity (Effort)
• I really work hard to learn English.
• Intention to Continue (Persistence)
• I want to continue to learn English after I finish this
class.
• Self-Evaluation of English Competence
• Read, write, speak, understand
• Use of English outside the Class

29. Self-Construal (Mean)
Self-Construals

30. Correlations between Orientations and
Hypothesized Consequences
Japan Switzerland
Mot. Self- Persist Engl. Mot. Self- Persist English
Int. Eval. Use Int. Eval. Use
Amotivation -.47 -.58 -.66 -.20 -.14 -.15 -.31 -.07
External -.03 .01 .15 -.01 .00 .00 .13 -.09
Regulation
Introjected .09 .02 .07 -.01 .12 .08 .05 -.05
Regulation
Identified .43 .41 .66 .27 .36 .42 .46 .26
Regulation
Intrinsic .39 .43 .63 .31 .55 .44 .46 .26
Motivation

31. Switzerland
Standard Multiple Regressions
Predicting the Relative Autonomy Index
Equation Coefficients
Independent R2 F β r
Variables
Autonomy .40 54.99* .38* .54*
Competence .16* .47*
Relatedness .26* .47*
*p < .05

32. Japan
Standard Multiple Regressions Predicting
the Relative Autonomy Index
Equation Coefficients
Independent R2 F β r
Variables
Autonomy .49 30.76* .55* .67*
Competence .02 .43*
Relatedness .20* .53*
*p < .05

33. Implications and
Future Directions
 Implications
 This evidence supports the cross-cultural validity
of SDT across these countries that have been
shown to differ in individualism.
 Methodological directions
 Multiple comparison groups
 Matched samples
 Conceptual directions
 Proactive and Reactive Autonomy (Littlewood,
1999)

34. Hypothetical Model
Autonomy + Intrinsic
Motivation
+ +
+
Motivational
Relatedness
+ Intensity
+
+
Extrinsic
Competence + (Self-Determined)
Motivation

35. A Dynamic Perspective on
Motivation
 Do Autonomy, Competence and Relatedness
“cause” Intrinsic and Self-Determined
Extrinsic Orientations?
 Do Intrinsic and Self-Determined Extrinsic
Orientations “cause” Motivational Intensity?

36. Participants
 146 university students registered in French
language courses
 Age 17 to 43 years (M = 21.19, SD = 4.55)
 Gender: 79.2% female
 Mother tongue: 81.5% English (no French)
 English used most frequently: 92.4%

37. Materials
 Web-based questionnaire
 Language Learning Orientations Scale (LLOS)
 Intrinsic Motivation
 Extrinsic motivation
 Adapted RAI = (-2 * External Regulation) + (-1 * Introjected
Regulation) + (+1 * Identified Regulation) + (+2 * Integrated
Regulation)
 Psychological Needs
 Self-Perceptions of Autonomy
 Self-Perceptions of Competence
 Self-Perceptions of Relatedness
 Motivational Intensity

38. Procedure
 3 time points
 Early in the semester (Sept 16 to 25)
 Mid-semester (Oct 10 to 22)
 End of semester (Nov 30 to Dec 13)
 Nt1 = 146; Nt2 = 110; Nt3 = 79

39. Cross-lagged Panel Analysis
Time 1 to Time 2
Compet. Compet.
(T1) (T2)
Intrinsic Intrinsic
(T1) (T2)

40. Cross-lagged Panel Analysis
Time 1 to Time 2
Compet. Compet.
(T1) (T2)
Intrinsic Intrinsic
(T1) (T2)

41. Cross-lagged Panel Analysis:
Competence and Intrinsic Orientation
Time 1 to Time 2
Compet. .74* Compet.
(T1) (T2)
.03
.19 .24*
.32*
Intrinsic .89* Intrinsic
(T1) (T2)
|z| = 3.21, p < .001
* p < .05

42. Cross-lagged Panel Analysis:
Competence and Intrinsic Orientation
Time 1 to Time 2 Time 2 to Time 3
Compet. .74* Compet. Compet. .75* Compet.
(T1) (T2) (T2) (T3)
.03 .34*
.19 .24* .41*
.32* .24* .16
Intrinsic .89* Intrinsic Intrinsic .83* Intrinsic
(T1) (T2) (T2) (T3)
|z| = 3.21, p < .001 |z| = 1.85, p = .06
* p < .05

43. The Progressive Cycle
of Motivation
Competence Competence
(T1) (T3)
.32 .34
Intrinsic
Motivation
(T2)

44. Summary
 Competence seems to have the strongest role.
 Initial feelings of competence predict greater intrinsic and
self-determined extrinsic motivation by the mid-term, and
these orientations in turn predict greater feelings of
competence by the end of the course.
 Autonomy shows a similar but weaker pattern of
relations with the orientations.
 It is less clear that autonomy “causes” intrinsic and
extrinsic (self-determined) motivational orientations.
 Relatedness has less of a role in the process.
 Initial feelings of relatedness weakly predict greater self-
determined extrinsic orientation by the midterm, but there
are no significant relations between Times 2 and 3.

45. The Progressive Cycle
of Motivation
Motivational Motivational
Intensity Intensity
(T1) (T3)
.53/.40 Intrinsic/ .50/.32
SD Extrinsic
Motivation
(T2)

46. A Dynamic Perspective on
Motivation
 Motivation is a complex process.
 Promoting feelings of autonomy, relatedness and especially
competence can foster intrinsic and self-determined
extrinsic motivation… and vice versa.
 Self-determined extrinsic and intrinsic motivation are
relevant for understanding why people put in the extra
effort to engage in language learning … and vice versa.
 From a dynamic systems theory, this complexity and
reciprocity of relations shouldn’t be surprising.

47. Fostering Autonomy
 Autonomy-enhancing behaviours
 Foster relevance
 Provide choice
 Autonomy-suppressing behaviours
 Suppress criticism
 Intrude/interfere with the learner’s natural pace
based on Assor, Kaplan & Roth (2002). British
Journal of Educational Psychology, 72.

48. Fostering Competence
 Informational Feedback/Structure
 Articulate clear, explicit and well-organized directions
 Provide leadership and a program of action to guide
students’ ongoing activity
 Offer constructive feedback on how to gain control
over valued outcomes.
 Chaos
 Ambiguous, confusing directions of “what to do”
 Little guidance, no goals
 Off-task or little feedback, competence-irrelevant info.
Based on Jang, H., Reeve, J., & Deci, E.L. (2010). Journal
Of Educational Psychology, 102, 588-600.

49. Fostering Relatedness
 Acceptance, warmth, security
 Express interest, empathy
 Assurance of security, positive regard
 Use inclusive language and display nonverbal
“immediacy”
 Isolation, unvalued, cold, uncaring
 Tease, ridicule, use disparaging comments
 Show resentfulness or disinterest
Ryan & Powelson (1991). Journal of
Experimental Education, 60, 49-66.