Monday 20 December 2010

Types of Motivation in Learning English

Indonesia is one of the countries that uses English as the Foreign Language. Students in Indonesia have an obligation to study English in elementary school until university level. They aim to study English in order to capable of competing with others whether in finding good job or increasing their knowledge in science and technology. However, some people say that learning language especially English is a piece of burden. They face several obstacles in the process of learning English. The obstacles that they get hold of are difficulty in memorizing the grammar rule, spelling the English’s word, practicing English in daily life, etc. To cope with it, they ought to have motivation to encourage themselves to study English. The definition of motivation is to give reason, incentive, enthusiasm, or interest that causes a specific action or certain behavior. Motivation is present in every life function. In addition, Gardner (1985) defines language learning motivation as “the extent to which an individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity.” According to Dornyei (1994) in his previous work stated that some components of motivation including internal and external motivation. The motivation to learn is personal and comes from within an individual, however mostly it is influenced by external factors. In this essay, we will converge in the external subjects that stimulate the motivation, three of which are obviously: the teachers, the parents, and the peer groups.
First of all, we contend with the first subject that stimulates the motivation in learning English. The study demonstrates that teacher’s motivation as an essential factor for classroom effectiveness and school improvement. Teacher motivation has to do with teachers' desire to participate in the education process. As teachers, we should have an ability to motivate students in a positive way. The teacher is the conductor of the class. When teacher have the high motivated in teaching English, the students will gradually increase their motivation as the result. To encourage the students’ motivation the teacher may have the certain strategy. For example, teachers create a positive classroom climate. Research shows that what educational scholars term “a positive affective environment” promotes student learning and motivation in a statistically significant way. If a student feels comfortable and safe in the environment that you have created, then they will feel more comfortable taking chances. This means student who displays greater motivation to read out loud in class, write an essay without undue fear of criticism and participate openly in active learning activities.
Another subject who can motivate the students in learning English is the parents. Parents may have the essential action to enhance their children’s behave and interest. If the children have the basic interest in learning English, the parents can easily motivate them than finally help them to develop their English. However, for those who have the less interest in learning English parents should find the way to solve this problem. By understanding their children hobby or interest, the parents can find the media to deliver English in the fun ways. For instance, the parents buy their children one kind of games that use English as the medium of instruction. In this way, the game is used as the media to attract the children interest. While they are playing the game unintentionally they are willing to know the English words. Evidence demonstrates that learning in the relax condition which is liked by the children will simply transfer the messages of the material fully. By doing this method, we believe that the learners will be more enjoy in learning English.
The last subject that also has the role to motivate in learning English is the peer groups. Peer groups are among the most significant social contexts in adolescence (Magnusson & Stattin, 1998; Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 1998). As we observe before, learning English in fun condition we will get the knowledge easily. Learning English with friend may become one of the fun ways that stimulate the willingness in learning. Not only that, the students who are learning English on a similar level of skill, you will be in an excellent situation. The students will have someone to talk about English with. These conversations will increase your interest in English, as explained in the previous section. It will be easier, because you will be able to discuss your problems with your friend. Thus, you will study English more because you want to be better than your friend. For example, practicing speaking English with your friend in class or finding somebody by e-mail may be the great motivation in learning English. By practicing with your peer groups, learning English will be more enjoyable and run as well as what is expected by the learners.
Based on explanation above, we can construe that motivation based on the external subject that important are classified into the teacher, the parents and the peer groups. Those subjects are the significant subject that affects the motivation toward the learners. The teacher will assure the students of their success and that assurance will inspire the students. Not only that, parents also can increase the likelihood of their child's building independent motivation by providing an environment that allows children to freely explore and to see the effect of their actions. In addition, group work (peer groups) will increase behavioral engagement at the individual level in learning English. However, it depends on the learners on how to find something to motivate them most. Therefore we can express, "Motivation is a fire from within. If someone else tries to light that fire under you, chances are it will burn very briefly (Stephen R. Covey).”
 Sources: 
Brophy, Jere (1997). Motivating Students to Learn. Guilford. CT: McGraw-Hill.
Driscoll, M. (1994). Psychology of learning for instruction. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Skinner, E. A. & Belmont, M. J. 1993. Motivation in the Classroom: Reciprocal Effects of Teacher Behavior and Student Engagement across the School Year. Journal of Educational Psychology.
Written by
Bila Nastiti T
Orista Vella A

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