Types of Motivation in Learning English

The development of globalization forces the government to make English as the compulsory subject in Indonesia. This policy is influenced by the fact that English is the most widely used language around the world. Automatically, it makes the number of the students who learn English in Indonesia is increasing. In our opinion, the position of English as the second language in Indonesia forces the students to dig their motivation up. Furthermore, www.eng.hi138.com defines motivation as “the direct driving force of action is to inspire people to action to achieve a definite purpose inherent reason for this is to maintain their individual activities and behavior of a state of mind”. In other word, motivation is a supporting element to gain someone’s enthusiasm in achieving his/her purpose. Motivation in learning language refers to an effort to achieve the target to learn language, in this case is the English. Therefore, motivation in learning English for the students has a significant role. For instance, if a student is motivated that by learning English can brighten his/her future, his or her curiosity in studying would be increased. As we all know, there are many kinds of motivations for the students to learn English. However, to make it clearer, we divide it into three basics of motivations, which are the origin, the purpose, and the level.

In the first place is the classification of motivation which is based on the origin. Basically, the students’ motivation in learning English comes from the two major aspects which are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Firstly, we are going to deal with the intrinsic motivation. In this case, the intrinsic motivation is a motivation to learn English which comes from the students’ inside. Intrinsic motivation deals with rewards which come internally. The students learn English to get satisfaction for themselves, such as enjoyment or interest (www.goodmanineh.com). For example, some students learn English because they feel happy if they get new knowledge. The happiness that is felt by the students whenever they learn English can motivate them to learn more. Automatically, it will affect their behavior in a classroom. They can be more enthusiastic and active in the class because they enjoy studying English. In contrast, the extrinsic motivation is related with the outside of the students. It deals with getting reward from the outside. In this case, reward does not only mean something concrete for example books, stationeries, etc but also something abstract such as praise from environment. Take my brother, as an example. My parents usually promise him to give a gift if he can get good marks in his exam. He will be more motivated to study since he will get a gift from my parents. Let us take another example. In our society, English is considered as a difficult subject since it is not our own language. Automatically, someone who is good at English will get their respect. It can be a motivation to the students. If they can show that they are good at English, they will get the respect from their environment as well. It will be such a pride for them so that they will be more motivated to study English harder. From our explanation above, the internal motivation is more directly related with themselves. In fact, the external motivation is not provided all the time.

In the second place, we classify the motivation which is based on the purpose. In the second place is the classification of students’ motivation in learning English according to the purpose. Based on Gardner and Lambert (1972), the purpose to learn English can be divided into two parts, which are integrative and instrumental (Accessed on October 25^th 2010; www.jalthokkaido.net). Firstly, let us discuss the integrative purpose. The integrative purpose means that the students learn English in order to be members of English community. By becoming the members, the opportunities to know English further are opened widely. In addition, there are many English communities which can be joined by the students, such as English courses, English organizations in schools and universities, and many more. In our opinion, those communities give a lot of advantages for the learners, such as get a lot of friends including natives speakers, have the membership, and etc. Native speakers have big roles because the students are attracted to study English from the English-speaking people directly. Additionally, having the membership in a foreign organization can open the students’ opportunities to study abroad because they are accustomed to showing their existence. Secondly, let us go the second purpose which is instrumental. The instrumental purpose means the learners learn English to make English as a means to get something. In our opinion, the word “something” here can be anything, for example are good jobs and brighter future. For instance, if we have a look at the job vacancies in newspapers, human resource development of the companies will look for the employees who have two skills in English which are oral and written. Thus, the students who learn English believe that English can bring them to the brighter future.

In the last place, we have classification of the motivation according to the level. Based on the Abraham Maslow’s theory, there are several types of motivations. They are physiological needs, safety needs, belonging needs, esteem needs, and self actualization needs. In this case, the types of motivations which belong to the learning English motivations are the esteem needs, and the self actualization needs. Firstly, let us start from the esteem needs. Basically, according to Abraham Maslow, people would be like to be respected (Accessed on October 26^th 2010; www.envisionsoftware.com). As my previous example, students will be proud of themselves if they are good at English. They will be more motivated in learning English to get respect from their environments. Secondly, let us discuss about the self actualization that they want to achieve. In this case, self actualization means that the students learn English since they want to reach their dreams. This type of motivation is related directly to one of the purposes of the motivation, which is instrumental. We can see that actually the relationship between the instrumental and the self actualization is that the students use English as a means to achieve their dreams. As an example, the students who have dreams to study abroad will be motivated to study TOEFL hardly in order to get the certificate. As the result, they can make their dreams come true.

In brief, we can conclude that motivation can be divided into several basics, three of which are; the origin, the purpose, and the level. Based on the origin we have two types, the intrinsic which comes from the students’ inside and the extrinsic that the source is from the students’ environment. According to the purpose, we have two types as well. They are the integrative and the instrumental. The integrative purpose means that the students learn English in order to be members of English community, while the instrumental purpose means the learners learn English to make English as a means to get something. Furthermore, the motivation which is based on the level can be divided into two types, which are esteem and self-actualization. Additionally, from those three motivations above, we can infer that it is precise if we consider that motivation is one of the important supporting elements for the students in learning English. It can be a motivation for the students to learn English more. Therefore, we recommend to the students to have their own motivation so that they can encourage themselves to make their dreams come true through English without being encouraged by their environments.

Asizah

Nurrahma Sutisna