Noels Plenary CUE2011

Kimberly A. Noels

The Contexts and Dynamics of Language

Learning Motivation

CUE JALT July 2-3, 2011

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.

Overview

Defining Motivation: Self-Determination Theory

Motivation across Learning Contexts Motivation and the Cultural Context

The Dynamics of Motivation Fostering Motivation in Language Learners

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).

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.

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





AMOTIVATION!

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 にほんごはすきじゃありませんですよ.

-- Canadian, Mandarin



AMOTIVATION!

INTEGRATED!REGULATION!

IDENTIFIED!REGULATION!

INTROJECTED!REGULATION!

EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION!

EXTERNAL!REGULATION!

Self-Determination Continuum





AMOTIVATION!

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






AMOTIVATION!

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…







AMOTIVATION!

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







AMOTIVATION!

… 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.








AMOTIVATION!

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








AMOTIVATION!

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….









AMOTIVATION!

I’m learning it because in my heart, I know that is what I was meant to do.


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 motivation, followed by external regulation.

Adapted from Noels, Sugita, Saumure & Sharma, 2011

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

Focussed Essay Technique: What are your reasons for learning

your second language?

Pro

porti

on o

f res

pons

es (m

ain

them

e)

Adapted from Noels, Marchak, Saumure & Adrian-Taylor, 2011

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

Hypothetical Model

Autonomy

Relatedness

Competence

Intrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic (Self-Determined)

Motivation

Motivational Intensity

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

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”.

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.

Individualism-Collectivism

From: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

Indi

vidu

alis

m

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

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)

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.)

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

Self-Construals S

elf-C

onst

rual

(Mea

n)

Correlations between Orientations and Hypothesized Consequences

Japan Switzerland

Mot. Int.

Self-Eval.

Persist Engl. Use

Mot. Int.

Self-Eval.

Persist English Use

Amotivation -.47 -.58 -.66 -.20 -.14 -.15 -.31 -.07

External Regulation

-.03 .01 .15 -.01 .00 .00 .13 -.09

Introjected Regulation

.09 .02 .07 -.01 .12 .08 .05 -.05

Identified Regulation

.43 .41 .66 .27 .36 .42 .46 .26


.39 .43 .63 .31 .55 .44 .46 .26

Switzerland Standard Multiple Regressions

Predicting the Relative Autonomy Index

Equation Coefficients

Independent Variables

R2 F β r

Autonomy .40 54.99* .38* .54* Competence .16* .47* Relatedness .26* .47*

*p < .05

Japan Standard Multiple Regressions Predicting

the Relative Autonomy Index

Equation Coefficients

Independent Variables

R2 F β r

Autonomy .49 30.76* .55* .67* Competence .02 .43* Relatedness .20* .53*

*p < .05

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)

Hypothetical Model

Autonomy

Relatedness

Competence


Extrinsic (Self-Determined)

Motivation


+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

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?

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%

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


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

Cross-lagged Panel Analysis

Compet. (T1)

Compet. (T2)

Intrinsic (T1)

Intrinsic (T2)

Time 1 to Time 2

Cross-lagged Panel Analysis

Compet. (T1)

Compet. (T2)

Intrinsic (T1)

Intrinsic (T2)

Time 1 to Time 2

Cross-lagged Panel Analysis: Competence and Intrinsic Orientation

Time 1 to Time 2

* p < .05

Compet. (T1)

Compet. (T2)

Intrinsic (T1)

Intrinsic (T2)

.74*

.89*

.19 .24* .32*

.03

|z| = 3.21, p < .001

Cross-lagged Panel Analysis: Competence and Intrinsic Orientation

Compet. (T2)

Compet. (T3)

Intrinsic (T2)

Intrinsic (T3)

.75*

.83*

.24* .41* .16

.34*

Time 1 to Time 2 Time 2 to Time 3

|z| = 1.85, p = .06

* p < .05

Compet. (T1)

Compet. (T2)

Intrinsic (T1)

Intrinsic (T2)

.74*

.89*

.19 .24* .32*

.03

|z| = 3.21, p < .001

The Progressive Cycle of Motivation

Competence (T1)

Competence (T3)


(T2)

.32 .34

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.

The Progressive Cycle of Motivation


(T1)


(T3)

Intrinsic/ SD Extrinsic Motivation

(T2)

.53/.40 .50/.32

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.

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.

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.

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.

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