Are you intrinsically motivated or extrinsically motivated when it comes to language learning? Everyone studying English has their own reason for learning the language. Maybe it is for work, to pass an exam, to communicate more easily when travelling: there are many possible motivations for language learning. If you identify your type of motivation, you can learn how to enhance your progress.

Some motivations will help you reach your goal standard more quickly than others and some could keep you at a level of fluency forever. Other reasons for motivation will have you forgetting what you learnt a few months previously. So let’s pinpoint the types of motivation for learning a language and use this knowledge to improve your language skills.

 

Types of Motivation

There are two main types of motivation: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. The former is concerned with doing an activity for external reasons and the latter is concerned with doing the activity for its own benefit.

While extrinsic motivation usually does not last very long, intrinsic motivation can keep the fires of language learning burning forever.

Read on to find out more about the types of motivation in relation to language leaning and try to identify your own motivation type.

Once you identify your own personal motivation for learning a language, you can more quickly work out how to study more effectively and this will make a difference to your progress.

 

Extrinsic Motivation for Learning a Language

We all learn languages for different reasons. This is because we all have our own motivations. One of the most popular reasons for learning when we are at school is to pass exams – and we might possibly not think of our lesson further than this.

Learning a language simply to pass an exam is learning from an extrinsic motivation. This means that the motivation for learning a language in this case is from an outside influence. After this short term goal of passing the exam is achieved, we will have no further use for the language.

Other types of extrinsic motivation for learning a language include learning a language in order to please someone else such as a parent, partner or a teacher, to win a prize, or to get a pay rise at work. In these instances, we are only learning to get a reaction from someone else or for more money, not for any reason related to the self.

It is important to keep motivated when learning a language, however, extrinsic motivation is not a lasting type of motivation. EFL students who are only extrinsically motivated will find it very hard to reach a good stage of fluency because the drive is simply not there.

Similarly, it is very difficult to teach students who are only extrinsically motivated, as they will not be as likely to put much effort into the class.

Intrinsic Motivation for Learning a Language

There is another type of motivation for learning a language: intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsically motivated students are highly motivated for reasons beyond immediate rewards. Intrinsic motivation means a student wants to learn for reasons of enjoyment, curiosity and personal fulfillment.

An intrinsically motivated EFL student is likely to put more effort into learning the language as they want to learn for themselves for deeper, more personal reasons, not simply to pass an exam or to please someone else.

Identifying EFL Student Motivation

Identifying your own motivation type is a big step in finding the best way to study. Teachers also need to identify students’ motivation in order to construct an effective lesson to meet their learning goals – performing a needs analysis will be crucial here.

Often a good way to encourage students to find a stronger intrinsic motivation to learn English is to make the lessons fun.

Using humour in EFL lessons is a great way to turn an extrinsically motivated student into a student who actually enjoys learning because the language is fun.

Interestingly, some studies have shown that providing extrinsic rewards for an extrinsically motivated activity actually results in demotivation for the student.

However it is often difficult to determine if a motivation is entirely extrinsic or intrinsic in the first place and it can often seem to be a combination of both.

 

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

The desire to learn English in order to integrate better into the community seems to be driven by both types of motivation, both intrinsic and extrinsic. Integration is related strongly to the sense of self, but it is also a motivation outside of the self, related to other people.

Whatever your motivation for learning a language, it is important to identify it so that you can find the learning tools and study techniques best suited to your own goals.

For example, if you want to integrate into a community, it will be a great help to talk to natives. This will help you get used to the accent and more quickly learn the best way to communicate effectively day to day, in real life.

On the other hand, if you are only learning a language to win a prize or pass an exam, it will be useful to focus on formal textbook learning, using the exam syllabus as a guide. This way, you will learn the most useful vocabulary and phrases and cover the most important subject areas that will be tested in the exam.

 

Share your thoughts on motivation

Teachers, how do you help keep students motivated?

Students, what motivates you to learn English?

What is the best type of motivation for language learning?

Let us know your thoughts on motivation in the comments.