Background knowledge of motivation

Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom by Zoltan dornyei (2001)

New Words
-A number of pupils have been truanting regularly.
-He is sullen about the results of the examination.
-Sit up straight. Don’t slouch.
-The weather made her lethargic.
-Teachers need a skill to deal with anti-learning influences of deviant children.
-She understood the importance of establishing a close rapport with clients.

Main points
-‘The learner’s enthusiasm, commitment and persistence are key determinants of success or failure’.
-‘Motivation is a convenient way of talking about a concept which is generally seen as a very important human characteristic but which is also immensely complex’.
-‘Motivation is a general way of referring to the antecedents (i.e. the causes and origins)’.
-‘Motivation explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activity’.
-‘Classroom is the place where they grow up. They acquire skills and learn about the world, make friends, fall in love, rebel against the previous generation, find out who they are and what the purpose of life is…’
-‘Learning a foreign language always entails learning a second language culture to some degree’.(Douglas Brown, 1989:65)
-‘Facilitation, not control, should be the guiding idea in attempts to motivate humans‘.
-‘Motivational strategies are techniques that promote the individual’s goal-related behavior and refer to those motivational influences that are consciously exerted to achieve some systematic and enduring positive effect’.