Motivation Plays a Major Part in Second Language Acquisition Research Paper

Motivation Plays a Major Part in Second Language Acquisition - Research Paper Example As the paper outlines, there are some people who seem to patronize their own language so much that they refuse or find it hard to learn a second language. As every individual talk with ease in their native tongue, learning to communicate in a second language becomes more difficult particularly if the learner's environment is unsupportive. If the learner's family, workmates, and friends are not proficient at the new language the learning process would be hard to attain as the learner will not be able to apply the second language in everyday life.  Motivation is one of the keys to acquiring a second language. A number of students are motivated to learn a second language with their desire to travel and have a better future, or when a student has developed a particular liking in knowing about the customs and language of a country of interest. The educators also play a vital role in keeping the second language learner motivated.  Recently, discussion on the role that motivation plays in second language acquisition is prevalent. In this paper, I would like to present the arguments for and against the idea that motivation indeed plays a major part in learning a second language.  Motivation can lead to language acquisition when done in a manner which is higher than what would be the case when it would be inexplicably missing. In such circumstances, there is a need to inculcate the right kind of attitude and feelings in individuals who want to acquire a second language for their own betterment that they understand the need to be motivated at all possible times [Dornyei, Csizer & Nemeth, 2006]. It is for this reason that Gardner and Lambert (1972) opined that there are in essence a couple of different types when one talks about motivation in the related segments. These could be attributed to the integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. The difference between these is that integrative form of motivation is more inclined with the establishment of the secon d language within the environs of a particular individual; on the other hand, a learner who has an instrumental motivation aims to learn the second language due to the sound performance of a single function or reason for that matter. Thus, there is a huge difference as far as their overlapping methodologies are concerned. In the integrative form of motivation, the learner has generated positive vibes and feelings with the purpose; but in the instrumental sense of motivation, the feeling is just present to capture the functional basis than anything else. The role here is to integrate the language that is being learned rather than use it for a functional reason and then discard when the intent was consummated. The second language acquisition process thus becomes more significant when the need is to seek it from the integrative stance rather than the instrumental basis. The integrative motivation of second language learning does wonders to the learner than instrumental motivation since the individual's interest grows beyond the mere curiosity of mastering the new lingo; the student/learner also delves into the various cultural ideologies, the people, and the set of customs that surround the new language learned.