Motivation as a Factor in Second Language Acquisition

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen (Department of Anglophone Studies), language: English, abstract: "The limits of my language are the limits of my world." Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein was a philosopher of the 19th century; his quotation underlines the importance of second language acquisition. We live in a globalised world where language is the most important way of communication. People all over the world share their cultures and beliefs through their language and interact with each other. Aside from social factors, language plays an important economic role. Nowadays it is not enough to speak one language; many employers prefer employees, who are multilingual.

Moreover, many children are growing up multilingual, which is regarded as a huge advantage. In larger terms, they are seen as positive result of our globalised world. Besides this, English is the world language and connects the world. Many schools in foreign countries started offering English lessons in primary schools to increase the number of fluent English speakers. According to this, many teachers try to optimise their lessons and way of teaching. Second language acquisition has become a huge field for further research.Theories and models are getting improved in order to create better learning environments and help teachers to use authentic and optimised methods in their lessons.

Many theories and models underline the significance of motivation during language acquiring processes. But how important is motivation in second language acquisition and what effect does it have while acquiring a new language? This term paper will give a brief definition of the term motivation. Then it will present some important and influential motivation theories in order to discuss the influences on second language acquisition. Finally, it will answer the question what teachers can do to increase the motivation in language classrooms. [...]