Instrumental Motivation and Integrative Motivation

There are in the grammar observations that apply to all languages; these observations constitute what one calls general grammar. Grammar, which has for its object the expression of thought by the help of speed, spoken or written, thus admits of two sorts of rules. One kind are immutably true and universally followed, they apply to the form of thought itself, they follow from the analysis of it and are only the consequence of it...(Cowie, 1999:227).

2. Is intelligence a major factor in acquiring the BICS? What evidence supports your answer.

The everyday meaning of intelligent is clever, inventive, methodical, quick-witted. In more academic terms, an intelligent person is one who is able to perceive new order and new structure, and thus is able to combine things together in fresh ways, creating new abstract patterns and relationships such as identity and difference, cause and effect. Problem solving requires these abilities.

Cummins (1980, 1983, 1984) divides language proficiency into the two categories of Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). This distinction is very important in any discussion of language proficiency in education. All healthy human beingsautomatically acquire BICS in their mother tongue, but not all human beings are capable of achieving the level of CALP that is required for academic study. In order to understand what is involved in academic performance, it is important to understand the role of intelligence in CALP and the consequent role of CALP in academic performance.

1. What is instrumental motivation? Give an example.

Since the seminal work of Gardner and Lambert in 1972, language teachers and researchers have recognized the important role that motivation plays in language learning. Gardner and Lambert are responsible for proposing the most commonly used framework for understanding the different motivations that language learners typically have. They distinguish two types of language learning motivation:

instrumental motivation and integrative motivation.

Learners with an instrumental motivation want to learn a language because of a practical reason such as getting a salary bonus or getting into college. Many college language learners have a clear instrumental motivation for language learning: They want to fulfill a college language requirement! Integratively motivated learners want to learn the language so that they can better understand and get to know the people who speak that language. In the North American context, integrative motivation has proven to be a strong impetus to successful language learning.

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