Motivation And Motivating In Foreign Language Learning And Teaching

It is well known that motivation is one of the most important factors in promoting people's behaviors. It has the most powerful influences on learning, and there is no exception in the situation of foreign language learning. However, in practice this crucial factor is always ignored or neglected. Certainly, there are reasons for this. On one hand, many teachers lack of theoretical knowledge and have no or low consciousness of motivational problems in classroom teaching. On the other hand, motivation itself is a very multifaceted and complicated psychological concept; even though teachers are conscious with it, it's still not only a time and effort-consuming task for them to deal with but also a task sometimes beyond their control. They may feel frustrated and at a loss of what to do to motivate their students rightly and at the same time to maintain their motivation during the whole learning process. No matter what the situation is, no one can deny that the best way to promote language learners' learning effectiveness and efficiency is motivating them in the right direction and in the long run. The problem is, as language teachers, what they can do and how they should do to motivate their students to learn the language.This paper aims to explore the matter to find a realistic rationale to help language teachers in their classroom teaching. First, it gives the background of this research issue and a general problem statement, and introduces the research questions. After describing and analyzing the motivational problems existing in EFL classroom specifically, it reviews the literature work done in this research field: from the early biobehavioral psychological views to the most recently developed social constructive view on motivation. Following the literature review on motivation and foreign language learning motivation, a more comprehensive motivational model for foreign language learning, a Process Model of L2 Motivation, which observes the issue from cognitive, metacognitive, social, and social constructive perspectives, is introduced based on self-perception and integration emphasizing the dynamic feature of motivation and the possibility of enhancing and protecting motivation in the learning process in the long run. In the end, the potential pedagogical implication of the process model is discussed and a practical teaching model proposed and some suggestions provided for foreign language teachers.