My First Class of Post.Grad. Dip.

This is what he wrote to me:

"Dear Chea Theara, Both your paper and your test were so good that you got an A in the class."

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Motivation in language learning

Now I have a bigger picture why some people are so successful learning a language or languages while others tend to give up learning a language very easily. This also explains why some of my students perform very well while the others struggle. I wish I had discovered this long before I came here so that I could have helped my Pre-Departure Students, who were preparing for their Graduate studies in Australia and New Zealand. They are the very right groups of people who will benefit very much from watching the video and reading the article. 

From the article, it is very much related to my experiences in learning English. At the age of 19, I went to a cheap, local English language training centre, which for marketing reason (I guess) was named as a city in the US, Atlanta. Even though I was not fortunate enough to attend a very good language school, I had, and always have, a very strong motivation to speak good English. Therefore, I always tried to create an environment in which I could access English materials as much as possible. To exemplify, I always made sure that my radio was tuned into the BBC World Service, literally 24 hours a day. I didn’t always listen to the BBC World Service, but it was there so whenever, I wanted to listen I just pay attention to it. When I went to University where I was training to be an English teacher and at the same time to build English proficiency, I had to skip very two breakfast to buy a local English paper to read; again, I didn’t understand much from it but I just keep doing it. All of these came from my strong motivation.

Also the opportunity to interact with native speakers and maintain the usage of English as much as possible does really contribute to success of language a language. Again, I have been fortunate enough to work in an international working environment in which I have chances to communicate with native speakers from US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and so on. And I have been doing that for more than six years. So unconsciously, I have acquired the language.

It is also the case of utilitarian need or instrumental orientation mentioned by Dr. Arguelles; I have to demonstrate and maintain certain level of English to keep my job. In other words, all Cambodian teachers must score at least 6.0 on IELTS to keep the job and for those who score 6.5, with no individual band scores below 6.0 will be entitled to a bonus of 100 USD a month for two years on top of their salary while those who score 7.0 and above will get 150 USD a month for two years. The bonus itself is very attractive and motivates teachers to always maintain their level of English.

What have been discussed above really show how much motivation, whether internal or external, can influence on language learning. However, Dr. Arguelles also suggests, in his youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY3iRItq7xM a concrete action plan on top of an achievable goal in place to be successful in learning a language.

I also found the AMTB questionnaire interesting and perhaps useful provided that we have access to the answer key or some kind of explanation. It can be used to identify learner’s motivation and attitude to learning a language. Those who lose the track in learning English, for example, do need to know the level of their motivation which can be measured by this questionnaire.