Summary

The article focuses on both global and local contexts of learning an L2. While some approaches, like the focus on a social context, might be true in a broader sense, they can't be the sole answer. Gardner and Lamert argued that learners' motivation might be derived from their and their environment's attitude's towards the L2 community. They theorized that the closer the proximity to L2 community, the higher the motivation. This approach has been criticized for being too broad. Throughout the years, different focuses and approaches have been developed when it comes to L2 learner's motivation, narrowing the research more and more with each of them. The writer seems to think that Ushida and Tin's studies provide most accurate answer to what motivates the young learners. Especially Tin, who provides examples and quotes from learners that participated in her study. it is the positive experience before, a nice teacher with positive attitude rather than an 'evil math teacher', rewards for well-done work in the past. Also, in a Chinese learning context, it is useful to personalize the learning experience by shifting focus from learning a language for sake of learning onto using an L2 to talk about personal experiences and interests. Chinese school's are usually, if not always, exam-focused, so is the whole educational system. Thus, learners main motivation source is their parents' expectations. They may develop their own interest and motivation, but as for the youngest learners, they learn because their parents want them to. When the curriculum was experimentally changed into more personalized one, the students felt 'more excited' to learn the language as they were able to learn how to express themselves rather than memorize the pre-written dialogues, therefore they felt English had more purpose in their own lives.

As for my teaching context, obviously the part about Chinese children being motivated primarily by their parents is absolutely true. I have a student whose father wants me to teach her using her school textbook, so she could improve her grades. The student herself seems to want the same thing, as she wants her dad to be proud of her and her results at school. This subject came up today, it's still fresh and not yet agreed upon, so I'll have to consider adjusting the books content to make it more personal for the girl, so her motivation becomes more intrinsic, try to use the topics from the book to fit her personal experience. Is that what I should do? Or should I ignore the dad's requests (don't think so, they're the ones paying us, right?)