Post by glenn on Nov 7, 2016 1:39:34 GMT 8
Reading the article was difficult to keep track of the names. However according to Gardner and Lambert when people are exposed to a language, it will just grow on them and eventually just accept it. I think that true to an extent because I was young I loved Spanish and have since. Chinese people like music, movies, slang etc from western culture. However a lot of that is from the culture habit rather than the language because many countries speak English and it is mostly the western ones that have had so much influence. Kids at very young ages see all languages the same. They do not know what they are learning and just do it as “must be done.” They do not know anything else. The L2 is even a harder step for them. They just want to please the teacher or stay out of trouble. Ema Ushioda says that people are motivated to learn because they had positive experiences with the language as I said earlier here. Still I believe goals are a factor too. Many people just love languages! Many people want to talk with other people outside their realm. Yet others love a challenge with words or vocabulary.
In China during middle school and even high school at times from my experience, I cannot say that they like English per se because even in 7th grade in a “professional” language center, there are some that really do not know the word for “apple” or “13”! With that said, it is obvious in part they are not interested in English despite being taught the language. They have not had any positive experiences in the language under the strict rules of the school. So again this is an example to support Mrs. Ushioda’s point that positive experience can lead to a good motivation to English. Were as in my other school I have taught my then 3 years olds to about 6 to speak better than many of those 7th graders with my guidance, entertainment, and adoration for them while working at both locations concurrently .
To be honest, I could not decipher the difference between ‘ideal L2 self” and ought to self very well because Tin Tan Bee states that very YLs are too young to have ideas for the future when explaining this term. Yet skips right to the “ought to self” were middle and high school students must do it because it is mandatory. However from what I could gather from the article, I did not read anything regarding the ideal self for adults unless it was understood incorrectly. How do they adults and the ideal self relate for example? It was not clear for my understanding. Nonetheless, from what I could conclude is that there are three age ranges and the corresponding motivation patterns.
Very young learner like English from experience (Games, relations, rewards etc)
Middle school and high school do it because it is mandatory.
College and above because it is mandatory and/or is liked