Motivation and Attitudes of Saudi Arabia - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Even though I had good marks in most of the modules, the French module was the lowest. I did not understand why I could not learn it and somehow I did not seem to care and the instructor did not either. Now that I have chosen the principles of learning a second language module, I have had a chance to explore several theories about learning another language. It has always been clear to me that I was lacking motivation, and this was a factor in my low attainment levels at school, but I had not until now reflected much about where motivation comes from, exactly how it affects learning, and what strategies educators and learners can use in a situation of low or missing motivation when it arises.

This essay will discuss how motivation and attitudes could be influenced by background and social factors in a country like Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, there will be a discussion of how positive attitudes could be promoted and negative ones could be reduced. After this will be a discussion on how my conduct in teaching could enhance motivation and what effects success and failure at learning are likely to have on the learners. Finally, I will discuss how I as a teacher could cope with them. Through the essay, examples of my learning and teaching experience will be provided along with a brief review of literature on the concepts of motivation and attitude in second language learning. The topic is complex because over the last hundred years scholars have approached the subject from different theoretical positions and have used a variety of different definitions and terminologies.
2.1. Theories of Motivation
As a starting point, the broad definition of Baker will be used: Baker (1992, p.10) says that attitude is “a hypothetical construct used to explain the direction and persistence of human behaviour”. Since second language learning is a long-term process that involves collecting and ordering a large number of small information items, persistence towards the goal of competence is a necessary factor in a learner’s success. ...Download file to see next pages Read More