Motivation ——Theories and Beyond

摘要

Most language teachers will agree that motivation of the students is one of the most important factors influencing their success or failure in language learning. Corder’s phrase, “ Given motivation, anyone can learn a language" brings out the importance of motivation and the way it can overcome unfavourable circumstances in other aspects of language learning. There have been overwhelming researches & literature on this area. However, the definition and study of motivation have not been without problem. This paper starts with a brief historical review on psychological approaches underlying motivational research, followed by the remarkable motivation theories. The third part is concerned with SL/FL motivation, which attempts to relate the findings on motivation with situation of China.