During our dialogue, the statement that stood out to me most was that Mr. Harthan
believes that students create a form of intrinsic motivation through their home life. He believes
that the individual student’s background, such as parents and friends, will determine if a child
finds importance in their L2 or not. This stood out to me because it was something that I totally
disagreed with. I believe that a student can want to learn an L2 because he is genuinely
interested in learning it. Ortega states that "when individuals engage in behavior that they
understand as self-initiated by choice and largely sustained by inherent enjoyment in the
activity, then they are said to be intrinsically motivated" (2009 p.176). Especially in school,
children could like the slang and delivery of the new language and want to personally acquire it
for themselves. That is why Mr. Harthan stated that during open house, some of his students
had to translate for their parents. The parents probably didn’t feel a need to learn or have the
time and resources to acquire a new language. However, the child still managed to find the
importance of it and feel inclined to learn it for whatever reason.
believes that students create a form of intrinsic motivation through their home life. He believes
that the individual student’s background, such as parents and friends, will determine if a child
finds importance in their L2 or not. This stood out to me because it was something that I totally
disagreed with. I believe that a student can want to learn an L2 because he is genuinely
interested in learning it. Ortega states that "when individuals engage in behavior that they
understand as self-initiated by choice and largely sustained by inherent enjoyment in the
activity, then they are said to be intrinsically motivated" (2009 p.176). Especially in school,
children could like the slang and delivery of the new language and want to personally acquire it
for themselves. That is why Mr. Harthan stated that during open house, some of his students
had to translate for their parents. The parents probably didn’t feel a need to learn or have the
time and resources to acquire a new language. However, the child still managed to find the
importance of it and feel inclined to learn it for whatever reason.
Mr. Harthan and I discussed a scenario during the interview in which I described child A and
child B. Child A had been in America since the last school year, but was not grasping the
semantics and morphology of the English language. Child B had only been here for six months,
but was already interpreting the new language fairly well. Child B was already showing signs
of being far ahead of his classmate in his second language acquisition. At first, I believed it to
be that Child A has low motivation. But, after reflecting on the interview I could see that this
student could be facing hard and controlled environments that are causing their interest to
diminish. Child A may have had rough experiences such as a hard teacher or failing grades
that made him shut down as a language learning student. In Ortega, it states, “When individuals
construe their behavior as structured by a means–end, pragmatic–instrumental causation that
is imposed from the outside, their sense of self-causation and autonomy is low, if present at all,
and they are said to be extrinsically motivated (2009 p.176). Child B may have encountered a
delightful teacher, that was more patient and did not expect students to do so much rigorous
work. Even if the two students came with the same motivated spirit, overtime, child B’s
motivational level would not decrease. It may even increase due to personal interest/ intrinsic
motivation. On the other hand, if child A only has negative experiences when it came to learning
English, then he may be more inclined to stick to his native tongue. I truly believe that a students
environment can help and student create motivation to learn their L2. It can persuade them to try
100%, or it could cause them to shut down altogether.
child B. Child A had been in America since the last school year, but was not grasping the
semantics and morphology of the English language. Child B had only been here for six months,
but was already interpreting the new language fairly well. Child B was already showing signs
of being far ahead of his classmate in his second language acquisition. At first, I believed it to
be that Child A has low motivation. But, after reflecting on the interview I could see that this
student could be facing hard and controlled environments that are causing their interest to
diminish. Child A may have had rough experiences such as a hard teacher or failing grades
that made him shut down as a language learning student. In Ortega, it states, “When individuals
construe their behavior as structured by a means–end, pragmatic–instrumental causation that
is imposed from the outside, their sense of self-causation and autonomy is low, if present at all,
and they are said to be extrinsically motivated (2009 p.176). Child B may have encountered a
delightful teacher, that was more patient and did not expect students to do so much rigorous
work. Even if the two students came with the same motivated spirit, overtime, child B’s
motivational level would not decrease. It may even increase due to personal interest/ intrinsic
motivation. On the other hand, if child A only has negative experiences when it came to learning
English, then he may be more inclined to stick to his native tongue. I truly believe that a students
environment can help and student create motivation to learn their L2. It can persuade them to try
100%, or it could cause them to shut down altogether.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3LtxZoO-S6g&index=2&list=LLnTbvPS_0W7QlpK4k85-iGQ&t=39s
