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Abstract
All approaches to describing the role of motivation in second language learning have shared, in various degrees, two limiting features. First, the major approaches have been social-psychological. Motivation has been consistently linked with attitudes toward the community of speakers of the target language, with an interest in interacting with such speakers, and with some degree of self-identification with the target language community. The most influential work in the field has been that of Gardner and Lambert. Other models of the relationship between motivation and second language learning, all of which have been heavily influenced by the work of Gardner and Lambert and which maintain the social-psychological perspective, include those of Schumann (1978, 1986) Giles and his associates ( Giles and Byrne, 1982; Beebe, 1988), and Krashen ( Dulay et al. 1982; Krashen, 1985) Lambert was the first to hypothesize a social psychological theory of second language acquisition. He stated that (Lambert, 1963b:114): This theory, in brief, holds that an individual successfully acquiring a second language gradually adopts various aspects of behavior which characterize members of another cultural group. The learner's ethnocentric tendencies and his attitude toward the other group are believed to determine his success in learning the new language. His motivation to learn in thought to be determined by his attitudes and by his orientation towards learning a second language. (Giles and Clair, 1979) Thus, " the student's harmony with his won culture community and his willingness or ability to identify with other cultural communities become important considerations in the process of second language acquisition" (Giles and Clair, 1979: 193). This paper will follow a study that will be conducted during the course of the CLS program. Based on the social-psychological theory of second language acquisition, the purpose of this study is to identity the CLS students' motivation and to measure to what extent the CLS Arabic program has contributes to creating an intrinsic motivation.
Discipline
Linguistics
Geographic Area
Maghreb
Sub Area
Arabic