Motivation in Second-Language Learning

Motivation is one of the most widely used concepts for explaining why a second-language learner succeeds or fails, understood in this research as an internal process that gives a learner's behavior energy, direction and persistence. A second language is a language an individual learns beyond their mother tongue for practical use in their own setting, distinct from a foreign language, which is not generally spoken where the learner lives. Because learning a new language demands sustained time and effort, researchers in linguistics and sociolinguistics have developed a number of distinct models of second-language learner motivation, tracing how learners' goals can range from full mastery to workable communicative competence. Accounts of second-language motivation are commonly divided into three broad phases: an early social-psychological period, a later cognitive-situated period, and a more recent process-oriented period, each framing differently why some learners persist and succeed while others do not.