LGG and Motivation

           I found the idea of a “good language learner” very interesting in that it examines whether somebody could be more likely to learn a language based on a variety of aspects such as personality characteristics, cognitive styles, attitudes, motivations, and past learning experiences.  I believe that yes, perhaps somebody can be assessed on these aspects, but can we necessarily label somebody good? And if there is a good, then shouldn’t there be a bad? In my opinion labeling can cause complexities as well as discourage somebody who doesn’t fit the idea of a gll. Never the less, there were many components of this study that I agreed with. According to “Changing Perspectives on Good Language Learners,” authors found that one of the most important aspects of whether somebody is a good language learner is their attitude and motivation. In my opinion motivation is key in language learning—one has to be willing to take chances and make mistakes, dedicate and commit time to learning and must be vulnerable. Lastly, I thought it was interesting that the article, “Social Identity Investment and Language Learning” distinguished two motivations; instrumental motivation which refers to the desire that language learners have to learn a second language for utilitarian purposes and integrative motivation which refers to the desire to learn a language to integrate successfully with the target language community. SLA learners have different purposes for learning and with different purposes come different motivations.

            The actual immigrant stories within these articles touched me since my parents and many of my family members are immigrants. As I was reading them, I was reminded of my mom, who still faces intimidation and embarrassment because her English isn’t perfect. She is a very outgoing individual, but might not seem so to somebody she just meets because her second language is still a struggle for her. Social identity is a big problem for l2 learners and it causes distractions and obstacles in their process of learning. Additionally, the ability of not being able to speak a target language not only disrupts social purposes, but even domestic purposes. In Martina’s case, her lack of English caused her to be dependant on her children, which in turn caused a disorder in her family dynamics. It was almost as if she had become the child, and her eldest daughter became the parent. It wasn’t until she had acquired some English, and was able to talk for her self is when she regained her caregiver role.