Journal of English Language Teaching

Motivation: an Affecting Factor in Language Learning

N. Vadivel

Assistant Professor of English, SKPEC, Tiruvannamalai, Research Scholar, Bharathiar University

Dr Albert P’Rayan

Professor of English, KCG College of Technology, Chennai

Keywords: Motivation, Communication skills, Language learning

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Abstract

English has become important in the academic and professional life of an individual. The art of communicating well in English is a challenging task. The steps and strategies adopted by the students and some teachers make the learning of English difficult and uninteresting. The whole world has become a global market and multiple businesses have the aim of achieving targets, thereby, the technology experts and professionals face new challenges in communication in their day to day life. So, attaining success in this vying environment depends not only on acquiring technical knowledge, but also on honing their communication skills. English has turned into a universal language, and its presence and value in the world has expanded enormously in the past decades. Rural students at the tertiary level, lack good communication skills in English and, as a result, become unemployable even if they are knowledgeable in their technical domain. The scenario prevailing in some of the rural engineering colleges, especially in Tamilnadu, is deplorable. The students who graduate from those institutions after spending four years of study come out without learning the art of speaking in English even after studying courses such as Technical English and Communication Skills for three semesters.  The aim of the paper is to discuss the main problem, i.e. lack of motivation to learn English. The paper discusses how motivation is an affecting factor in language learning. It  also focuses on the theories of motivation and how a teacher can sustain the motivation among the learners.

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