An Acculturation Model Based on Motivation for Foreign Language Learning in Bangladesh

: As an international language, English has enormous popularity worldwide and undeniably, even in Bangladesh, students are taught English as a foreign language for 12 years before they are enrolled in undergraduate programs. However, the students still fail to show any level of excellence as would be expected after studying the language for such a long time. Motivation is factor that can contribute to improvement of foreign language acquisition. Traditional teaching does not adequately address this issue. This paper examines the complex yet closely connected relationship between motivation and attitude regarding English language learning among the students of Bangladesh University who are currently in their undergraduate programs in English Language and Literature. An adapted version of Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) is used to conduct a survey as the study is based on quantitative research techniques. The aim of this study is to focus on theoretical knowledge to explore the extent to which motivation under a controlled environment and close observation can help students in learning English as a foreign language. Learning a foreign language is, undoubtedly, a crucial task as it is more difficult to learn than the first language. Most theorists believe that learners’ achievement largely depends on their attitudes and motivation regarding the targeted language. The “acculturation” of learners (for instance, social, attitudinal, and motivational conditions) is highly influential as all these factors can help to determine learners’ achievement. Broadly speaking, almost all the research works on motivation has been conducted in second language acquisition rather than foreign language learning in the contexts of Europe and/or North America. This paper attempts to examine

Learning a foreign language is, undoubtedly, a crucial task as it is more difficult to learn than the first language. Most theorists believe that learners' achievement largely depends on their attitudes and motivation regarding the targeted language. The "acculturation" of learners (for instance, social, attitudinal, and motivational conditions) is highly influential as all these factors can help to determine learners' achievement. Broadly speaking, almost all the research works on motivation has been conducted in second language acquisition rather than foreign language learning in the contexts of Europe and/or North America. This paper attempts to examine the complex yet closely connected relationship between attitudes and motivation which would be applicable in the context of Bangladesh.
This research was stimulated by both theoretical and practical contexts of foreign language acquisition as it would be helpful to those who want to reinforce students' motivation. It is essential to keep in mind that EFL learning motivation cannot be labeled as an instrument to pursue or better life. The ability to be fluent in English is connected to educational achievement as well as advancement in career. But there is probably a gap between what the learners expect to learn and what they get in the classroom. This paper seeks to bridge this gap. It is must also be clarified that the researchers only tried to investigate to what extent motivational factors can actually help the learners in our context and did not look for the interplay and connection between social, cultural, and psychological factors.

Theoretical Framework
There is no scope to doubt that increasing motivation for foreign language learning is a worthwhile objective but to achieve such a goal that entails awareness is correlated to pedagogical intervention. In order to complete such a critical task, the theoretical perspectives applied to this paper were strictly borrowed from the works of R.C. Gardner and J. H. Schumann. Gardner's foreign language learning model (1988) regarding motivation depicted five hypotheses: I) The integrative motive hypothesis: positively and closely connected with second language achievement ii) The cultural belief hypothesis: cultural belief can influence the development of integrative motive which is related to achievement iii) The active learner hypothesis: integratively motivated learners can achieve success as they are active learners iv) The causality hypothesis: integrative motivation can be regarded as the cause while second language achievement is the effect v) The two process hypothesis: considers aptitude and integrative motivation as independent factors in SLA Gardner claimed that there are two components of motivation -instrumental motivation, which concerns an individual's primary concern for linguistic growth apart from social goals in SLA; and integrative motivation, which refers to an individual's willingness and interest in promoting L2 acquisition through social interactions with members of L2 group. A strong connection can be made between motivation and attitude in order to find out to which extent motivation can reinforce EFL acquisition in our culture. This paper stands on the understanding that motivation is the cause, not the result of successful EFL acquisition.
Apart from Gardner, Schumann's acculturation model was also followed in this paper. The acculturation model developed by Schumann was solely based on social as well as psychological factors. According to this model, acculturation (which is defined as a cluster of social-psychological factor) is the major factor of SLA (Schumann, 1978(Schumann, , 1990. Schumann claimed that acculturation, which can be defined as the integration of the L2 learner into the targeted linguistic community, is not a direct cause of SLA; but rather it is the first in the chain of the factors which results in natural SLA (Schumann, 1986). He enlisted various factors that can bridge the gap -Social dominance, Assimilation, Preservation and Adaptation, Enclosure, Cohesiveness and Size, Congruence, Attitude and Cultural Shock. Schumann (1976) believed that the level of language proficiency achieved by a learner strictly depends on the degree of acculturation. Focusing on attitudes along with motivation, this paper attempts to portray that successful learning of foreign languages can be possible. The researchers also believe that learning of a second or foreign language is associated with cultural as well as linguistic competence because undoubtedly all the languages live within specific cultural contexts. But it is not possible to pursue all the factors together in our restricted format as well as limited size; so we attempted to combine perspectives regarding attitudes from the acculturation model with the role of motivation in EFL acquisition. It is known and believed that an EFL learner wants to achieve proficiency like those who use the language and motivation can play an important role which was found in the work of Gardner. His AMTB can help in determining the situation in Bangladesh and an adapted version of the attitude/motivation test battery was used for testing purposes.

Definition of concepts:
In this paper, motivation and attitudes were used with their general meaning defined by Gardner (1983). Attitudes are considered as a way to show an evaluative reaction inferred on the basis of the learners' beliefs. Usually, attitudes are believed to have three factors: Ÿ Cognitive (a learner's belief structure) Ÿ Affective (a learner's reaction) Ÿ Behavioral (a learner's tendency to behave in a certain way) On the other hand, motivation (as defined by Gardner) is a combination of effort, desire and positive attitude towards the learning of L2. Following Gardner's terms, integrative motivation was used as learners' own desire of learning while instrumental motivation stood for goal-oriented willingness to learn. Apart from these two types depicted by Gardner, this paper followed the four categories of motivation provided by Rod Ellis (1994); namely intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, integrative motivation, and instrumental motivation. The different forms of motivation used for this paper are presented below in Table 1:

Source Extrinsic Motivation (External desire) Purpose
Integrative Motivation

Instrumental Motivation
A learner's own wish to learn a foreign language A learner's own wish to learn for personal goal or achievement Someone else (i.e. parents) wants the learner to learn Someone else or external source the learner to learn for a specific purpose Table 1: Types of motivation based on source and purpose Sources of motivation: Learner-centered teaching helps the students, as researchers claim, because in this process each and every student can participate. Students of varied abilities can take part in classroom activities either in pairs or groups, or individually. Thus, emphasizing the interactive process can help motivate students in learning a foreign language. On the teacher's part, using appropriate and authentic materials is really important in this regard. Following Widdowson (1990), authentic materials mean exposure to real language and its use in its own community. Proper use of materials signifying interrelationships between teacher and students can bring massive achievement in L2 learning. Elucidation, of course, like career linkage, is another important source of motivation. Students are more likely to make their best effort in learning a foreign language if they come to know that their achievement would help them in career development. Goal-oriented motivation makes the students put in extra effort which reinforces learning of a foreign language. Thus, the sources of motivation can be categorized as: Ÿ Activities and tasks in classroom Ÿ Quality/ability of the teacher Ÿ Background in the targeted language Ÿ The desire or willingness to learn Undoubtedly, situation-specific factors are important when it comes to foreign language acquisition and a blend of motivation, linguistic confidence, and classroom environment help the learners to excel in learning a foreign language.

Methodology
Instrument. Gardner's Attitude/Motivation Test Battery was adapted into a 40-item questionnaire(see Appendix A). 6 categories included (5 questions in each category) interest, attitude, evaluation of teachers, classroom activities, instrumental motivation, and integrative motivation. 34 questions were positively worded and 6 negatively worded. The interest category included a variety of reasons for learning English. Attitude reflected the learner's anxiety or confidence.
Procedure and participants. There were 50 participants (25 males and 25 females), all university students studying at Bangladesh University. They were students in the 1st year and all had studied English as a part of their course work (i.e. students working with specialized or intensive EFL syllabi were not included).The questions were randomly ordered. The students completed the questionnaire in a single class period.

Analysis and Results
In order to fulfill the stated goal of the paper, all the data were analyzed. Table 2 lists the most and least agreed with statements of the questionnaire. Indeed, some items showed deviations but most learners said that they have a strong desire to learn English, they enjoy learning, and they do not feel uncomfortable while speaking.
It seemed quite clear from the responses that two dimensions of motivation actually boosted foreign language learning. It was also prominent that those who felt motivated were less anxious. On the contrary, the less motivated ones were very anxious about their ability and lacked confidence. Most of the participants claimed that they were interested to learn English as a foreign language due to their own interest or because of their desire to achieve personal goals. Another fact that became clear was that the teacher was a great source of motivation to the learners. This is closely followed by classroom activities as a mode of motivation.
Another scaling regarding motivation had 10 items where the learners were asked to judge their level of motivation, attitudes, and interest. The results from the questionnaire are given below in Table 3:

Most agreed with statements Percentage
I wish I could speak many foreign languages. 55% I look forward to going to class because my English teacher is so good. 60% Learning English is really great. 75% I have a strong desire to know all aspects of English. 60% Studying English is important because I will need it for my career. 80% Studying English is important because it will make me more educated. 70% I wish I could have many native English speaking friends. 55% My English teacher is a great source of inspiration to me. 55%

Least agreed with statements
My English class is really a waste of time. 75% The less I see of my English teacher, the better. 55% Studying foreign language is not enjoyable. 50% My English teacher doesn't present materials in an interesting way. 50%

Dimensions of motivation Percentage
Learners' goal (i.e. communication, practical purpose) 50% Learners' attitude (i.e. English class, English teacher, anxiety) 40% Learners' interest (i.e. willingness to learn) 70% The results from this part of the questionnaire showed that those who scored high on intrinsic and instrumental motivation, preferred communicative and goal oriented environment while those high in anxiety refused to respond to communicative language pedagogy. The participants who were motivated by both their teacher and parents were least anxious to communicate in English and were also eager to learn. Contrasting this, those who felt less motivated showed much anxiety and their interest in learning English was below 40%.
In order to portray the overall situation clearly, a bar graph with all the contributing factors of motivation along with the percentage is presented below:

Figure 1: Motivation contribution to students' achievement (in percentage)
The X axis of the bar graph represents the six contributing factors that motivated the learners most. The Y axis depicts the percentage of the participants. The findings are given below: Learners' Attitudes: Around 50% learners claimed that they did not feel anxiety to communicate in English in their class. 40% stated that they would feel nervous to communicate with tourists in English. 30% agreed that they felt embarrassed to answer in English both inside and outside the classroom. Overall, 34% learners reflected positive attitudes and confidence regarding learning English as a foreign language.
Evaluation of the Teacher: From the survey it became clear that learners put great emphasis on their teacher. 60% participants stated that they attended their class because their English teacher is good. Overall, 50% learners agreed that their teacher is a prominent source of their motivation.
Classroom Activities: 75% participants felt that their English class was effective and their activities and/or tasks were enjoyable. That is why they attended the classes. 44% learners believed that their English class was sufficient for learning English as a foreign language.

Interest in English:
Learners expressed great interest in all aspects of English as 75% claimed that learning English has been a great experience and 60% said they possessed a strong desire to learn all aspects of English. 55% participants stressed their interest in learning English as a foreign language.
Integrative and Instrumental Motivation: The research revealed that integrative motivation stood almost neck and neck with instrumental motivation (48% and 47% respectively). Responses did not clarify whether the learners were in favor of integrative motivation or instrumental motivation.

Conclusion
After analyzing all the data it would not be wrong to state that learners having strong instrumental motivation were confident about accomplishing their linguistic goals. They felt that the educational setting alone can help them achieve their goal. On the contrary, those with a higher degree of integrative motivation wanted to explore the extensive areas of language. But there is no denying that the less motivated reflected the higher level of anxiety. So it would be better to conclude that both instrumental and integrative motivation should be recognized as fundamental factors when it comes to foreign language learning in the context of Bangladesh. The purpose of this part of the questionnaire is to determine your feelings about some specific factors. Each item is followed by a scale that has a label on the left and another on the right, and the numbers 1 to 7 between the two ends. For each item, please circle any one of the numbers from 1 to 7 that best describes you.