Exploring the Loss of Motivation of Students in Teacher and Translator Training Courses at University Level

Jornada; III Jornadas de Actualizacion para Profesores de Ingles organizadas por el CELALEI; 2012

One of the most important affective factors in the teaching learning process is motivation, and as such, it is one of the most difficult to conceptualise. Littlewood characterised motivation as an individual drive entailing an inquisitive attitude and a desire for new experiences (1984). This concept was later described as psychological drives encouraging individuals to act (Nunan and Lamb, 1996), or as an urge to attain a particular objective, and the joy in the tasks connected with it (Gardner and MacIntyre, 1993). In the last decades, different types of motivation have been proposed, namely integrative and instrumental (Gardner and Lambert, 1972), intrinsic and extrinsic (Deci et al, 1991), and resultative motivation (Ellis, 1994). Authors such as Williams and Burden explain that it is quite rational to think that there is higher probability of actual learning taking place when there is a will to learn (1997), and such assertion attests to the importance of motivation in the teaching learning process. Our aim will be to throw light upon a reality that concerns us as teachers of English at university level, namely the loss of motivation and the consequent migration from University to tertiary level in the first three years of the English courses of studies at Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba. As professors in this institution, we will focus on exploring the kinds of motivations which tend to dwindle as students face constant challenge and even frustration, or to simply look at the wear and tear of motivation along the passing of time to try to expose the possible causes for such motivational erosion.