What are different types of motivation?
Gardner and Lambert (1959, 1972) have done pioneering work to explore the nature of motivation specific to language study. Gardner highlights two different types of motivation: 1) Instrumental motivation: the desire to learn a language because it would fulfill certain utilitarian goals, such as getting a job, passing an examination, etc. 2) Integrative motivation: the desire to learn a language in order to communicate with people from another culture that speak that language; the desire is also there to identify closely with the target language group. Instrumental motivation vs integrative motivation A distinction has been made in the literature between integrative and instrumental motivation: the desire to identify with and integrate into the target-language culture, contrasted with the wish to learn the language for the purpose of study or career promotion. Gardner and Lambert (1959, 1972) showed that success in a foreign/second language is likely to be lower if the underlying motiva
