the appropriate question no longer seems to be how can we motivate our
learners? but how can we help learners to motivate themselves? (1996,2)
The assumption is, thus, that motivation, as all the other internal factors that are
involved in alertness, can only be managed by the individual. This capacity to manage one's
own motivation is called self-motivation and has been defined as "taking charge of the
affective dimension of (the) learning experiences" (ibid).
The internal nature of motivation implies a definition in terms of intrinsic forces.
Intrinsically motivated learners are those who are doing an activity "for its own sake rather
than because of external pressure" (Dickinson, 1995,169). One of the intrinsic forces that can
activate motivation are short-term goals set by the learner. In general, language students'
motivation is based on the long-term goal of using the language. However, this goal is so far
away that does not provide sound basis for self-motivation. But, according to Ushioda
(1996,17), if learners focus on short-term goals, they find that they are also motivated by the
process of learning. In this way there is a direct relationship between motivation and
learning, which is one of the features of intrinsic motivation.
An important characteristic of intrinsic motivation is the type of rewards that it
implies. Instead of being dependent on external feedback, the intrinsically motivated
learner's rewards are subjective and take the form of enjoyment, satisfaction, feelings of
success or competence, pride, etc. (Ushioda; 1996,49). These are present during the whole
process of learning since they are the product of short-term goals. It is interesting that
Entwistle's subjects used the same type of terms to define their concept of understanding
(feeling of satisfaction, a sense of wholeness, confidence, etc) (1996,104). There seems to be
a correlation between noticing and structuring (and the subsequent stages) and self-
motivation. Obviously, this is an area that deserves further research.
As was stated above, motivation is one of the internal factors of alertness. This also
means that there are external factors that can affect the way a learner is motivated. Based on
Ushioda's reflections on intrinsic motivation, I consider that there are several external factors
that can play this role:
a) the emphasis of the informational element of external reward in opposition to the
controlling aspect of it,
94