Essay

Essay

Introduction

I developed an interest in learning the English language at the age of 13. This sudden arousal of interest to acquire an understanding and mastery over the language was due to the experience I had upon my visit to the United States at the age of eight in order to receive medical treatment. During my stay in the United States, I became fascinated with the language and realized that I had to learn English in order to be able to blend in within this intriguing new world I had not known before. Initially, I started by using common words that I could use in day-to-day situations. I would answer questions posed to me by other by replying in 'yes' or 'no'. With the passage of time, I began to memorize a number of words that I had often heard people use. These words included delicious, candy, good etc.

As a child, I had a number of members of my family that had learnt the language. English was considered as a gauge of the level of education a person has attained. People who could not communicate in English often left inferior and gave the sense of not being educated sufficiently to know the language. Often people would choose not to learn English which was termed as being ignorant. In our society, English language has a certain level of prestige attached to it which people display by communicating with one and another in the language. It was due to this perceived prestige that I decided to overcome whatever barriers I would have to face to learn the language (Atkinson, 2011).

From there onwards, I started to study English at my university. It has been a dream of mine to be able to communicate in English so that I too can be part of the fascinating world that I experienced during time in the United States. My decision to study English at my university has allowed me to become independent in communicating with others and expressing myself. Having a keen interest in traveling, knowledge of English has enabled me to enjoy a more meaningful experience in a number of countries that I have been to. I can now also easily read newspapers, surf the internet, understand English music and movies; something I was to unable to do prior to learning the language.

Motivation

Motivation is a very common term that is used by researchers in linguistics. Though the idea behind the concept is clear to all, there is no academic definition for this term, leading to several debates over how to best define the term. Dornyei (2001) defined motivation as a result of various internal and external forces that give rise to a desire among individuals to retain interest in accomplishing a certain task. Dornyei also states that motivation is an outcome of choices a person makes. Ellis (2008) describes motivation as a significant process that involves emotional stages and methods that are reflective of the level of effort the person puts in to learn a ...