Gardner's Integrative-Instrumental model and its context-dependence¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 5 claims (5 mixed) · 3 studies (2 associational, 1 qualitative), q2 · 0 of 3 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Gardner and Lambert's socio-educational model divides L2 motivation into integrative orientation ("a desire to learn the L2 in order to identify with members from the L2 community") and instrumental orientation (practical goals such as credits, jobs, salaries). The article reviews evidence that the model's applicability is context-bound: cited work by Clément and Kruidenier found "the integrative orientation appeared only in multicultural contexts among members of a clearly domi nant group". The article therefore declines to use it for the Chinese EFL context, where English is a foreign language and no bilingual community exists.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A socio-cultural context with distinct language communities for the integrative orientation to be meaningful

Constraints¶

• Follow-up studies produced inconsistent results, with some finding instrumental orientation as strong or stronger, and integrative orientation sometimes negatively correlated with proficiency

Target Learners¶

• L2 learners in bilingual or multilingual contexts

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Understanding L2 motivational orientations

Claims¶

• Chinese college ESP learners show high amotivation-subscale, external-regulation, identified-regulation and intrinsic (knowledge, accomplishment) item means [~M]
• Introjected regulation was low among Chinese ESP learners except for an identity-maintenance item [~W]
• Chinese ESP learners in this sample were motivated in a mixed manner, and 'certificate motivation' was not supported [~M]
• An SDT-based questionnaire yields seven distinct, reliable motivation subtypes for Chinese college ESP learners [~M]
• Learners of Italian report ideal-self motivation rather than instrumental motivation, while their teachers assume the reverse. [~M]

Related Theories¶

• Self-Determination Theory as a framework for L2/ESP motivation

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Liu, L. (2016). Why Do Chinese College Students Learn ESP: An Analysis of Language Learning Motivations within SDT Framework. English Language Teaching, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n4p92