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Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 443
International Conference on Science and Education and Technology (ISET 2019)
Second/Foreign Language Learning from the
Socio-Psychological Perspective and the
Implications in Language Classroom
Latifa Ika Sari
Politeknik Ilmu Pelayaran
Semarang, Indonesia
Latifa.ika@gmail.com
Abstract-Learning a foreign or second language terms sometimes are used interchangeably.his paper
involves a complicated process, in which there are is aimed to discuss three prominent experts with
many factors interrelated and contribute to the success their theories which are related to the second
and the failure of the learning. This paper attempts to language acquisition or learning from the socio-
discuss three prominent theories which are related to psychological perspectives. The writer will discuss
the second language acquisition from the socio- Gardner’s Socio-Educational Model of Second
psychological perspective. The author will discuss and Language Acquisition, Krashen’s Affective Filter
summarize the Socio-Educational Model of Second Hypothesis, and Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self-
Language Acquisition of Gardner, Affective Filter System.
Hypothesis of Krashen, and L2 Motivational Self-
System of Dörnyei. The theories have brought valuable II. GARDNER’S THEORY OF SOCIO-
insights for language teachers that they must be aware EDUCATIONAL MODEL OF SECOND
of the socio-psychological aspects that have a LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
significance influence on the learners’ language
achievement. Gardner’s theory of Socio-Educational Model of
Second Language Acquisition is considered highly
Keywords: second/foreign language learning, influential in its field. Many scholars developed their
psychology, motivation, anxiety, self-confidence concept from Gardner’s model. Gardner puts
I. INTRODUCTION ‘motivation’ as the central importance of language
Learning a Second or Foreign language involves achievement. According to this model, when a
a very complicated process. There are various person learns a second language, there are
factors which influence learners’ language learning. components of ability and motivation which are
An English class might consist of students with involved and the best way to view the motivation
similar characteristic on age and intelligence. Even component is from the social psychological
though they receive exactly the same treatment and perspective. Gardner admitted that to provide a
teaching materials, the result of their learning can be simple and clear definition of motivation was
different. Some students may excel others, while difficult. However, he referred to Keller’s definition
some students may become underachiever. that motivation is considered as the choices people
make in their experience to achieve certain goals. It
Many experts argue that beside cognitive factors, also refers to the degree of effort that they will give
psychological factors have a substantial role in the to achieve the goals (Gardner, 2010).
acquisition or learning process of a second or foreign
language.
According to Krashen (2009), learning and
acquisition are two different terms. Acquisition is
considered as a subconscious process. Individuals
are aware that they are using the language for
communication, but they are not aware that they are
acquiring language. On the other hand, learning is a
conscious effort from individuals to obtain
knowledge and skills of a second or foreign
language. Individuals learn the rules so that they are Figure 1. Gardner's socio-psychological model
aware of them and can discuss them (Krashen, (in Taie and Afshari, 2015
2009). Even though the two terms are different, there
are many theories and principles in the second The most important concept proposed by Gardner
language acquisition that are used in the context of is his notion about integrativeness or integrative
second or foreign language learning. Thus, the two motivation that affects the learners’ achievement of
language learning. Integrative motivation is often
Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license -http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. 411
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 443
contrasted to instrumental motivation. Situation’ would not have a direct impact on the
second language acquisition. However, they become
The former refers to someone’s willingness to a stepping stone for the individual's motivation to
learn a language because the person likes to be valued learn the language. Originally, in formulating the
as a part of the language community and to have concept of motivation, Gardner focuses on
communication with the people of another culture. motivational intensity which shows students’
While the latter refers to more practical reasons. For determination in learning a second language. He soon
example, someone learns a second language to get a realizes that motivation deals with more than just
scholarship, to pass an examination or to get intensity and added another component to motivation
promotion at work.
which is ‘the desire to learn the language’. He also
Gardner learned that in the Canadian context, realizes that learners who perceive that second
students are more motivated to learn a second language learning is important and beneficial will
language because they wanted to become part of a have a high motivation to learn the language.
social community. In other words, students’ The other factor that investigated by Gardner was the
integrative motivation will be more effective to boost instrumental orientation, which refers to the
students’ willingness to learn a language. According willingness of studying the second language for the
to Gardner, motivation consists of the learners’ effort practical benefits. For example, someone wants to
and their desire to reach their learning objectives. It study a foreign language so that he will be promoted
also involves their positive attitudes towards learning to a higher position in his/her work place. The
a language (Gardner, 1985). Thus, Gardner
categorizes three components of motivation: learners’ person’s orientation then can influence his/her
desire to learn the language (the integrativeness), language achievement. Another aspect mentioned by
Gardner was anxiety in which, unfortunately, he did
learners’ attitudes toward learning the language, and not explain further about.
motivational intensity. Gardner does not claim that his model was the
Gardner further elaborates that integrativeness only type of motivational model of language learning
refers to a learner's reason in learning a language nor the most effective model of motivation in SLA.
which is to mingle with people from the language However, he suggests that to make language learning
community. Integrative motivation, together with more effective, a person must identify himself with
other aspects, can influence an individual’s language the other language community, must perceive that
achievement. learning the language is important and beneficial for
Gardner depicts his notion into a diagram entitled him/her, and must be motivated to learn the language.
the Socio-Educational Model of Second Language The three characteristics show that the person has a
Acquisition. The model has been undergone some high integrative motivation.
revisions and the latest version is shown in Figure 1.
Gardner’s theory has a lot of contribution to the
Gardner argues that integrativeness and learners’ field of teaching English as a second/foreign
attitudes toward the learning situation have strong language. However, it is important to note that in
correlation and contribution to motivation in learning some cases, Gardner’s theory is not applicable.
a second language. The motivation is then combined Gardner’s model was built in the context of Canada
with the language aptitude and other related factors. which is a bilingual country with a lot of immigrants
Together they affect the learners’ language speaking their own languages. Therefore, the concept
performance. Based on Gardner’s model, it is of integrative motivation becomes highly significant.
important for a learner to have high motivation and In the case of countries which only have one official
positive attitudes to be successful in achieving high language, the language learners might not be aware of
language performance. integrative motivation since there is no second or
foreign language communities outside the classroom.
According to Gardner, ‘Attitudes toward the They hardly get the chance to communicate using the
Learning Situation’ means the reaction of individuals foreign language and to experience of being respected
to evaluate the situation on environment of their as part of another language community.
language learning. For example, how students III. KRASHEN’S AFFECTIVE FILTER
perceive their general school environment, how they HYPOTHESIS
react to the teaching methods and materials, how they
perceive their language instructors and the language Krashen (2009) provides another theory on
course. Gardner wants to capture the context or the second language acquisition by proposing the five
situation where the language learning happened. He hypotheses: the acquisition-learning hypothesis, the
realizes that the students’ psychological reactions monitor hypothesis, the natural order hypothesis, the
could influence their language learning or acquisition. input hypothesis, and the affective filter hypothesis.
From the model, we can learn that This paper will discuss the last hypothesis, the
affective filter hypothesis, which is related to the
‘Integrativeness’ and ‘Attitudes toward the Learning socio-psychological aspect.
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Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 443
Figure 2. The Input Hypothesis of L2 learning and production (Krashen, 1982)
The Affective Filter hypothesis discusses the perception towards themselves will have higher
relation between affective factors and the second possibility to be successful in language learning.
language acquisition process (Krashen, 2009). Dulay Learners with high self-confident will be curious and
and Burt (1977) were the first scholars proposed the adventurous. They have no or less hesitation to
affective filter hypothesis. Krashen then incorporates initiate communication in second/foreign language
the concept as one of his five hypotheses in Second and thus have more opportunity to practice and gain
Language Acquisition in 1985. Many studies have more. On the other hand, learners who are not
proved that there are affective variables which confident with themselves will lose opportunity to
correlate with the learners’ language performance. practice the second or foreign language. They will
Krashen believes that a second language can be avoid being involved in communication because they
acquired only if the language inputs are are too anxious and do not want to make mistakes.
comprehensible and if the affective filters are low Anxiety is another aspect mentioned by Krashen. In
enough so that the input can be received. Krashen’s the situation of foreign language classroom, there are
main viewpoints are as follows: (1) language input three types of anxiety. The first type is
will not reach Language Acquisition Device if there communication apprehension (CA). It refers to a
is a high affective filter; (2) language input can be person’s fear or anxiety to have a communication
learned and acquired if there is a low affective filter; with another person.
(3) individual may vary in their second language The second type is test anxiety. It is a
acquisition due to differences in the affective filter.
Krashen mentions that there are three important psychological condition in which an individual
affective factors that have a significant influence to experiences stress or anxiety due to a language
the second language acquisition: motivation, self- examination in which the anxiety impacts his/her
confidence, and anxiety. Learners who have high normal performance and causes low achievement.
motivation usually perform better in second language The third type is the fear of negative evaluation.
acquisition. Learners’ self-confidence and self-image Learners are too worried with people’s opinion and
also support them to achieve a better result. While low afraid of getting unfavorable impressions. They like
anxiety will also provide a good support for learners to hide from the negative feelings and try to avoid
in their effort when they learn a second or foreign situations where they are being evaluated because
language. they do not want people have a bad opinion about
From Figure 2, we learn that comprehensible them (Du, 2009). All of the affective aspects have a
input may not reach the learners if there is a great influence on learners’ experience in learning a
psychological condition that hinders them to get the foreign/second language.
full potential from it. The affective filter can prevent
the learners to achieve language acquisition. The Krashen’s hypothesis on the affective filter has
filter is active when the learners have low motivation several pedagogical implications. In the context of
as well as low self-confidence, or when they are afraid teaching a foreign/second language, the teacher
to be failed in learning. This hypothesis explains the should provide comprehensible input for students and
condition that there are students which experience a also create learning situations which have low
great amount of comprehensible input, but show a affective filter which mean the situations that are not
low performance in their language learning. This is threatening and causing anxiety for the students. The
due to the affective filter that prevents him/her to best methods of language teaching will not force
achieve a maximum result. novice students to directly produce language, but to
give students sufficient times to prepare themselves
Similar to Gardner, Krashen also believes that until they are ‘ready’. In this context, forcing and
motivation has a big impact in second language correcting production are something that should be
acquisition. He adds self-confidence as another avoided. Forcing early production can cause high
important psychological aspect that only learners who anxiety in language classes. Students can have
are confident with themselves and have positive different length of silent period. Some students may
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Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 443
have a short silent period that they want to talk using condition and his/her future condition, he/she will be
the target language as soon as possible, others may motivated to narrow the gap and to achieve his/her
feel shy and anxious until they have gained more goals by doing his/her best to learn the target
competence. Error correction can also put students on language. (Al-Hoorie, 2018).
a defensive situation. Students will develop a There are three main components of L2
negative behaviour that they try to avoid mistakes and motivational self-system: the ideal L2 self, the ought-
remain passive in the class. They will focus more on to L2 self, and the L2 learning experience. The ideal
form than on meaning. Finally, it may impact the L2 self refers to the ideal condition a person wants to
students’ communication focus on exchange reach. It represents his/her own hopes and wishes. For
information. example, a person wishes to be a fluent foreign
Krashen highlights the notion that students should language user who can talk to foreign people coming
not be put on the defensive situation. It means that the from various countries. The imaginary picture of the
methods and materials of language teaching should be person as a fluent foreign language user may motivate
considered meticulously so that they will not only test him/her to narrow the gap between his/her condition
students' abilities or experience. They should help the now (actual self) and the ideal condition that he/she
students to learn and gain more instead of only reveal wishes (ideal self).
their weaknesses. If teachers provide students with Different from the ideal L2 Self, the ought-to L2
comprehensible input, the ‘pressure’ in the language self refers to the condition that other people want
class will be decreased, students will feel less
anxious, and they can achieve better performance. someone to reach. It represents the people’s
expectation towards the person. It refers to the
IV. DÖRNYEI’S L2 MOTIVATIONAL SELF- characteristics that a person perceives he/she should
SYSTEM have because of his/her duties or responsibilities. For
example, a person wants to learn second or foreign
The third expert discussed in this paper is Dörnyei language because he/she wants to fulfil his/her the
with his theory about L2 Motivational Self-System. expectation of his/her parents, families, teachers, or
Similar with Gardner and Krashen, Dörnyei (1994) boss. The L2 learning experience deals with the
claims that motivation becomes one of the person’s attitude and experience in his/her learning
components that have a substantial influence on environment, including the teacher, the curriculum
students’ language learning achievement. Motivation and the peers. This dimension has a very strong
encourages someone to learn a language and help influence on motivated behaviour. At the beginning,
him/her to survive the long and sometimes tiring some language learners might have motivation to
language learning process. A Learner without learn a language because they have a positive
motivation will not be able to achieve the long-term perception towards the learning process and not
goals even if he/she has high intelligence. A good because of their internally or externally self-images
curriculum and an excellent teaching method will not (Al-Hoorie, 2017; Papi, 2010).
be sufficient to guarantee a learner’s achievement if Dörnyei ‘s L2 motivational self-system has a big
he/she is unmotivated to learn. implication on the field of second/foreign language
Dörnyei (1998) believes that L2 motivation is a teaching. He proposed a set of comprehensive
complex, multifaceted construct. Motivation can strategies to motivate language learners and to make
direct learners’ behaviour by being an energizer and the language teaching and learning process become
providing them direction. Different from Krashen and more effective.
Gardner, Dörnyei emphasized the socio-dynamic From Figure 3, we can learn that motivation is a
perspective to explain the concept of motivation in dynamic construct. In conducting the motivational
which motivation is said as a dynamic construct (Al- teaching practices, a teacher should do several steps:
Hoorie, 2017). Dörnyei (2005) then introduced the building the foundation of motivational conditions,
term of L2 motivational self-system. He made an growing the motivation, maintaining and protecting
attempt to describe the differences of individual students’ motivation, and encouraging positive self-
performances in language learning which relate to the evaluation. The process is like a cycle that it will
aspect of motivation. He was influenced by several come back to the first step and begin again. It shows
theories such as possible-selves theory (Markus & that the teacher should have a high awareness of the
Nurius, 1986), self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, motivational practices that he/she conducts during the
1987), and the socio-educational model (Gardner, whole process of language teaching.
1979, 1985, 2010). Dörnyei assumes that when a
learner perceives a gap between his/her present
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