Gender Differences in Second Language Motivation

As a model of motivation we turn to the successful learner and what he or she does to affect that success. The more successful learner brings to the task a certain awareness of his or her own drives and a certain state of mental cognition. These qualities enable further success in every stage of development, whether it be as a person or as a learner (to make a perhaps unnecessary clarification here, the person and the learner are not divisible but both exist dependent on the other). The modern educator should recognize the importance of the concept of self-awareness of drives. This is reflected in the concern with the needs of his/her students. In modern theory, these needs have been reformulated as goals, a concept which has gained vital recognition by most theorists connected with motivation. Goals will come under discussion later; what is important at this point is the significance given to the cognitive state of the subject; the individual s thoughts, beliefs, and emotions