Teaching and Researching Motivation (Applied Linguistics in Action)

The learner's motivation to learn the foreign language is absolutely critical to success. Teaching and Researching: Motivation combines Dornyei's own well-known theory of language motivation, with a comprehensive review of both the psychological and the second language literature.

Applied Linguistics in Action Series
Series Editors: Christopher N. Candlin, Chair Professor of Applied Linguistics, Centre for English Language Education and Communication Research, City University of Hong Kong
David R. Hall, Head of Linguistics Department, Macquarie University, Sydney.


Most teachers and researchers would agree that any success or failure in language learning is largely dependent on the learner's motivation to learn the foreign language. But what is motivation? How can we describe it? How can we increase it, and how can we assess it?

These are some of the key questions covered by Teaching and Researching Motivation. The book:

* provides a theoretical summary of the various facets of motivation
* examines how the theoretical insights can help classroom practitioners in their everyday teaching practice
* looks at how motivation can be researched and assessed
* offers practical recommendations and tips

The final section of the book contains a variety of useful resources, including relevant web-sites, lists of key reference works and over 150 actual questionnaire items that the author has successfully used in the past. This section can also be found on the Teaching and Researching Motivation companion web-site.

Written in a highly accessible style and illustrated with many concrete examples, Teaching and Researching Motivation is an invaluable resource book for teachers and researchers alike.


Dr. Zoltan Dornyei is the Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Applied Linguistics in the School of English Studies at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of several books, including Conversation and Dialoges in Action (1992, co-authored with Sarah Thurrell) and Interpersonal Dynamics in Second Language Education: The Visible and Invisible Classroom (1998, co-authored with Madeline Ehrman).