SLT Yang Lilan/ Intr insic Motivation in the ELT classroomIntrinsic Motivation in the ELT classroomo Yang Lilan( H ohhot Vocational Colleg e, H ohhot, I nner Mongolia 010050) [ Abstr act] This paper aims to explore wa ys t o arouse lear ner s. intr insic motivat ion in t he ELT classroomthrough theor etical and pr actical invest igat ions. [ Key words] intrinsic motivat ion; extrinsic motivat ion; teaching techniques; ELT classroom [ 中 图 分 类 号 ] G442 [ 文 献 标 识 码 ] A [ 文 章 编 号 ] 167228610( 2006) 0220106203the lear ners. intrinsic motivation both at the stageI. What is intr insic and extrinsic motivation?of initiating and sustaining motivation. This wouldIn focusing on the r easons why people chooseto act in certain ways, it becomes apparent thatthese reasons for our actions fall into differenttypes. Sometimes we do something because we ar eparticularly interested in the activity itself. A t oth2er times we engage in an activity not because theact of doing it is enjoyable in itself, but throughthe action we can gain something else. Cognitivepsychologists have come to draw a distinction be2tween intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Csik2szentmihalyi and Nakamura provide a clear defini2tion of these concepts. Very simply, when the onlyreason for performing an act is to gain somethingoutside the activity itself, such as passing an ex2am, or obtaining financial r ewards, the motivationis likely to be extrinsic; when the experience of do2ing something generates interest and enjoymentand the reason for performing the activity lieswithin the activity itself, then the motivation islikely to be intrinsic[ 1] . For example, does thestudent work har d to satisfy his or her own interestand...
