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Sally Olivas
Rhetoric and Composition Portfolio
Spring 2015
TESL paper
Motivation and All Its Implications
For my TESL 524 (Teaching American Pronunciation) final paper, I researched how
motivation impacts second-language learners pronunciation. The idea of motivation fits
perfectly into the theories of Kenneth Burke, and I would use his rhetoric of Identification and
Dramatism to analyze this TESL paper.
The first study to which I would apply Burke is the Gatbonton, Trofimovich and Magid
study, and I would associate this research with Burkes theory of motivation, in particular that of
pleasure and displeasure seen in his On Symbols and Society. Linkages involving acquiescent
response to stimuli having a pleasure-character are brought into conflict with linkages involving
acquiescent response to stimuli having a displeasure-character and if one finally decides to
remain, on looking into his motives he will find that he has acted out of duty (127). The secondlanguage learners in this study felt obligated to do what their peers felt best: If the peers wanted
the learners to sound like the Target Language, the learners strived for that. If it was the opposite,
they didnt. One gave them pleasure, the other displeasure. Motivation moves people in various
ways, and this study and Burkes analysis show some motivation can be negative.
Along those lines, in the Oyama study, she found social penalties for not having
accurate pronunciation, and this can have serious consequences to the point that some learners
will even avoid some situations. Burke would say this identification, or lackthereof, is creating

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divisions and putting the learners at odds, Why at odds, you may ask, when the titular term is
identification? Because, to begin with identification is, by the same token, though
roundabout, to confront the implications of division (181). Having too heavy an accent often
causes division for the learner with speakers of the Target Language and culture; however, not
keeping an accent can cause division with the learners peers of the native language. The learner
has to decide which is more important to him; Burke would say the learner has to decide on
which motivation is stronger.
In direct opposition to this idea of division is this idea of acceptance. Burke called this
being consubstantial. Graham found assimilative motivation to be a very big factor in whether
the learner would have accuracy in his pronunciation. Burke would say when people try to
identify with one another, they need to have commonalities, . . . and in acting together, men
have common sensations, concepts, images, ideas, attitudes that make them consubstantial
(181). In this case, the commonality is the Target Language, and Graham says the learners
desire to assimilate is a big factor. The learners want to identify with native speakers and their
culture.
Along those lines, some second-language learners have such a strong desire to assimilate
and identify with the new culture, they completely immerse themselves in it, as they did in
Bongaerts et als study. The men went so far as to marry Dutch women and to raise their children
in the Target Language. Their motivation was to become integrated into the culture even to the
point their children were one with the culture. This rhetorical move is the very ideal of
consubstantiality Burke advocates.
In Moyers study, she found one particular learner of great interest whose pronunciation
score rated higher than one native speakers score. She attributed this to the learners motivation;

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the learner said his professional motivation was what drove his studies. He wanted to be able to
succeed professionally in the new country. A scene-purpose ratio of Burkes Pentad would say
this learners location (scene) completely motivates the reason why (purpose) he is working so
hard to achieve native speaker-like pronunciation. If the learner were not in the new country, he
would not have the reason to push so hard to learn the new language, to have accurate
pronunciation, and to be intelligible. His scene is his direct motivation.
Burkes idea of motives and how they impact human behavior is in line with the results
of most of the studies I researched for this TESL paper. His theory of Identification and how we,
as humans, need to identify with one another on many levels correlates directly with why many
people try to learn a second or subsequent language. Also, his Dramatist Pentad that says a scene
influences why people do things fits well into this idea of immigrants assimilating into their new
country and doing so is the reason they strive for pronunciation that is understandable.

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Works Cited
Bongaerts, Theo, Susan Mennen and Fran van der Slik. Authenticity of Pronunciation
in Naturalistic Second Language Acquisition: The Case of Very Advanced Late Learners
of Dutch as a Second Language. Studia Linguistica 54(2) (2000): 298-308. Web.
Burke, Kenneth. On Symbols and Society. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1989. Print.
Gatbonton, Elizabeth, Pavel Trofimovich and Michael Magid. Learners Ethnic Group
Affiliation and L2 Pronunciation Accuracy: A Sociolinguistic Investigation. TESOL
Quarterly 39(3) (2005): 489-511. Web.
Graham, Ray C. Beyond Integrative Motivation: The Development and Influence of
Assimilative Motivation. Paper presented at On TESOL 84. A Brave New World for
TESOL, Houston, TX. 1984, March 6 11.
Moyer, Alene. (1999). Ultimate Attainment in L2 Phonology: The Critical Factors of Age,
Motivation, and Instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 21(1) (1999) 81108. Web.
Oyama, Susan. A Sensitive Period for the Acquisition of a Nonnative Phonological
System. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 5(3) (1976) 261-283. Web.