The influence of motivation type on second language acquisition: comparative analysis of instructed EFL and KFL in Tanzania

This study aimed at examining the influence of motivation types on second language acquisition focusing on English and Kiswahili as foreign languages in Tanzania. It was delimited to two motivation dichotomies of the integrative vs. instrumental motivations and the intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations and to the acquisition of texical, morphological and syntactic competencies. The study was guided by two objectives: (a) to explore learners’ motivation types (b) to examine the influence of motivation types on learners’ L2 competence. The study was a case study design which involved both quantitative and qualitative approaches. 64 respondents, 30 English and 34 Kiswahili as foreign language learners participated in the study. For the case of English respondents, the data were collected at British School in Dar es Salaam. For the case of Kiswahili respondents, the data were collected at the University of Dar es Salaam, Kiswahili na Utamaduni na Sanaa (LUSA) in Iringa Municipality. Methods of data collection were motivation questionnaires and language proficiency tests. The findings indicated that, for the case of English respondents the dominant motivation type was instrumental motivation whereas for Kiswahili respondents the dominant motivation type was integrative motivation for the integrative and instrumental motivations. With regard to intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations, for both groups of the respondents the dominant motivation type was intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, for the case of English respondents, the more successful second language learners were the integratively and the intrinsically motivated respondents. It was, then, concluded that all studied types of motivations may result into successful second language acquisition.