Motivation Book

If you observe the people around you, some may appear to be highly driven and motivated, while others may seem to be apathetic and less motivated in what they are doing. The ability to be motivated and sustain that motivation is a vital life skill to master, as it is an essential pillar that underpins successful goal achievement and happiness in our lives.

This book provides an overview of second language (L2) motivation research in a specific European context: Hungary, which has proved to offer an important laboratory for such research, as a number of major political changes over the past 30 years have created a changing background for L2 learning in an increasingly globalized world.

This book started as a symposium on Achievement Motiva­ tion at the 1978 American Educational Research Association Convention. The participants in that symposium were Jack Atkinson, Martin Maehr, Dick De Charms, Joel Raynor, and Dave Hunt. The subsequent response to that symposium indicated a "coming of age" for motivation theory in terms of education. Soon afterward, at a Motivation in Education Conference at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, it became apparent that due to this emergence of motivation what was needed was a comprehensive perspective as to the state of the art of achievement theory. Achievement theory had by now well surpassed its beginnings in the 1950s and 1960s and was ready for a composite presentation and profile of the recent research and theories of motivation. Thus, this volume was born. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each contribu­ tor to this book as well as Robert L. Linn who critically reviewed several of the manuscripts.