ction of language, values, beliefs, and behaviors that pervade every aspect of a person’s life, while continually changing and evolving (Ginsberg, 2005). Culture can also be defined more broadly in terms of acquisition of a second language where the term cultural becomes “intercultural.”
How we view cultural understanding within the language class has evolved from an understanding of the “target culture” toward an understanding of how two different cultures are related (Fenner, 2008). When students internalize a new language and its new culture, they do not work in a vacuum. Indeed, their beliefs, values, and assumptions shape their understanding of themselves and their understanding of others (Kourova & Modianos, 2013).
How Cultural Proficiency Enhances Motivation in ESL Learners
Cultural awareness and respect for cultural diversity always enhance motivation in ESL learners. Language learning is a case of learning symbols and systems of codes but is also a matter of developing cultural knowledge and competence. In fact, culture can be viewed as being a feature of language itself (Kramsch, 1993, cited in Fenner, 2008).
In terms of cultural proficiency, motivation plays an essential part in enhancing students’ foreign or English as a second language learning skills. Motivation arouses students’ interest in learning of a foreign language as they relate often abstract sounds of foreign language to real people and places (Fenner, 2008). Therefore, by applying a motivational framework in second- language teaching, we can certainly enhance the language learning and motivate second- language learners for a positive learning outcome.
What is a Motivational Framework?
A motivational framework integrates vital constructs of motivation from many disciplines. The central tenet of this conceptual framework is that, to support the motivation of all learners, it is necessary to address essential knowledge and skills within a culturally responsive, and intrinsically motivating, pedagogy (Ginsberg, 2005, p. 219). In addition, the motivation framework demystifies the role of culture in teaching and learning, without prescribing lists of learning preferences and teaching approaches for entire student groups (Ginsberg, 2005). Furthermore, the motivational framework is respectful of different cultures and is capable of creating a common culture within a learning situation that all students can accept it. It dynamically combines the essential motivation conditions that are intrinsically motivating for diverse students (Wlodkowski, 1999).
A Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching and How it Enhances Motivation in ESL Learners
A motivational framework for culturally responsive teaching is built on principles and structures that tend to be meaningful within and across cultures, and the purpose of the motivational framework is to unify teaching practices that elicit the intrinsic motivation of all learners so that educators can consistently design leaning experiences that matter to, and support, the success of all students. In terms of everyday instruction, it seeks to explain how to create compelling and demographic variety of assumptions learning experiences that honor the diverse perspectives, values, and talents that students bring to the classroom (Ginsberg, 2005, p. 221).
Therefore, the motivational framework for culturally responsive teaching enhances motivation in ESL learners through four basic conditions that work together to support students’ natural interest in learning: establishing inclusion, developing a positive attitude, enhancing meaning, and engendering competence (Ginsberg, 2005). Although the motivational framework for culturally responsive teaching includes new teaching strategies for each condition (Ginsberg & Wlodkowski, 2000), it also serves as a template for recognizing existing strengths in educational practice and providing clues to develop those strengths. In this way, it is respectful of the work that educators are already doing, and it encourages classroom teachers to apply principles of motivation