Attitudes, Motivation, and Second Language Learning: A Meta-Analysis of Studies Conducted by Gardner and Associates

This meta-analysis investigates the relationship of second language achievement to five attitude/motivation variables from Gardner's socioeducational model: integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, motivation, integrative orientation, and instrumental orientation. These relationships were examined in studies conducted by Gardner and associates using the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery and various measures of second language achievement including self-ratings, objective tests, and grades. In total, the meta-analysis examined 75 independent samples involving 10,489 individuals. Two additional variables, availability of the language in the community and age level of the students, were examined to assess their moderating effects on the relationships. The results clearly demonstrate that the correlations between achievement and motivation are uniformly higher than those between achievement and integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, integrative orientation, or instrumental orientation, and that the best estimates of the population correlations are greater than 0. Neither availability nor age had clear moderating effects.