Integrative Motivation: Cause or Result of Successful Second Language Acquisition?

This study examines the relationship between integrative motivation and acquired second language proficiency among a group of Spanish‐speaking kindergartners in an American classroom. Integrative motivation was measured by finding out the children's preferences for friends and playmates and workmates and scoring them according to their tendencies to nominate members of the target language group. Communicative English proficiency was assessed by analyzing spontaneous language and deriving measures of structural knowledge, vocabulary breadth, and pronunciation skill. A Kendall's tau test showed no positive association between integrative motivation and acquired English proficiency. A further comparison of beginners and advanced level English speakers found that the advanced children showed significantly more integrative orientation to the target language group than the beginners, lending support to the notion that integrative attitudes follow second language acquisition skills rather than promoting them.