Educational practices and elements of motivation in B. F. Skinner's Walden Two and its application in EFL classrooms

The primary purpose of this study is to analyze Burrhus Frederic Skinner's utopian novel Walden Two in terms of education system and the issue of motivation to learn. It is also intended to compare the findings of the analysis with the results of existing research on motivation that has been conducted in various language learning settings. The education system in Walden Two where each and every individual is free to choose what to study provides no place for competition. Learners are described as autonomous learners who are able to progress at the subjects they study on their own pace. Therefore, it has been maintained in this study that learners in Walden Two are intrinsically motivated towards learning. On the other hand, learners of EFL or ESL significantly differ regarding what motivates them to study. Although some research results reveal that external rewards are a vital source of motivation for extrinsically or instrumentally motivated learners, there are also some other students who are intrinsically motivated or have a desire to mingle with the language group, which promotes integrative motivation. As a result, it has been postulated that in Walden Two, Skinner's stance on behaviorism is clearly reflected through the depiction of behavioral engineering. While assuming that all learners in Walden Two are intrinsically motivated is possible due to such behavior manipulation, it cannot be argued that learners in Walden Two are completely different from learners of EFL/ESL in the real classes. They bare resemblance to those students who are intrinsically motivated, they are dissimilar to the ones who have other sorts of motivation, though. Key words: Walden Two, B. F. Skinner, behaviorism, motivation