Instrumental motivation refers to when we acquire a language just for instrumental goals or it means to learn a language with non-interpersonal purposes such as to pass an exam or just to have a career. As the researcher believes, Learners with an instrumental motivation want to learn a language because of a practical reason such as getting a jobs or getting into college.
Spolsky (1989), it is worth mentioning that an instrumental motivation is referred to a specific goal. If a goal is continuous, it seems possible that an instrumental motivation would also continue to be active. To a considerable extend, this is the point made by Spolsky (1989), in his analysis of the role that economic factors could play in promoting second language acquisition in some contexts.
These two orientations (integrative/ instrumental) are not mutually exclusive. Some learners learn better if they are interactively oriented, while others are more successful if they are instrumentally motivated and some learn better if they take the advantage of both orientations (Spolsky, 1989).
Deci and Ryan (1985) put forward intrinsic/extrinsic motivation theory. According to Rotter (1966), intrinsic/ extrinsic motivation is related to the term locus of control.