Human beings are bom with an intense need to explore, interact with, and make sense of their environment. However, with formal schooling, they seem to lose their enthusiasm and passion for learning. This fact implies that the school and its elements such as teachers, subjects, materials, have an important responsibility for increasing student motivation to learn. The aim of this article is to stress the importance of having an intrinsic motivation in English language teaching (ELT). Hence, this article attempts to define motivation, discuss its sources, display its criteria, present ways of increasing motivation and finally suggest some activities.

Keywords: Motivation, intrinsic motivation, English language teaching.