A study in Finland investigated the relationship of two general aspects of student motivation for second language learning (preference for challenge and curiosity) and motivation specific to the learning situation. Subjects were 292 sixth-graders and 301 eighth-graders, who performed two open and two closed English vocabulary tasks in two different learning situations, individual and cooperative. Students' pre- and post-task attitudes were elicited by questionnaire. Pre-task items measured how interesting, difficult, and curiosity-arousing the students saw the task, how competent they felt to do it, how eager to begin, and whether they expected to learn from it. Post-task items measured how students had persisted with and concentrated on the task, how satisfied they were with their performance, how interesting they had found it, and other feelings associated with their performance. A background questionnaire measured general motivational orientation (integrative, instrumental, and cognitive); attitudes toward group, method, and teacher; classroom motivational orientation; target language self-concept; cognitive and attributional styles; and learning situation preferences. Analysis of the results suggests that in studying foreign language learning motivation, both general and subject-specific motivation theories should be used. Additional research is recommended. A 30-item bibliography and the pre- and post-task questionnaires are appended. (MSE)