Student Motivation

Motivation

• explains why people decide to do something, how hard they are going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activity.

Components of Motivation

Components of Motivation

• Activation involves the decision to initiate a behavior, (such as enrolling in an English class).
• Persistence is the continued effort towards a goal even though obstacles may exist.
• Intensity can be seen in the concentration and vigor that goes into pursuing a goal.

Motivation in an SLA context

"the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to do so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity"


(Robert Gardner, 1985).

Motivation is one variable of second language learning which, combined with other factors, influences the learner's success.

Motivational Orientations

These orientations describe the purpose for which the learner wants to learn a second language

INSTRUMENTAL MOTIVATION
Language learning for more immediate or practical goals; passing an exam, furthering a career, reading technical material, translation, ...

INTEGRATIVE MOTIVATION
refers to wanting to learn the language in order to integrate into a community that already speaks the language

Integrative means mixing, joining, getting closer, and becoming a part of.

Integrative Motivation

• It is the desire to learn a language in order to communicate with people from another culture and identify with the target language group

Usually, the students choose a combination of both orientations, therefore, it is important to work on both

What is more effective?

INTRINSIC & EXTRINSIC
Both these motivational orientations relate to the sort of gratification the learner receives or expects from the language learning process and tasks.

Intrinsic Motivations

Extrinsic Motivation

Resultative Motivation

If a language learner is successfully learning the language and attaining a reasonably high level of achievement then this in itself motivates the language learner even further.

Research strongly favors intrinsic motivation, especially for long term retention

Intrinsically motivated learners are striving for excellence, autonomy, and self-actualization

Consider the opposite also...

DEMOTIVATORS
Specific External Forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis of behavioral intention or an ongoing action.
(Dornyei, 2005)

Sources of Demotivation

• Low self-efficacy beliefs
• Anxiety/inhibition
• Dislike of teacher/ learning context
• Low achievement (low grades)
• Little relevance between future use and current study
• Attitude towards lang./ culture
• Lack of interest in/ boredom with L2 topics/ activities

AMOTIVATORS
The relative absence of motivation that is not caused by a lack of initial interest but rather by the individuals experiencing feelings of incompetence and helplessness when faced with the activity.
(Deci and Ryan, 1985)

What is the teacher's role in motivation?

Motivation is TEMPORARY. It is a dynamic entity that changes over time, with the level of effort invested in the pursuit of a particular goal. It oscillates between regular difficulties.

Motivation CAN be affected ....

Many studies on motivation conclude that L2 teachers play one of the most influential roles to help students engage and persist in the long process of second language acquisition.

(Kikuchi, 2009; Sakai & Kukuchi, 2009; Tanak 2005)

Sources of Motivation

• Confidence/ self-efficacy
• Rapport with teacher/ classmates
• Enjoyment/ interest
• Expectations and attributions of success
• Possible gains
• Nature of learning environment
• Relevance to future needs
• Parents/ family/ friends
• Attitude toward language - target culture, community

Process-oriented motivational strategies

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Creating the basic conditions for motivation

Appropriate teacher behaviors

• Show enthusiasm
• Have commitment to and expectation of students' learning
• Establish good relationship with the students
• Establish good relationship with the students' parents

Appropriate teacher behavior

Have commitment to and expectation of students' learning

• Offer concrete assistance
• Offer to meet students individually
• Respond immediately when help is requested
• Correct tests and papers promptlty
• Send learners copies of relevant/ interesting articles
• Arrange extra -curricular instructional programs
• Encourage extra assignments
• Allow students to reach you outside of school hours
• Be available

A pleasant and supportive atmosphere

• Establish rapport
• Help students have supportive/ pleasant relationship with each other
• Use humor
• Let students personalize the classroom setting.

A cohesive learner group

• Create a cohesive learner group
• Establish constructive group norms

Generating Initial Motivation

Generating Initial Motivation

• Enhancing the learners' language related values and attitudes
• Increasing the learners' expectancy of success
• Increasing the learners' goal- orientedness
• Making the teaching materials relevant for the learners
• Creating realistic learner beliefs

Generating Initial Motivation

Increasing the learners' expectancy ...

• Provide sufficient preparation
• Offer assistance
• Let students help each other
• Make the success criteria as clear as possible
• Model success
• Consider and remove potential obstacles to learning

Maintaining and Protecting Motivation

Maintaining and Protecting Motivation

• Model success
• Consider and remove potential obstacles to learning
• Make learning stimulating and enjoyable
• Presenting tasks in a motivating way
• Setting specific learner goals

Maintaining and Protecting Motivation

• Protecting the learners' self-esteem and increasing their self-confidence
• Allowing learners to maintain a positive self-image
• Promoting co-operation among the learners
• Creating a learner autonomy

Maintaining and Protecting Motivation

Setting specific learner goals

• Encourage learners to select specific short-term goals for themselves
• Emphasize goal completion deadlines and offer completion feedback
• Use learner contract methods with students to formalize their goal commitment

Encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation

Positive retrospective self- evaluation

• Promoting motivational attributions
• Promoting motivational feedback
• Increasing learner satisfaction
• Offering rewards and grades in a motivating manner

Promoting motivational attributions

• Promote effort attributions
• Provide effort feedback
• Refuse to accept ability attributions
• Model effort-outcome linkages
• Encourage learners to offer effort explanations

When we catch fish, we bait the hook with what the fish like, not what the fisherman likes.

(Gregory and Chapman, 2003)

Strategies to Increase Motivation

• Acknowledge students' achievements and provide positive feedback
• Learn language as an art (learn through stories, music, poetry, artwork, etc.)
• Tailor to your students' need and teach for specific purpose(s)
• Use visual aids and role plays
• Constant exposure and practice

Thank you