ASSIGNMENT ON BACKGROUND TO ELT METHODOLOGY

Acknowledgements I would like to give special thanks to Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, Ms. Bui Thi Anh Van and Prof Tran Xuan Diep for having provided me with thorough knowledge about motivational language teaching. I am thankful not only for your great help in terms of academic knowledge, but also your relentless passion, which has inspired me to initiate and accomplish this research paper. Table of Contents I. Introduction 4 III. Main content 5 A. Review of the issue 5 1. Intrinsic Motivation 5 2. Extrinsic Motivation 5 3. The distinction between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation 6 4. Motivational Teaching Practice 8 B. Implications in language teaching and language learning 9 IV. Conclusion 12 V. References 13

Ministry of Education and Training Hanoi National University of Education

Faculty of English

ASSIGNMENT ON BACKGROUND TO ELT METHODOLOGY

Motivation in English Language Teaching

INSTRUCTOR: Nguyen Thi Mai Huong

STUDENT: Truong Bich Huyen

GROUP: K64A

Academic Year: 2014 – 2018

Hanoi – 01/2016

Acknowledgements

I would like to give special thanks to Ms Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, Ms Bui Thi Anh Van and Prof Tran Xuan Diep for having provided me with

thorough knowledge about motivational language teaching I am thankful not only for your great help in terms of academic knowledge, but also your relentless passion, which has inspired me to initiate and accomplish this research paper.

Table of Contents

Motivation has always been regarded as an excellent tool which supports people

in almost every aspect of life It sets the goals, sustains interests, passions, and encourages ones to achieve certain aims Hence, numerous educationalists have done thousands of research on how to utilize motivation for the sake of effective teaching and learning process The results received are quite positive, which ensures the use of motivation related methods in education

In this paper, I will give a review about the theoretical background of motivation and the methods, techniques to generate and maintain the learners’ motivation I chose this topic for the project because motivation has always intrigued me the most when learning about different teaching methods Furthermore, the study of motivational strategies will benefit not only teachers but also students; therefore,

doing a research paper in this field would help me a lot as a teacher-to-be as well

as an active learner

The aim of this paper is to provide deeper understandings about the term

“motivation”, discuss some useful methods that teachers can use to motivate students, especially in language teaching and learning

II Main content

A Review of the issue

To begin with, motivation in general is an abstract, hypothetical concept that we use to explain why people think and behave as they do It can also be defined as a kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve their goals In language teaching, motivation is what keeps students interested in the subject, encourages them to put more efforts, so that they can achieve their aims, whether it is to be able to actually communicate in the target language, or

to simply pass the exams Note that during the lengthy, tedious process of

mastering a language, the learner’s enthusiasm, commitment and persistence are the key to success Indeed, most learners with sufficient motivation can achieve a working knowledge of an L2, regardless of their language aptitude or other cognitive characteristics

It has been stated that there are two kinds of motivational influences: Intrinsic motivation (one that comes from inside) and extrinsic motivation (one that comes from outside)

1 Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is defined as the doing of an activity for its inherent

satisfactions rather than for some separable consequence When intrinsically motivated, a person is moved to act for the fun or challenge entailed rather than because of external prods, pressures, or rewards For instance, if a person

participates in an art course because he simply enjoys drawing, he is motivated intrinsically and willing to work hard on his study without being pressured by his parents

Research has shown that humans are endowed with intrinsic motivational

tendencies; however, they do not last forever Determination Theory is

specifically framed in terms of social and environmental factors that facilitate versus undermine intrinsic motivation It has been stated that, under certain circumstances, intrinsic motivation can be enhanced by interpersonal events and structures (e.g., rewards, communications, feedback) that conduce towards feelings of competence Nevertheless, the feelings of competence will not be boosted unless they are accompanied by a sense of autonomy or, in attributional terms, by an internal perceived locus of causality (IPLOC; deCharms, 1968)

2 Extrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic motivation is a construct that pertains whenever an activity is done in order to attain some separable outcome Extrinsic motivation thus contrasts with intrinsic motivation, which refers to doing an activity simply for the enjoyment

of the activity itself, rather than its instrumental value For example, when

students cram for the exam before finals hoping to pass, they do not learn

because they enjoy staying up late with loads of books In fact, they are

extrinsically motivated to study hard so as to not fail the exams

Although intrinsic motivation is clearly an important type of motivation, most of the activities people do are not, strictly speaking, intrinsically motivated

This is especially the case after early childhood, as the freedom to be intrinsically motivated becomes increasingly curtailed by social demands and roles that require individuals to assume responsibility for nonintrinsically interesting tasks

In schools, for example, it appears that intrinsic motivation becomes weaker with each advancing grade

3 The distinction between Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

According to Williams and Burden’s framework of L2 motivation, the distinction between these two types can be given as below

Internal Factors

Intrinsic interest of activity

• Arousal of curiosity

• Optimal degree of challenge

Perceived value of activity

• Personal relevance

• Anticipated value of outcomes

• Intrinsic value attributed to the

activity

Sense of agency

• Locus of causality

• Locus of control re: process and

outcomes

• Ability to set appropriate goals

Mastery

• Feelings of competence

• Awareness of developing skills

and mastery in a chosen area

• Self-efficacy

Self-concept

• Realistic awareness of personal

strengths and weaknesses in

skills required

• Personal definitions and

judgements of success and

failure

• Self-worth concern

• Learned helplessness

Attitudes

• To language learning in general

• To the target language

• To the target language

community and culture

Other affective states

• Confidence

• Anxiety, fear

Developmental age and state

Gender

External Factors

Significant others

• Parents

• Teachers

• Peers The nature of interaction with significant others

• Mediated learning experiences

• The nature and amount of feedback

• Rewards

• The nature and amount of appropriate praise

• Punishments, sanctions The learning environment

• Comfort

• Resources

• Time of day, week, year

• Size of class and school

• Class and schools ethos The broader context

• Wider family network

• The local education system

• Conflicting interests

• Cultural norms

• Societal expectations and attitudes

As in the framework, several factors are claimed to have certain influences on students’ motivation to learn a new language, whether they are external, or internal However, intrinsic motivation is considered to be of greater importance

in comparison with extrinsic motivation, which has traditionally been seen as something that causes students to lose their natural interests in an activity This is because intrinsic motivation provides learners with positive learning attitudes, personal interest in the target language, and long lasting determinations and patience to conquer every obstacle along the way Even if the original reason why a person enroll in a course might come from external forces, but during the learning process, teachers can always try to make the atmosphere comfortable and enjoyable enough to create intrinsic motivation in their students In fact, there is a theory called “The self-determination theory” (Deci and Ryan, 1985),

in which it is stated that under certain circumstances-if students are sufficiently self-determined and internalized- extrinsic rewards can be combined with, or even lead to, intrinsic motivation

Nonetheless, the motivating process is usually a long-term one, “built one grain

of trust and caring at a time” (Scheidecker and Freeman 1999:126) Therefore, there is no such thing as magically reshaping the students’ mindsets and

immediately making them fall in love with the idea of studying Rather, it takes a lot of time and efforts of not only teachers but also students to coordinate and gradually build the stepping stones to success

4 Motivational Teaching Practice

While some teachers are blessed with inborn ability to inspire their students through their knowledge and charisma, others do not seem to be as lucky

Therefore, plenty of research was conducted on the theory of motivation in order

to shed some light on the problem of attracting students’ attention and engaging them in the learning process As a result, scientists and educationalists have introduced some great models of motivational teaching practice, one of which is the motivational teaching process developed by Zoltán Dörnyei

According to Zoltán Dörnyei, motivation consists of several distinct phases:

• First it needs to be generated-the motivational dimension related to this initial phase can be preferred to as choice motivation, because the

generated motivation leads to the selection of the goal or task to be

pursued

• Second, the generated motivation needs to be actively maintained and protected while the particular action lasts

• Finally, the motivational retrospection-which concerns the learners’ retrospective evaluation of how things went

Overall, the whole process of motivational teaching practice is described briefly

in the figure below

Creating the basic motivational

conditions

Generating initial motivation

Maitaining and protecting motivation

Encouraging positive retrospective

self-evaluation

B Implications in language teaching and language learning

Motivational Teaching is of great help when it comes to apply the theory in the classroom In order to successfully engage students in the lessons and be able to motivate them, teachers should flexibly follow the model in the previous section

First and foremost, we need to create the basic motivational conditions by

having appropriate behaviors and a good relationship with the students as well as create a pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere So, what kind of

behavior is considered “appropriate”? The answer is enthusiasm Teachers who come to class with strong passion and joyfulness tend to attract more attentions from students than ones that appear dull and tedious No one will be impressed

by a teacher that yawns every time he comes to class and acts as if he does not care about the lesson at all In addition, to establish a strong connection between students and teachers is essential while trying to initiate motivational conditions During the teaching process, teachers should show students that they accept and care about them Also, listening to their ideas, feelings, opinion is one of the most useful ways to gain deeper understanding of students’ mind It is strongly advised that teachers keep the classroom atmosphere relaxing and friendly by organizing fun activities, telling jokes, encouraging instead of judging students

After creating the background motivational conditions, teachers should start

generating initial motivation The goal now is to enhance the learners’

language related values and attitudes There are certain strategies that teachers can use to promote the learners’ language-related values such as inviting senior students to the class to relate their own experiences, associating students with peers who are enthusiastic about the subject In addition, teachers can

intrinsically motivate students by highlighting and demonstrating aspects of L2 learning that they are likely to enjoy For instance, if students find learning vocabulary interesting and exciting, teachers should give them more time to work

on that aspect On learning a new language, English in particular, it can be

brilliant if teachers provide further information about the culture background of English speaking countries By doing so, they promote integrative value and a cosmopolitan outlook, which has recently received a lot of attention Some scholars claim that the main goal of language teaching should not be simply to teach communicative competence but rather ‘intercultural communicative

competence’ (cf Byram 1997) To promote integrative values, teachers should:

• Familiarize learners with interesting/relevant aspects of the L2 culture

• Share your own positive L2-related experiences in class

• Bring various cultural products (magazines, music, TV recordings, videos)

to class

• Encourage learners to discover interesting information about the countries where L2 is spoken on the Internet and to prepare a presentation

Not only does intrinsic motivation play a significant role in motivational teaching process, but extrinsic motivation is also vital So, teachers can constantly remind their students of how important it is to be able to communicate in the target language, emphasize the role that L2 plays in the world by highlighting its

potential usefulness both for themselves and the community As a result, students may adopt a positive attitude when learning the language knowing that it will be

an indispensable tool in the future

However, teachers’ efforts to motivate learners will go to waste unless they

have the capability of maintaining and protecting motivation There are many

ways to sustain motivation, one of which is to make learning stimulating and enjoyable Too often the language class is somewhat unglamorous and drudgery-like because of several reasons It can be the increasing pressures on teachers to cover the curriculum and to prepare students for the tests and exams, or the irrelevance and impractical teaching materials Fortunately, scholars have come

up with some strategies that will help us to break the monotony of learning Those include making the tasks given to students more engaging and increasing the involvement of the students For the language task, teachers can vary the linguistic focus of the tasks by adding exciting activities (e.g a grammar task can

be followed by one focusing on sociocultural issue) It is best when teachers are able to vary the learning tasks and other aspects of teaching as much as possible, focus on the motivational flow and not just the information flow in the class, and occasionally do the unexpected Furthermore, people usually enjoy a task if they

play an essential part in it Therefore, teachers should try their best to make sure that every single student of the class is given specific and appropriate task For example, when organizing a vocabulary game, teachers may want to engage the whole class in the activity, not just some individuals

Finally, the process ends with rounding off the learning experience by

encouraging positive self-evaluation This includes increasing learner

satisfaction, offering rewards and grades in a motivating manner, and providing motivational feedback