VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ---* * *--- NGUYỄN THỊ TUYẾT NHUNG THE USE OF WARM-UP ACTIVITIE
Trang 1VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
-* * * -
NGUYỄN THỊ TUYẾT NHUNG
THE USE OF WARM-UP ACTIVITIES IN
MOTIVATING 10TH FORM STUDENTS TO LEARN
Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.140.111
HA NOI, 2015
Trang 2VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
-* * * -
NGUYỄN THỊ TUYẾT NHUNG
THE USE OF WARM-UP ACTIVITIES IN
MOTIVATING 10TH FORM STUDENTS TO LEARN
READING SKILL
(SỬ DỤNG CÁC HOẠT ĐỘNG KHỞI ĐỘNG TRONG BÀI DẠY ĐỌC HIỂU NHẰM NÂNG CAO HỨNG THÚ HỌC KỸ NĂNG
ĐỌC HIỂU CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10)
M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.140.111
Supervisor: Prof Hoàng Văn Vân
Trang 3CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY
I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “The use of warm-up activities
in motivating 10 th form students to learn reading skill” is my own study in
the fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty
of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
Hanoi, 2015
Nguyễn Thị Tuyết Nhung
Trang 4ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my most sincere gratitude to my respectable supervisor, Prof Dr Hoang Van Van for his restless and sympathetic encouragement, valuable advice and patient guidance until the completion of this study
I wish to acknowledge my thankfulness to the two 10th form classes for their enthusiastic participation in the project
Finally, I am deeply indebted to my beloved parents, my husband, my daughter, my siblings, and my post-graduate friends for their sacrifice, encouragement and care
Trang 5ABSTRACT
How to teach and learn English effectively is a big concern of most teachers and language students Many students at Kien An High School find it boring to study reading lessons This study is intended to investigate the use of warm-up activities and their effects on the 10th form students at Kien An High School and to make some suggestions to improve the quality of learning reading lessons
The study was conducted to answer the questions: What are warm-up
activities? Are warm-up activities an effective technique for motivating 10 th form students to learn reading skill? The author took a sample of 94 students
at Kien An High School Data from the questionnaires was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively
Trang 6
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CERTIFICATION OF ORIGINALITY……… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……….ii
ABSTRACT……… iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS………iv
LIST OF CHARTS……… vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
1 Rationale for the study 1
2 Aims of the study 2
3 Research questions 2
4 Method of the study 2
5 Scope of the study 3
6 Design of the study 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 4
1.WARM-UP ACTIVITES IN A LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING 4
1.1 Definitions 4
1.2 The importance of warm-up activities 5
1.3 Common warm-up activities in a reading lesson 7
1.4 Summary 10
2 MOTIVATION 10
2.1 Definition 10
2.2 Types of motivation 11
2.3 The importance of motivation 14
2.4 Summary 16
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17
1 DESCRIPTION OF SITUATION 17
Trang 71.2 Materials 17
1.3 Teaching – learning strategies 18
2 DESCRIPTION OF DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS 18
2.1 Questionnaire I 18
2.2 Questionnaire II 19
3 PROCEDURE 19
CHAPTER 3: RESULTS, DISCUSSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 21
1 RESULTS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE I 21
2 RESULTS FROM QUESTIONNAIRE II 25
3 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 29
3.1 Active effects 29
3.2 Limitations 29
4 RECOMMENDATIONS 30
PART C: CONCLUSION 33
1 RECAPITULATION 33
2 LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 34
REFERENCES 36 APPENDIX I
Trang 8LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 1: Frequency level of teachers’ using warm-up 21
Chart 2: Careful guiding level of teachers 22
Chart 3: The diversity of warm-up activities used 22
Chart 4: How often warm-up activities should be used 23
Chart 5: The importance of warm-up activities in reading lessons 23
Chart 6: The necessary level of improving warm-up activities 24
Chart 7: Students’ involvement in learning reading lessons 25
Chart 8: Level of students’ concentration during the reading lessons 26
Chart 9: Level of interest 26
Chart 10: Level of appropriateness 27
Chart 11: Level of challenge 27
Chart 12: The role of warm-ups in creating a more interesting learning atmosphere 28
Chart 13: The interaction among students in class when warm-ups are applied 28
Trang 9PART A: INTRODUCTION
This chapter aims at providing the readers with an overview of the study It consists of the rationale for the study, the aims of the study, the research questions, the method of the study, the scope and the design of the study
1 Rationale for the study
There is a common belief that people will be successful more easily if they want to do their duties For example, to please her husband, a wife will try to cook delicious meals A student can concentrate on learning English to communicate with an English, an American or a foreign speaking English, to listen to English songs or to get better jobs, etc In other words, if people are motivated, they will do their best to achieve their goals faster Motivation is some kind of internal drives which pushes someone to do things in order to achieve something Student motivation refers to a student’s interest, desire, compulsion, and need to participate
in and be successful in the learning process It is generally accepted that student motivation plays a key role in academic learning Motivated students have a positive impact on learning They take advantage of a given opportunity and show intense effort and concentration in the implementation of learning process Also, they reveal positive emotions such as excitement, enthusiasm, interest, and optimism during learning Besides, a teacher or an instructor has a significant role in
guiding less motivated students It means that the teacher has to consider students as
the centre in teaching process To make an English teaching period effective, bring into play maximally student’s ability to grasp, the teacher has to find suitable teaching method for each teaching period, each student and necessarily, to create the learning motivation of students from the start It is very important not only for English but also other subjects Creating the motivation of students for the lessons and their enthusiasm in learning is the art of the teacher
There are many ways to increase the learning motivation of students but a large number of teachers consider warm-up activities as one of the most effective ways
Trang 10English is undeniably an international language that serves as the most effective and popular communicative tool between different nations Therefore English is one of the major subjects for Vietnamese students to acquire at schools so that they are qualified with a useful tool to get access to the knowledge of mankind
as well as to develop international communication, especially in the trend of
integration and globalization The introduction of Tiếng Anh 10 is thus hopefully to
improve learners’ communicative competence as the traditional method mainly focuses on English grammar In the context of teaching and learning English in Vietnam, where the number of students in each class is up to 40-50, the use of warm-up activities is also a useful tool in class management by involving learners’ participation However, this method still leaves much room to develop in Vietnam
For the reasons mentioned above, the researcher wishes to conduct the
research on “The use of warm-up activities in motivating 10 th form students to learn reading skill.”
1 Aims of the study
The study is targeted at investigating the use of warm-up activities and their effects on motivating the 10th graders in reading lessons
2 Research questions
To achieve the above aim, the following questions are raised for exploration:
reading skill?
2 To what extent can warm-up activities be used as effective technique to improve reading skill?
4 Method of the study
In order to answer the research questions as raised above, the thesis uses both qualitative and quantitative research method The qualitative method is used to study the notion of “warm-up activities” and that of “motivation” as conceptualized
by different researchers Quantitative method is used to collect data that for
Trang 11emphasizing the effectiveness of using warm-up activities to motivate 10th form students to learn reading skill
5 Scope of the study
This study is carried out at Kien An High School and it only focuses on reading
skill of Tiếng Anh 10
6 Design of the study
The study consists of three parts which discuss the following matters
Part A – Introduction – introduces the background of the study that includes the rationale, the aims of the study, the research questions, the method, the scope as well as the design of the study
Part B – Development – is composed of three chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 – Literature Review – presents the theoretical background about
warm-up activities and motivation
Chapter 2 – Research Methodology – focuses on the subjects, the data
collection instruments and the procedure
Chapter 3 – Results, Discussions and Recommendations – presents and
analyzes preliminary results and the results after improving the warm-up activities and suggest some recommendations
Part C – Conclusion – summarizes the main findings, presents the limitations
of the study, and makes some suggestions for further studies
In addition, the study also includes the sections of References which displays the sources of referenced information and Appendix which presents the survey questionnaire
Trang 12PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter deals with two major issues: (1) warm-up activities in language teaching and learning including the definitions, the importance and common warm-
up activities and (2) motivation in language learning including the definitions, the importance of motivation, and types of motivation
1 WARM-UP ACTIVITES IN A LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING
1.1 Definitions
The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English (2009) defined warm-up as
“a period or act of preparation for a game performance or exercise session, involving gentle exercise or practice.” In The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary 8th Edition, warm-up is “a short practice or a series of gentle exercises that you do to prepare yourself for doing a particular sport or activity.”
Jonell (1985:364) pointed out that warm-up activities are designed to get students’ attention to help them, put aside distracting thoughts and to get them ready
to focus individually and as group on whatever activities follow
Cynthia in http://educatekids.com see warm-up activities as activities which cultivate the students and draw them into the lesson – giving us the opportunity to
do our thing
An other author, Ninel (http://ct-net.net) also defines warm-up activities as
an “integral part of lessons that serve to make critical thinking strategies and the process of teaching more effective.” A warm-up often helps create a conductive atmosphere for learning and gets students ready for active and fruitful learning These activities are especially helpful in preparing students to work in pairs and groups
Trang 13In short, there are numerous opinions about warm-up; however, warm-up activities are activities or games carried out at the beginning of each class to motivate students, so they can make good use of class time They make the lessons interesting or boring and they contribute to motivate students Therefore, they play
an important role in teaching process
1.2 The importance of warm-up activities
No one can deny the role of warm-up activities in teaching and learning English Activities at the start of the lesson deserve more attention than they usually receive In fact, the initial activities that start the class are very important
Warm-up activities help to get the class going because after that, students usually become more attentive and are then mentally and physically alert in order to participate fully in later activities What is more, the first few minutes of a lesson are sometimes the most difficult for the teacher, and can set the tone for the whole
of that lesson Deacon (2002:31) suggests that a simple warm-up activity at the beginning of any class will create a positive and relaxed atmosphere that will
encourage all the students to take full part in the rest of the class In addition,
warm-ups increase group rapport and promote socialization; are do-able, success-oriented for everyone; fun and quick energizing
It is said that people never get a second chance to make the first impression
A second chance is never got to kick off a lesson on the right foot, either whether you have groggy early morning learners, lethargic after-lunch groups or others in between, a good warm-up can spark your classes and get everyone immediately energized and turned into your lesson
“Warm-ups help your learners put aside their daily distractions and focus on English If they have not used English all day, they may take a little while to shift into it Warm-ups also encourage whole-group participation which can build a sense
of community within the group.” (Kristina, http://writing.colostate.edu)
Trang 14In brief, Chris (http://ezinearticles.com) gives four reasons for effective warm-ups:
Warm-ups set the tone of the lesson because they are the first activities of the lesson
A full activity raises energy, less inhibited students later in the lesson, because
it goes against the notion of language learning as difficult work assessed through tests For example, an activity that students find too difficult of confusing can prove discouraging while a fun activity will make the lesson interesting and effective and raise energy levels
Warm-ups get students to begin thinking and focusing on English
It may have been a few days, a week, or even longer since they last used English A little time here will improve receptivity later For classes in a non-English speaking country, the lesson may represent the only chance for students to use the language They may not have spoken English for a week, maybe longer, but warm-up will prepare everyone for the more intensive during classroom time
It usually takes about ten minutes to get the wheels turning Once in English mood, students make fewer mistakes during the early stages of the lesson when the teacher is introducing and drilling the target material They will also have fewer slips of the tongue with familiar language
As a final comment, where a short warm up does not get everyone into English mood, a warm up that is too long takes away valuable time from the lesson Students have less time to practice and apply the new material
Warm-ups provide a transition into the topic or target language
An activity at the start of the lesson activates pre-existing knowledge on a subject, and may even get students to use (or consider) some of the ideas, vocabulary, or even grammar important to the lesson
If the lesson focuses on past vacations, then a few lower-intermediate questions on vacation will get everyone to think about the topic The warm-up activities have already held information, in this case about vacations There is also
Trang 15the chance that students may inadvertently produce some of the key language, which you can make note of and use to present the target material
Warm-ups allow the teacher important opportunities to access character ability
of the students
Firstly, the warm-ups let teacher sit back, observe, and assess the students’ abilities With any class, the teacher will catch students on good and bad days If everyone is a bit tired and unfocused, the teacher may have to scale back the lesson objective On the other hand, you may have to expand the scope if everyone uses the target language correctly from the start Assessment lets the teacher adjust what and how he/she will present materials from the start
Secondly, warm-ups let the teacher also assess who will partner well together, and who will not During the initial activity, the teacher can determine who will form the best groups for subsequent activities Strong students may not want to work with weak students, or a young businessperson Although the teacher will not be able to fully determine abilities or personalities for later pair and group work, the warm-ups will signal any potential problems or conflicts at the very least
1.3 Common warm-up activities in a reading lesson
Not only with a reading lesson but also with any skill lessons, warm-up activities are very multiform Not any warm-up activities can apply for all lessons According to the purpose and requirement of the lesson, the teacher can choose an appropriate warm-up activity
As we know, in the English textbook of high school level, reading is the beginning part of a unit So in reading lessons, most of warm-up activities are those aiming to introduce the topic of the new unit Moreover, because “the teaching of reading has often involved little more than giving students a text and requiring them
to answer a series of comprehensive questions”(Le Van Su, 2005) we can use warm-up activities aiming to introduce new words of the new lesson, or warm-ups aiming to revise learned vocabulary which relate to the new lesson Besides, warn-
up activities create joyful atmosphere before starting the new lesson are also useful
Trang 16Based on these, there are four types of warm-up activities:
Warm-up activities to introduce the topic of the new lesson
Hang man (unit 7 in English lesson plan book of grade 11, 2007)
Students have to guess a secret word Teacher gives some clues and number of letters of the word The class is divided into two teams One student from each team suggests a letter in turn If the letter appears in the word, the teacher writes it in the correct position If it is not, the teacher starts to construct gallows for that team One line is added for each wrong choice The game finishes when there is the correct guess
Word Association (unit 5, English lesson plan book of grade 11, 2007) The class is divided into groups of four or five students Teacher passes handouts of four words which are similar in meaning Ask students to write down the missing word in each group
Eg: horn, graze, milk, hay – cow
Ask students to find out the key word which is formed by the initial letter of all the words they have found (the key word relates to the topic of the new lesson) The group who finds out the word first is the winner
Picture Talk (unit 1, English lesson plan book of grade 11, 2007)
Students work into two groups
Stick pictures of some things on blackboard
Ask students to name them and find out what the pictures talk by colleting the first letters of each name from the picture
The group that can first find out the word will be the winner The word relates to the topic of the new lesson
Kim’s game (unit 10, English lesson plan book of grade 11, 2007)
Students work in two groups Teacher shows some pictures/ things in front of the class in 30 seconds, puts them away and asks students to write down the names
of those things/ pictures The group showing the right answers in a shortest time is
Trang 17 Chatting (unit 9, English lesson plan book of grade 11, 2007)
Teacher chats and exchanges with students about the problems relating to the topic of the lesson For example, teacher may ask them some questions Then teacher introduces the lesson: now we are going to read a text about…
Warm-up activities to introduce new words
Bingo (Kristina, http://writing.colostate.edu)
Teacher writes on the board twelve words which are new words of the reading text Students choose five words to write on their paper Teacher points any word on the board with a ruler and reads loudly While teacher is reading the word, students circle the word they have written When a student circles his/her five words first, he/ she will say loudly “BINGO” and become the winner
Warm-up activities to revise learned vocabulary relating to the lesson
Brainstorming (Kristina, http://writing.colostate.edu)
Teacher divides the class into two groups, gives a topic and asks two teams to write things related to the topic In two minutes, which group writes more is the winner
Warm-up activities to create joyful atmosphere before starting the new lessons
Riddles and definitions (Callum, 1980:62)
For this type of warming up activity, teacher only gives some riddles for students to help them joyful, create relaxation for students to learn new lesson more effectively
Eg: What is the end of everything? (letter G)
What has legs but cannot walk? (a table)
What has teeth but cannot bite? (a comb)
Incomplete definition (Lee, 1991:41-42)
A member of one team defines something and challenges somebody in the other team to guess what it is One point is for each correct guess and an extra point is for correct spelling
Trang 18Eg: A piece of furniture in which we keep clothes (a wardrobe)
A way of telling us to stop or go ahead in the street (traffic lights)
A place where a farmer keeps his cow (a cattle shed)
In short, warm-up activities are those used before starting a new lesson to motivate students and make the lesson more interesting and effective They have deep effects on language teaching and learning They set the tone for the lesson, get students to think and focus on English, provide a transition into the topic and finally allow teacher important opportunities to get access to students’ ability and character Warm-up activities are also multiform Most of them are used to introduce new words such as Hangman, Word Association, Picture Talk, Kim’s Game and Chatting Another type which introduces new words is Bingo Brainstorming is to revise learned vocabulary Besides, to create joyful atmosphere before lessons, Riddles and definitions and incomplete definitions are used
to behavior (Matt, http://ezinearticles.com)
According to Nguyen Ngoc Thao (2001) motivation is called reason or aim
to boost the action to get success
Roberto (2009) gave the similar opinion: “Motivation is something that may drive a person towards success, and it is crucial to possess an inner motivation to view life in an optimistic way.”
Motivation is defined as the desire or aspiration for achieving a goal
Trang 19Similarly, another author, James, (http:exinearticles.com) defined that
“Motivation is the characteristic that helps you achieve your goal It is the drive that pushes you to work hard and reach whatever it is that you are after It is the energy that gives you the strength to get up and keep going-even when things are not going away.”
Motivation is often the reason why somebody does something or behaves in a particular way (Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary of Current English 2000:829)
Motivation is typically defined as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction and continuation of behavior (Biehler and Snowman, 1997:399) Although there are various definitions of motivation, in the researcher’s opinion the definition of Crookes and Schmidt (1991) is relevant to this study most Motivation is defined as “interest in and enthusiasm for the material used in class; persistence with the learning task, as indicated by the levels of attention or action for an extended duration; and levels of concentration and enjoyment.” The reason why the author chooses this definition is that it belongs to a methodologist and it aims directly to the process of teaching and learning a language Moreover, it deals with the same problems as the purpose of this thesis – students’ learning motivation
in a class period
There are various types of motivation; however, in this study, the researcher only focuses on two basic types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivations which are very popular in most researches of motivation
a Intrinsic motivation
Definitions
Intrinsic motivation can be defined as the fact of doing an activity for itself, and the pleasure and satisfaction derived from participation (Lyn, 1999)
Trang 20Intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from external or outside reward
Intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is significant
Some features of intrinsic motivation
A student who is intrinsically motivated undertakes an activity for its own sake, for the enjoyment it provides, the learning it permits, or the feelings of accomplishment it evokes
When students do activities for their own sakes, out of interest, and to reward themselves with an internal feeling, they are intrinsically motivated
When intrinsically motivated, students tend to employ strategies that demand more effort and that enable them to process information more deeply
Intrinsic motivation comes from rewards inherent to a task or activity itself – the enjoyment of a puzzle or the love of playing This form of motivation has been studied by social and educational psychologists since the early 1970s Researchers have found that it is usually associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students Students are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they:
attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (e.g The amount of effort they put in),
believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired goals (i.e the results are not determined by luck),
are interested in mastering a topic, rather than just rote-learning to achieve good grades (Bandura,1997)
b Extrinsic motivation
Definitions
Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual The motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money
Trang 21or grades These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide (Carol, http://giftedkids.about.com)
Extrinsic motivation refers to external incentives (such as money, grades or prizes) for a person to perform a given task
Some features of extrinsic motivation
An extrinsically motivated student performs in order to obtain some reward
or avoid some punishment external to the activity itself such as grades, stickers, or teacher approval
When students are extrinsically motivated, they are doing something in order to earn a reward or to avoid a punishment
Students are extrinsically motivated when they do activities to a tangible reward or for instrumental reasons
In a school setting, extrinsic motivation is fairly common, for example, teachers may give prizes to students if they finish all of their home reading for the month Therefore it may be possible that the students finish all their home reading
to receive a prize rather than for their own enjoyment of reading If teachers know more about these concepts it may be able to help them better understand and teach their students
Extrinsic motivation techniques have been used in some schools for years, although there is evidence to show that far from encouraging learning, it actually undermines it Extrinsic motivation addresses the first stage of natural learning waterfall: it gives students goals Students want to get the prize, so they are willing
to play by the rules of the game the teacher sets up But unfortunately, it fails on the second stage Students learn to see the knowledge the teacher wishes to convey as a way to win the prize rather than something interesting to know on its own They do not see it as something useful in its own right So they do not generate questions about it And once the prize has been achieved, students no longer have any motivation to retain what they have learned (Roger, http://www.engines4ed.org)
c The comparison between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Trang 22Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivations push a person to achieve a goal However, extrinsic motivation is motivation that is inspired by outside forces, while intrinsic motivation is motivation that is inspired from within a person Both types
of motivations are essential to success
The types of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation factors are very different: Extrinsic motivational factors can be money, people around you, good grades and rewards, while with intrinsic motivation, they can be happiness, personal goals, values and morals, willingness and eagerness to learn and physiological, social, and self-esteem needs
Intrinsic motivation is when you want to do something but extrinsic motivation is when somebody else tries to make you do something
Intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation But for many findings intrinsic motivation is not easy – it has to come from inside out But once you get it, intrinsic motivation is much more powerful than the extrinsic (James,
Motivation has extremely important role, especially in education
Mostly, we feel that the bad effect of class period doesn’t depend on the technique and enthusiasm on class of teacher but mainly, the leaning attitude of students So, how to keep student’ interest in learning must be focused Unfortunately, some English teachers often pay more attention to fill the students with many mechanical exercises, ignoring the interest and motivation in class Motivation in education can have several following effects on how students learn and how they behave towards subject matter:
Motivation directs behavior toward particular goals
Social cognitive theorists propose that individuals set goals for themselves and direct their behavior accordingly Motivation determines the specific goals toward which learners strive Thus, it affects the choices students make-for instance,
Trang 23whether to enroll in physics or studio art, whether to spend an evening completing a challenging homework assignment or playing videogames with friends
Motivation leads to increased effort and energy
Motivation increases the amount of effort and energy that learners expend in activities directly related to their needs and goals It determines whether they pursue
a task enthusiastically and wholeheartedly
Motivation increases initiation of and persistence in activities
Learners are more likely to begin a task they actually want to do They are also more likely to continue working at it until they have completed it, even if they are occasionally interrupted or frustrated in the process In general, then, motivation increases students’ time on task, an important factor affecting their learning and achievement
Motivation affects cognitive processes
Motivation affects what learners pay attention to and how effectively they process it For instance, motivated learners often make a concerted effort to truly understand classroom material – to learn it meaningfully – and consider how they might use it in their own lives
Motivation determines which consequences are reinforcing and punishing The more learners are motivated to achieve academic success, the more they will be proud of an A and upset by a low grade The more learners want to be accepted and respected be peers, the more they will value membership in the “in” group and be distressed by the ridicule of classmates To a teenage boy uninterested
in athletic, making or not making the school football team is no big deal, but to a teen whose life revolves around football, making or not making the team may be a consequence of monumental importance
Motivation often enhances performance
Because of the other effects just identified-goal-directed behavior, effort and energy, initiation and persistence, cognitive processing, and the impact of consequences – motivation often leads to improved performance As you might
Trang 24guess, then, students who are most motivated to learn and excel in classroom activities tend to be our highest achievers Conversely, students who have little interest in academic achievement are at high risk for dropping out before they graduate from high school
Chapter I has given an overview of warming up activities and motivation in language teaching and learning In short, in education, motivation is “interest in and enthusiasm for the material used in class; persistence with the learning task, as indicated by levels of attention or action for an extended duration; and levels of concentration and enjoyment.” (Crookes and Schmitdt, 1991) There are two basic types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Motivation plays an important role in education It can direct behavior toward particular goals, lead to increased effort and energy, increase initiation of, and persistence in, activities, enhance cognitive processing, determine what consequences are reinforcing and lead to improved performance