The Language Teaching and Learning Context Task 3 Kevin Stein What is the importance of motivation in the learning

of English as a second or other language? What factors are most likely to motivate: a) primary-age children b) teenagers c) adults With reference to any one of these groups, explain how you would encourage learners to motivate themselves, both in and out of the classroom Rebecca Oxford (2003, ! "0# defines $otivation as, %the condition of being $oved to action or the interna& desire to take action!'( )ut, as her definition $akes c&ear, having a desire to do so$ething is not s*non*$ous +ith actua&&* doing it! ,n &ight of this, it's not sur rising that -.rn*ei and /shioda (2000, ! 1# seek to tie $otivation to actua& behaviors, stating that $otivation is %res onsib&e for2 +h* eo &e decide to do so$ething, ho+ &ong the* are +i&&ing to sustain the activit*, ho+ hard the* are going to ursue it!( ,n the case of &earning 3ng&ish, $otivation can be seen as the under&*ing desire +hich &eads students to +ork harder, for &onger, +hi&e reducing the risk that the* +i&& give u $idstrea$! 4s -.rn*ei (2005, ! 65# notes, %7ithout sufficient $otivation, even individua&s +ith the $ost re$arkab&e abi&ities cannot acco$ &ish &ong ter$ goa&s!( Recogni8ing that $otivation is crucia& to &anguage &earning, the 9uestion then beco$es one of ho+ :and if:a teacher can ositive&* i$ act students &eve& of $otivation! ,n $* ex erience, , have found an* student, regard&ess of age, +i&& eventua&&* &ose interest in a task +hich is erceived as being over&* difficu&t! So it's not sur rising that -.rn*ei (as cited in -.rn*ei ; /shioda, 2005, !00"# high&ights the i$ ortance of %increasing the &earners' ex ectanc* of success( and %increasing <&earner's= se&f>confidence,( as ke* co$ onents in $otivationa& teaching ractices! 7ith this in $ind, c&assroo$ activities +hich are cha&&enging enough to insti&& a sense of acco$ &ish$ent and bo&ster se&f>confidence, *et not so difficu&t as to be over+he&$ing are ke* to $otivating students regard&ess of age! 3s ecia&&* at the o ening of a &esson, activities +hich students can co$ &ete +ith assurance he& students fee& confident enough to tack&e $ore cha&&enging activities as the c&ass rogresses! 4t the sa$e ti$e, activities +hich are too eas* can a&so resu&t in students beco$ing disengaged! 7hi&e teachers can ad?ust an activit* as it is being done to $ake it $ore difficu&t, 7o&ters (2005, ! 001# suggests se&f>handica ing, or %the $anufacture of obstructions before or during a task to $ake the task $ore difficu&t,( as a se&f>regu&ating $otivationa& strateg*! Teaching

techni9ues such as &acing a thin a er stri do+n the $idd&e of the text to $ake reading $ore difficu&t, can a&&o+ students to se&f>ad?ust the difficu&t* of a task! @or *ounger students +ith &ess ex erience in for$a& &anguage &earning situations, even a erfect&* itched activit* is no guarantee that the* +i&& re$ain on task! 7hi&e ear&* studies on extrinsic $otivation, or $otivation based on externa& re+ards such as ri8es and high grades, sho+ed that such a focus can under$ine a students intrinsic $otivation, or &earning for the ?o* of &earning ()ro+n, ! 0A1#, as our understanding of the inter &a* bet+een intrinsic and extrinsic $otivation has gro+n, it is no+ thought that, %sufficient&* interna&ised extrinsic $otives are no+ seen as co$ &e$entar* to intrinsic interest! (-.rn*ei ; /shioda, 2000, B! 02C#( /sing s$a&& re+ards, oint s*ste$s, or stickers to he& *ounger students sta* focused and gain &inguistic confidence can &a* an i$ ortant ro&e in the &anguage c&assroo$! ,n addition roviding a c&assroo$ structure +hich rovides *oung &earners +ith a sense of choice around +hat and ho+ the* stud* can increase fee&ings of autono$* +ith a corres onding increase in &earners L2 $otivation (7u, 2003#! @or exa$ &e, re aring various &exica& sets and &etting students ick the one in +hich the* are $ost interested is a si$ &e +a* to a&&o+ students to exert $ore contro& over the &earning environ$ent and foster $otivation! De& ing teenagers +ho are in the rocess of bui&ding a sense of identit* deve&o an integrative orientation, or desire to, %integrate the$se&ves into the cu&ture of the second &anguage grou , ()ro+n, 200A !0A0#( can a&so enhance $otivation! @ostering an integrative orientation can be done b* generating interest in the cu&ture b* using rea&ia and other $ateria&s +hich high&ight oints of cu&tura& interest (-.rn*ei ; /shioda, 2000, B! 001#! 4s 3ng&ish so&idifies its osition as the +or&d's &ingua franca, the idea of integrative orientation has taken on a ne+ di$ension! ,n an 3L@ +or&d, Eashi$a, Fenuk>Gishide, and Shi$i8u (2001# have found that, %internationa& osture( or students +ho +ere internationa&&* oriented a&so sho+ higher &eve&s of $otivation! , have used &inked c&assroo$ ro?ects such as creating a b&og +ith students in Ha an, )ra8i& to he& students see the$se&ves as $e$bers of an internationa& 3ng&ish using co$$unit*! Students' $otivation over the course of these ro?ects is high and in after ro?ect surve*s, $an* students have identified %the i$ ortance of being ab&e to co$$unicate +ith other L2 3ng&ish users( as one of the $ain reasons for +h* the* fe&t the ro?ect +as +orth+hi&e! ,n addition, +hen students understand their res ective ro&es and +ork together to co$ &ete the$, these t* es of ro?ects he& deve&o grou cohesiveness! This is es ecia&&* i$ ortant in &ight of the fact that, %The socia& unit of the c&assroo$ is c&ear&* instru$enta& in deve&o ing and su orting the $otivation of the individua&! (/shioda as cited in -.rn*ei, 2005, ! "C#(

Ian* of our adu&t &earners of 3ng&ish co$e into our c&assroo$s +ith c&ear goa&s! These goa&s are often extrinsic in nature and resu&t in a $ore instru$enta& orientation to+ards &anguage &earning! 4du&t &earners in 3ng&ish c&asses $ight be re9uired to take c&asses in order to receive a ro$otion, because a certain &eve& TO3,C score is $andated b* their co$ anies, or in order to take universit* c&asses and receive a higher degree! ,n &ight of this, -.rn*ei and /shioda's, (2005, !006# advice to, %@ind out *our students' goa&s and the to ics the* +ant to &earn, and bui&d these into *our s*&&abus as $uch as ossib&e,( see$s e$inent&* reasonab&* and a basic re9uire$ent of fostering $otivation in adu&t &earners! Regard&ess of +hat age students +e teach, a&& of our students +i&& eventua&&* &eave our c&assroo$s! ,t is our res onsibi&it* as teachers to re are our students for this b* he& ing the$ deve&o the ski&&s needed to generate and $aintain $otivation in the future! 3s ecia&&* +ith teenage &earners, , have found the fo&&o+ing three techni9ues to be usefu& in he& ing students se&f>regu&ate their $otivation inside and outside of c&ass2! 0! 7ork +ith students to identif* c&ear and $easurab&e goa&s, both &ong and short ter$, +ith reasonab&e co$ &etion dates2 setting achievab&e goa&s a&&o+s students to focus their ti$e and energ*, he& s the$ deve&o ersistence, and encourages the$ to identif* the actions the* +i&& need to take to $eet their goa&s (-.rn*ei ; /shioda's, 2005, !006# 2! -eve&o a ro riate techni9ues for ref&ecting on successes and fai&ures2 he& ing students to attribute ositive outco$es in their &anguage studies to ersona& factors such as erseverance and a titude, +hi&e at the sa$e ti$e fra$ing negative outco$es as the resu&t of, %shortco$ings that $ight be overco$e,( is a ke* $echanis$ for kee ing students $otivated in the face of the ongoing tria& and error rocess of &earning a ne+ &anguage (7eirner, /shioda as cites in -.rn*ei, 2005, ! AC#! ,t is es ecia&&* i$ ortant +ith teenagers, +ho are often re9uired to take and retake high>stake exa$s such as TO3,C and TO3@L! The narrative students create around these test resu&ts can i$ act their +i&&ingness to stud* for and retake such tests if their resu&ts are &ess than satisfactor*! 3! ,ncrease students abi&it* to &earn autono$ous&*2 ,n -ickinson's revie+ of se&ected &iterature on $otivation (as cited in -.rn*ei and /shioda, ! 5"#, %enhanced $otivation is conditioned on &earners taking res onsibi&it* for their o+n &earning,( and %being ab&e to contro& their o+n &earning!( ,ntroducing students to a +ide range of avai&ab&e $ateria&sJ teaching ho+ to se&ect &eve&>a ro riate textsJ teaching stud* techni9ues such as the ro er use of +ord cards and a&&o+ing students to beco$e fa$i&iar +ith tech>based &earning aids such as Kui8&et (htt 2LL9ui8&et!co$L# for vocabu&ar* and L*rics Training (htt 2LL+++!&*ricstraining!co$L# for

&istening a&& resu&t in students better ab&e to $anage their o+n &earning! @or $an* teenagers in for$a& education settings, a &anguage c&ass $ight rovide the first rea& o ortunit* for students to deve&o se&f>directed and autono$ous &earning ski&&s! 7hi&e a&& of the teachni9ues $entioned in this a er can $otivate our students, the* are a&& a&so based on a $ore i$ ortant and under&*ing condition! To $otivate students, first and fore$ost, a teacher $ust &isten to and care about his or her students! )ecause that is the ver* ox*gen of a c&assroo$ in +hich the fire of $otivation is a&&o+ed to catch and burn! References2 )ro+n, -! (200A#! !rinciples of "anguage "earning and #eaching (5th ed!#! 7hite B&ains, GE2 Bearson! -.rn*ei, F! (2005#! #he !sychology of the "anguage "earner: $ndividual %ifferences in &econd "anguage 'c(uisition! Iah+ah, GH2 La+rence 3r&bau$! -.rn*ei, F! ; /shioda, 3! (2000#! #eaching and )esearching *otivation (2nd ed!#! Dar&o+, /K2 Long$an! Oxford, R! (2003#! To+ards a Iore S*ste$atic Iode& of L2 Learner 4utono$*! ,n -! Ba&fre*$an

; R!C! S$ith (eds!# "earner 'utonomy across +ultures: "anguage Education !erspectives, )asingstoke2 Ba&grave Iac$i&&an, ! A5>C0!
7o&ters, C!4! (2003#! Regu&aion of Iotivation2 3va&uating an /ndere$ hasi8ed 4s ect of Se&f> Regu&ating Learning! Educational !sychologist, 2" (1#, 0"C>205! 7u, M! (2003#! ,ntrinsic $otivation and *oung &anguage &earners2 The i$ act of the c&assroo$ environ$ent! &ystem, 30, 500>50A Eashi$a, T!, Fenuck>Gishide, L!, ; Shi$i8u, K! (2001#! The ,nf&uence of 4ttitudes and 4ffect on 7i&&ingness to Co$$unicate and Second Language Co$$unication! "anguage "earning, 51, 00C>052!