the motivational impact of teachers

The motivational impact of teachers on

language learners

What do studies in the language teaching field have to say to us?

What was your favourite subject at school in your old school days? Can you explain all the reasons why?

Describe a teacher you really liked . What qualities did you admire in him/her? Did this have any impact on your enjoying/learning the subject?

Describe a teacher you did not like from your school days. Why didn’t you like him or her? Did this have an impact on your enjoying or learning the subject?

Describe the first teacher that comes to your mind from your old school days. Explain why you remembered this specific teacher.

Can we really positively or negatively influence our

learners’ motivation to learn English?

What do you think?

Most important contributors to learning a second/foreign language

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES (IDs)

The strongest ID predictors of L2 achievement?

Motivation can override the aptitude effect

“ It is motivation that is responsible for achievement in the second language”

(Gardner 2001:6)

“Motivation is more highly related to second language achievement than any other factors”

(Masgoret and Gardner 2003:205)

What is motivation? Williams and Burden’s definition (1997)

The motivated L2 learner (Gardner 2001:6)

What happens in the absence of motivation?

Even individuals with the most remarkable abilites cannot accomplish long-term

goals.

“…concerns specific external forces that reduce or diminish the motivational basis

of a behavioral intention or an ongoing action”.

• Examples of studies on L2 learning demotivation around

the world

Chamber’s investigation (UK 1993)

191 secondary school students from 4 schools in the UK learning German.

Focus: learners who “dismantled” L2 lessons. 50% of the pupils loathed language learning. Some demotivating reasons clearly stemmed

from the the learners’ negative appraisal of their teacher.

Learners’ negative apparaisal of their language lessons

“The teacher goes on and on without realising they’ve already lost everybody.”

“Instructions are not clear enough.”“Activities are uninteresting.”“The teacher does not explain things sufficiently.”“The teacher criticizes students in front of everyone

else.”

Oxford’s investigation (U.S.A, 1998)

• 250 American high school and university students studying a foreign language.

• Foreign language learning experiences over a period of 5 years.

• Demotivation: 4 main causes emerged.

Causes of demotivation (Oxford 1998)

The teachers’ personal relationship with the students (lack of caring, hypercriticism, favouritism)

The teachers’ attitude towards the course or the material (lack of enthusiasm, sloppy management)

Style conflict between teachers and students (teaching and learning style conflicts)

The nature of classroom activities (irrelevance, repetitiveness, overload, uninteresting)

Dornyei’s investigation (Hungary, 1998)

• Focused on language learners identified as low-achievers/demotivated by their teachers.

• Interviewed 50 secondary school pupils in Hungary studying either French or German as a foreign language.

• Most comments as to why they did not like learning the L2 directly concerned the teacher:

“The teacher always had her favourites and she always concentrated on them. I was never one of them”

“I realised no matter how hard I studied – the teacher was picking on me or something – I wouldn’t get anything better than a C or D.”

“If it is raining or cold or windy the classes are never interesting.”

Nikolov’s investigation (Hungary, 2002)

• Interviewed 94 low-achieving young adult Hungarian language learners.

• A great number of reasons for demotivation related to the teachers: unenthusiastic, bored and boring, constantly picked on errors.

• ....“negative classroom experiences must have strongly influenced interviewees’ motivation…”

• ...“a lot seems to depend on us, the language teachers”.

Inbar et al’s investigation (Israel, 2002)

• Research in Israel with adult learners of arabic.• Which variables best predict the learners’ motivation

to continue studying arabic?• Most cited category: the quality of language

instruction, or the quality of the languge learning experience.

• The teachers’ instructional qualities had a major motivational impact on their students’ willingness to persist in learning the L2.

Trang’s investigation (Vietnam, 2007)

• Demotivation in English Language Learning.• Interviewed 100 Vietnamese university students studying

English as L2.• Teacher-related factors = most frequently cited source of

students demotivation.• Categories cited: teaching method, teacher behaviour,

teacher competence.• Corroborates previous studies: the largest source of

demotives relate to the teacher.• “Teachers were found to have a strong impact on students’

demotivation.”

Muhonen’ s investigation (Finland, 2009)

• Surveyed 91 ninth graders studying English in Finland on the topic of demotivation.

• The teacher was the primary source of demotivation, being the most cited demotivating factor. The negative aspects of the teacher were more thoroughly described than any other theme.

• The negative aspects of the teacher were divided into three subthemes: teaching methods, lack of competence and personality.

• “Undoubtedly, the teacher is a powerful source of demotivation”.

Question: what can we do to try avoid demotivation in our learners?

Answer ?

By taking measures to positively influence their motivation

By acknowledging that we can positively influence their motivation

Dornyei & Czisér 1998: motivational strategies study

• Which motivational strategies do language teachers most widely use with their L2 students?

• Surveyed 200 Hungarian teachers of a foreign language.

• “Ten Commandments for Motivating L2 Learners” (or for not demotivating them!)

Ten Commandments for Motivating Language Learners

(in descending citation frequency order) 1. Set a personal example with your own behaviour.2. Create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the classroom.3. Present the tasks properly (success-oriented).4. Develop a good relationship with the learners.5. Increase the learners’ linguistic self-confidence.6. Make the language classes interesting.7. Promote learner autonomy.8. Personalize the learning process.9. Increase the learners’ goal-orientedness.10. Familiarize learners with the target language culture.

I believe....

Whatever level of motivation our learners bring to the classroom will be

transformed, for better or worse, by what happens in that classroom.

THANK YOU!...hope you’ve enjoyed it!

Julio MenochelliSales & Marketing Manager

j.menochelli@helblinglanguages.com

Mobile: 11 98819 6226