Managing student motivation through teaching performance

Managing student motivation through teaching performance
by
Colin Walker
This paper consists of approximately 3,845 words
Tutor: Greg Hadley
Centre for English Language
Studies
Department of English
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT
United Kingdom
November 2011
Module 2 – Second language acquisition and Pedagogic grammar
SLA/11/11
What are the key factors that motivate someone to learn a foreign language? To what extent
can we, as teachers or language advisors improve levels of motivation in our students?
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Contents
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3
2. Definition of motivation ........................................................................................................ 3
2.1 Integrative and Instrumental motivation ............................................................... 4
2.2 Cognitive Factors to EFL motivation ................................................................... 5
2.2.1 Teaching Performance ........................................................................... 5
2.2.2 Student Attributes .................................................................................. 6
3. Teaching Environment ........................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Country profile ....................................................................................................... 8
3.2 Role as an English instructor .................................................................................. 8
3.3 Exogenous factors that hinder motivation .............................................................. 9
4. Reward systems ..................................................................................................................... 9
4.1 Individual reward system........................................................................................ 9
4.2 Class reward system ............................................................................................. 10
5. Research ............................................................................................................................... 11
5.1 Method .................................................................................................................. 11
5.2 Testing instrument ................................................................................................ 11
5.3 Procedure .............................................................................................................. 12
5.4 Results .................................................................................................................. 12
6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 13
Appendix 1 ............................................................................................................................... 15
Appendix 2 ............................................................................................................................... 16
Appendix 3 ............................................................................................................................... 16
Appendix 4 ............................................................................................................................... 17
References ................................................................................................................................ 18
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1. Introduction
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) scholars and teachers have long shared an
interest in determining motivational factors to learning a language. Ellis states, “No single
individual difference factor in language learning has received as much attention as
MOTIVATION” (2008, p. 677). However, Spada and Lightbrown have observed that, “…
little research has directly investigated how pedagogy interacts with motivation in second
language classrooms…” (2006, p. 65). The position of this paper will argue that the teacher’s
pedagogy has a significant impact on student motivation in an EFL context. Ultimately, the
aim of this paper is to gain a better understanding of how and to what extent language
instructors can influence student motivation in an EFL context.
This paper begins by defining motivation in an EFL context which will provide the
theoretical framework for the latter half of this paper. Next, this paper reviews how social
psychological and cognitive factors affect student motivation. This paper will also outline
how student attributes as well as other challenges within the teaching environment affect
motivation. Cognizant of these challenges, Section 5 explains two reward systems to
encourage student motivation in a middle school setting. A research questionnaire helps
determine the effect of these reward systems, and provides insight into relevant motivational
factors. Through the effective use of reward systems and teaching performance, this paper
argues that the teacher can have a significant impact on student motivation in an EFL context.
2. Definition of motivation
Motivation comes from the Latin verb movere which means ‘to move’; motivation is
understanding what moves humans to make certain choices, to engage, expend and persist in
action or behavior (Dörnyei and Ushioda, 2011, p.3). In an EFL context, it is the direction
and magnitude of human behavior towards learning a second or foreign language.
The challenge is that human behavior is a complex entity, “…no existing motivation
theory to date has managed – or even attempted – to offer a comprehensive and integrative
account of all the main types of possible motives, and it may well be the case that devising an
integrative ‘super-theory’ of motivation will always be unrealistic desire” (Dörnyei and
Ushioda, 2011, p. 4). Given the substantial body of literature on EFL motivation, the scope of
this paper will be limited to motivational factors that can be applied to a middle school setting
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in an Asian context. I will now explain some of the social psychological and cognitive factors
that contribute to student motivation in my teaching environment.
2.1 Integrative and Instrumental Motivation
Much of the literature on EFL motivation is indebted to Robert Gardner and Wallace
Lambert (1959, 1972) whose seminal research was the first to systematically investigate
motivation in an EFL context. Their work went beyond traditional notions of language
aptitude – the overall ability to acquire a language, and theorized that language acquisition is
linked to social psychological factors in the form of integrative and instrumental motivation.
Integrative motivation is the desire to interact with and even become members of a target
language community; whereas instrumental motivation refers to learning a language to
achieve an objective.
Gardner and Lambert (1972, cited in Brown, 2007: p.170) found that students with
high levels of integrative motivation scored higher on proficiency tests compared to those
who were instrumentally motivated. Kang’s (2009) paper validates this in the Korean context
as he observed integrative motivation to be the strongest motivational factor amongst Korean
secondary students learning English. However, Warden and Lin (2000, cited in Brown, 2007:
p.171) found integrative motivation had little effect among university students in Taiwan.
Similarly, Faulkner (2009) points out that integrative motivation is not relevant in countries
like South Korea, where there are few places to use English and interact with native speakers
outside the classroom.
In my teaching environment, the students appear to show signs of integrative
motivation as a number of students have had positive experiences living or studying abroad,
while others appear to have a significant interest English culture, for example – reading
books and watching English movies. With my observations, and the different perspectives
Kang (2009) and Faulker (2009) in the Korean context, it is necessary to explore the extent of
integrative motivation in my teaching environment.
It appears that instrumental motivation is also a relevant factor. The final exam week
takes place two months before the last day of class. One week after the final exam, final
grades are submitted, leaving students little opportunity to be instrumentally motivated. The
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lack motivation after the final exams is evident both in the quality of homework assignments
and minimal in-class participation.
In addressing the question of key motivational factors to learning a foreign language,
it was necessary to explore the extent of integrative and instrumental motivation in my
teaching environment. The section that follows will review cognitive factors to student
motivation in an EFL context. Specifically, this section will closely examine how the
teacher’s pedagogy affects student motivation.
2.2 Cognitive Factors to EFL Motivation
Crookes and Schmidt’s (1991, cited in Dörnyei and Ushioda, 2011, p.46) paper
critiqued the shortcomings of Gardner and Lambert’s social psychological work, which led to
a wave of new research focusing on how the teacher can affect student motivation in an EFL
context. Crookes and Schmidt’s (1991) motivational framework focuses on four pedagogic
components (interest, relevance, expectancy and satisfaction) applicable to the EFL
classroom. Keller and Suzuki (2004) later expanded pedagogic factors to include attention
and confidence. Both papers agree that the teacher can increase student motivation if their
pedagogy considers these factors.
2.2.1 Teaching Performance
The position of this paper argues that these factors can be synthesized into teaching
performance, that is - the teacher’s willingness to evaluate, assess and interact with students
in order to design lessons based on motivational factors outlined by Crookes and Schmidt
(1991), and Keller and Suzuki (2004). Through student-teacher interaction and by providing
positive feedback in an encouraging manner, the teacher can develop a rapport. This allows
the teacher to better understand the student’s personality and proficiency. Thus, the teacher
can make more informed teaching decisions regarding pedagogic factors mentioned above.
In the absence of teaching performance, there is evidence to suggest that the teacher
can be a demotivating factor to language acquisition. Dörnyei’s (1998, cited in Dörnyei and
Ushioda, 2011, p.148) study interviewed fifty Hungarian secondary students and concluded
that of the nine demotivating factors; the teacher, including his/her personality, competence,
teaching method, style, rapport with the students had the most adverse effect on student
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motivation to learn a foreign language.
In a similar result, Oxford’s (1998, cited in Dörnyei and Ushioda, 2011, p.143) study
summarized four factors that contributed to the student’s demotivation. These factors include
the teacher’s personal relationship with the students, attitude towards the course material,
choice of classroom activities including and how the teacher manages conflict with the
students. Contrary to Spada and Lightbrown (2006), studies by Dörnyei’s (1998) and Oxford
(1998) show that pedagogy affects student motivation to learn a foreign language.
In addressing the question of key motivational factors to learning a foreign language,
there is evidence to suggest that teaching performance affects student motivation. However,
motivation is not solely dependent on teaching performance. There are exogenous factors
beyond the teacher’s control that affect student motivation. It is important to acknowledge
these factors in order to get a more complete understanding of the extent to which language
instructors can influence student motivation.
2.2.2 Student Attributes
The student attributes that I will focus on are self-confidence and attitude towards the
target language, as I have observed that these attributes have the strongest impact on the
student’s motivation in a Korean middle school EFL context.
Brown (2007) notes that in adolescence, the physical, emotional and cognitive
challenges of the teenager bring on mounting defensive inhibitions to protect a fragile ego, to
ward off ideas, experiences, and feelings that threaten to dismantle the organization of values
and beliefs on which appraisals of self-confidence have been found. Students may not be
motivated to participate in class, particularly in speaking activities, in order to avoid
embarrassment.
The study of MacIntyre et al (1998) observed that students, who lack self-confidence,
were less willing to communicate. As noted in Section 2.2.1, communication with the student
(via student-teacher interaction) is a major component of teaching performance. If the student
is not willing to communicate, then the extent of teaching performance becomes limited. In
other words, it is near impossible for the teacher to design lesson content based on
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motivational factors outlined by Crooks and Schmidt (1991) and Keller and Suzanski (2004)
if the student is not willing to communicate.
The teacher cannot control the student’s self-confidence. Cullen (2002) points out the
benefits of using supportive language and its potential to boost a student’s self-confidence. I
have observed that using supportive language consistently can increase the student’s selfconfidence over the course of the school year.
Another important attribute is the student’s attitude towards the target language and
culture. Gardner and Lambert (1959) were the first to recognize that student attitude serves as
a basis for integrative motivation. However, for the purposes of this paper, I shall draw a
clear distinction between integrative motivation and the student’s attitude towards the target
language.
I shall define attitude as the student’s behavior based on previous experiences to
learning English. This includes life experience in an English speaking country, previous
English study and the student’s view of English as the global language. Whereas, integrative
motivation is the actual effort the student conveys to becoming apart of English speaking
culture, such as perfecting finer details of language acquisition such as accents and
understanding idiomatic language. If the student has a negative attitude, then the student will
convey little effort to learn the target language and therefore be limited in the extent of
his/her language acquisition.
Similarly, if the student lacks self-confidence or has a bad attitude towards learning
the target language, the student will lack motivation and be limited in the language
acquisition process. In addressing the question of key motivational factors to learning a
foreign language, Section 5 will examine the extent the student’s attitude and self-confidence.
So far, I have discussed the motivational factors and student attributes that affect
student motivation in an EFL context. Before, I outline my in-class reward systems and its
link to motivation, it is necessary to briefly outline factors that debilitate student motivation
in my teaching environment. This will serve as a pretext to my reward systems as well as the
research questionnaire.
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3. Teaching environment
Understanding features in the teaching environment is vital in order to justify my
pedagogy and reward systems aimed to encourage student motivation. This section will
briefly outline the country profile, my role as an English instructor, as well as exogenous
factors that hinder student motivation.
3.1 Country profile
Korea is considered to be a homogenous culture, socially organized by tenets of
Confucianism – a system that emphasizes traditional study and respect to people of authority
(Cheng, 2000). It is a country that has undergone rapid development making the
transformation from agrarian culture to an OECD country is less than fifty years. The influx
of English and English speaking culture has had a profound effect on Korea and its people.
Words that come from the English language, such as party and bus, are now common in
today’s spoken Korean. Despite signs of cultural and language integration, there is still a
range of motivation levels amongst Koreans to learn the English language. This is
particularly evident at the middle school where I teach English as a foreign language. In the
next section, I will outline my role as an English instructor, which will help define the extent
to which I can influence student motivation.
3.2 Role as an English instructor
The English department at my school consists of five local (Korean) English
instructors, known as co-teachers, and myself as the only native English instructor. I teach 21
classes per week with an average class size of 32 students. In Korea, students are required to
take three hours of English per week, which is allocated into four classes at 45 minutes. Of
those four classes, I am responsible for teaching one while a co-teacher is responsible for
teaching the other three classes. In other words, of the student’s three hours of English
instruction per week, I teach forty-five minutes, while the other 2 1/4 hours are taught by a
Korean co-teacher. Given the role I work in at my school, it is a challenge to encourage and
maintain student motivation. In other words, there are a number of exogenous factors which
limited the extent I can influence student motivation.
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3.3 Exogenous factors that hinder motivation
In addition to issues with instrumental motivation mentioned in Section 2.1, the exam
schedule itself causes immense stress and anxiety, which Brown (2007) notes can be
debilitating to self-confidence. Students and co-teachers alike were quick to point out that the
textbook alone would not encourage student motivation. Not to fault the publishers, it would
be near impossible to design a textbook to accommodate the variety of proficiencies. Adding
to these challenges is the fact that students often arrive to class fatigued having studied at an
after-school academy from the previous night.
With these challenges, it became apparent that teaching performance alone would not
encourage student motivation to its full potential. Therefore, I developed two reward systems
aimed to encourage student motivation. The section that follows reviews these reward
systems.
4. Reward systems
To counter the challenges in my teaching environment and increase the student
motivation, I developed two reward systems: the stamp system, which rewards individual
progress; and the Horserace, a competition which encourages a learning atmosphere
conducive to learning. Both systems are founded on principals of behavioral psychology to
increase levels of student motivation. These reward systems are designed to be fun ways to
motivate the students and have a quick reference to class and individual progress.
4.1 Individual reward system
The first system uses ink-stamps to reward student motivation. At the beginning of
the school year, I list a number of ways students can attain stamps. This includes completing
homework, volunteering in class, demonstrating quality work or finding ways to practice
English outside of the classroom such as writing book/movie summaries. If the student
performs any one of these behaviors, they are rewarded with a stamp in the back of their
English textbook. Ironically, the stamp system was originally designed as an incentive
measure to encourage students to arrive to class with their textbooks. I was surprised to
observe the student’s response and witness what appeared to be their enthusiasm to obtain
stamps.
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At the end of each year, the student with the highest aggregate total of stamps is
awarded with the Top Student certificate of achievement and a gift card to a large book chain
in Korea. Not to hinder the motivation of other students that performed well, I award
consolation certificates of achievement, such as ‘Best Speaker’, ‘Most Improved’,
‘Leadership’ and the ‘Student’s Choice’ award – which allows students the opportunity to
vote to determine the top student. At the end of the year, I organize an awards ceremony
recognizing student achievements and participation in class. The rewards ceremony and
powerpoint help recognize student achievements. It is my hope that this kind of public praise
will perpetuate student motivation upon the conclusion of the school year. For the others,
who come close, but do not win a certificate, I try to congratulate them with praise for their
achievements.
It is difficult to pinpoint whether it is the certificates or the joy of receiving the
stamps that truly motivates the students. I would argue it is the latter, but providing empirical
evidence is beyond the scope of this paper. Regardless, in addressing the question of key
motivational factors to learning a language in an EFL context, the stamp system is worthy of
further investigation and will be researched in Section 5.
4.2 Class reward system
The second system is a point system in which each class is awarded a daily score out
of ten. The score is based on a rubric which is weighted into four categories: participation and
speaking (40%); respectful behavior (30%); arriving to class on time with the necessary
supplies (20%); following the teacher’s cues and instructions (10%) (See Appendix 1).
Students are given a copy of the rubric at the beginning of the school year, which is then
pasted into their textbook. This makes it easy for the students to have a quick reference to my
expectations. At the end of the semester, the class with the most aggregate points (cumulative
sum of their daily scores) is rewarded with a pizza party (See Appendix 2).
To help illustrate the competition throughout the semester, I use theme ‘horserace’.
This is displayed with each class’s cut-out paper horse above the whiteboard in front the class
(See Appendix 3). Each class’s horse is displayed in accordance to the number of points they
have. For instance, the class with the most points will have their horse displayed as leading
the race. Each class is given an equal amount of opportunity to get points. In other words, if a
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class is canceled, the following class is worth double points. This has made it easy for me to
keep track of what has and has not been taught in each of my classes.
For pedagogic purposes, I often refer back to the rubric to give praise and
compliments. For example, if the students are participating and displaying quality work, I’ll
use one student’s assignment as an example and tell the class “this is an example of
exceptional work and will help you (the students) on the score of the day”. Publically
acknowledging quality work and referring it back to the rubric has been an effective
motivational strategy, especially with the lower level learners.
In addressing the question of key motivational factors to learning a language, the
class competition will be examined in the following section.
5. Research
The aim of the research section was to:
1) determine the if reward systems are an effective motivational tool.
2) determine the relevance social psychological and motivational factors.
3) determine the affect of student attributes on motivation.
5.1 Method
The participating students included sixty-eight (68) male and sixty-four (64) female
middle school students, ages 15-16. The participants all had previous education in English in
the Korean school system and approximately 1/3 of the participants had lived in an English
speaking country for more than six months.
5.2 Testing instrument
Using a 4-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree - disagree - agree strongly agree, I designed seven questions which measured seven motivational factors:
integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, teaching performance, individual reward
system (stamps), classroom competition (‘horserace’), student attitude towards learning
English and student self-confidence.
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5.3 Procedure
The questionnaire was written in English and translated into Korean with the
assistance of three of my co-teachers. Questionnaire data was manually counted and entered
into an excel spreadsheet. Some students chose not to answer all the questions.
5.4 Results
The results of the survey (Table 1-1) presented some interesting findings which help
provide insight into the motivation of Korean middle school students.
Table 1-1: Motivational factors in a Korean middle school setting
Question
Motivational Agree
factor
1. I have had many positive experiences learning English.
Disagree
72%
(79/109)
28%
(30/109)
76%
(90/118)
24%
(28/118)
4. I am motivated to learn English, even during the 2month period after the final exams.
Attitude
towards
learning
English
Stamps as a
motivational
tool
Class
competition
system as a
motivational
tool
Instrumental
motivation
40%
(48/120)
60%
(72/120)
5. One Day, I would like to live or work in an English
speaking country.
Integrative
motivation
62%
(78/125)
38%
(48/125)
6. I am willing to speak and participate in class.
Selfconfidence
41%
(50/123)
59%
(73/123)
7. I find the teacher’s lessons are interesting, relevant and
the right level of difficulty.
Teaching
performance
75%
(88/117)
25%
(29/117)
2. I enjoy receiving stamps in recognition for my effort in
class.
3. I believe the horserace competition encourages
teamwork and contributes to a positive learning
environment.
82%
18%
(100/122) (22/122)
The results suggest that the students in this sample are genuinely open to learning
English and don’t hold any negative feelings towards English or English speaking culture.
The students also seem to enjoy receiving stamps in recognition for their effort. This
indicates stamps may be an effective tool for stimulating motivation. In addition, a significant
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number of the students expressed agreement that the classroom competition creates a positive
learning environment. Similar to the stamp system, these results provide evidence that
teachers might be able to influence student motivation in a positive manner, though success
of both the rewards systems is dependent both on consistency and teaching performance.
Question 4 raises questions about the possible lack of instrumental motivation among
students in this sample in the months following the final exams. The majority of the students
disagree about being motivated to study after the final exam. While Gardner and Lambert
(1972) suggest instrumental motivation may not be the driving force behind language
acquisition compared to integrative motivation, the findings of this study suggest that
instrumental motivation certainly has a place in a middle school teaching environment in
Korea. The lack of motivation after the final exam could explain poor student behavior,
though more focused research into this issue will need to be conducted before making any
stronger conclusions.
The results highlight a moderate level of consistency with the findings of Kang
(2000). Zakaria (2011) notes that the average Korean school year is 205 days – 25 days more
than those in America; this accumulates to almost two additional years in the classroom over
a Korean student’s academic career. This leads me to believe that the students in this sample
may not necessarily have a strong desire integrate into an English-speaking culture, rather
they would prefer to live or study in a less intense environment. However, further research is
necessary in order to make any strong conclusions.
Issues related with self-confidence, which complement the work of MacIntyre et al
(1998) were also noted in the data (see Question 6). This suggests that student-teacher
interaction may be not be effective when the students are put on the spot and forced to speak.
At least for this sample, it might be better to interact with the students as they are completing
tasks or doing group work.
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper investigated motivational factors applicable to my teaching
environment. This paper reviewed theories of instrumental and integrative motivation, as well
as cognitive motivational factors and its link to teaching performance. This paper recognized
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factors that affect student motivation in the form of student attributes as well as exogenous
factors within the teaching environment. To overcome these challenges, I developed two
reward systems to help encourage student motivation. In consideration of all relevant
motivational factors, a research questionnaire helped determine the extent to which the
teacher can influence student motivation. The results of this research indicate that language
instructors can have a significant impact on student motivation in an EFL context.
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Appendix 1 – Class completion rubric (‘horse power’)
‘Horse Power’
 Following the teacher’s cue (집중)
* When you hear the phone ring, you must remain quiet and listen for
instructions. Making eye contact with the teacher shows that you
are ready to listen.
__ /1
 Preparation (준비)
* You must bring your own textbooks and supplies to class. NO
BORROWING (빌려쓰기 없기).
__ /2
 Respectful behavior (존중 행동)
* This requires the students to use their judgement. Behaviors such as
vandalism, arriving late for class, or talking while the teacher is teaching
are examples of unacceptable behavior.
__ /3
 Participation (참여) and Speaking (말하기)
* This includes volunteering to speak aloud in class and conveying
your best effort on in-class activities and homework assignments.
__ /4
__ /10
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Appendix 2 – Daily Score sheet for the class competition, ‘horse race’, an easy and
efficient way to keep a record of the class’s performance and keep track of canceled classes.
Appendix 3
Class Reward system – The class competition, ‘Horse race’ is a fun visual representation of
how each class is performing in comparison to other classes. (photo was taken on October 3th,
2011 with approximately 7 weeks to go in the semester)
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