Unlocking Learner Mo/va/on In The Age Of The Digital Na/ve Paul Maglione Co‐founder TESOL France
27 November 2010

The internet
is now
20 years old

1910 2010

“A subordina,ng conjunc,on always comes at
the beginning of a subordinate clause. It
"introduces" a subordinate clause. However, a
subordinate clause can some,mes come a>er
and some,mes before a main clause….”

It’s high Fme we put these four things
together and came up with a more effecFve
way of moFvaFng learning and teaching
English to teens and young adults.

Who Are Teens?  What’s going on with their lives? - hormones / sexual development
- independence / autonomy - quesFoning of authority / rebellion - social hyperacFvity / peer pressure  What’s going on with their future? - pressure over educaFon, career prospects, type of friends, values  What are their cultural references?  What is their relaFonship with educaFon?  English: how do they see it as relevant to them?

What else do we know about teens? Their brains are in a very specific state of
development.

last 1st Prefrontal Cortex Limbic
System • Physical Coordina/on • Emo/on • Mo/va/on • Reasoning • Organizing, priori/zing informa/on • Control of Impulses Not fully mature un.l age 25! Teen Brain Development Phenomenon #1

Maturing of brain as Grey MaUer is lost Adolescent Pruning Of Brain Cells The brain selecFvely strengthens or prunes neurons based on acFvity.
Synapses conFnually used will flourish; those that are not used will wither away. Teen Brain Development Phenomenon #2

Teen Brain Development Phenomenon #3 Mylena/on (increase in White MaTer) Speeds the
brain’s informaFon‐ processing capacity equivalent to 3,000 X increase in computer bandwidth

The Teen Brain: UNDER CONSTRUCTION
A framework, not an empty structure wai/ng to be filled

EFL teaching implica/ons
Phased teenage brain development

video, music, movement, news,
games, anecdotes worksheets, lectures, objecFve texts + ‐ Use teen craving for NOVELTY and EXCITEMENT to get their ATTENTION

Break large, long‐term assignments down into short‐term objec/ves
Remind them of concepts, objec/ves and deadlines frequently.

Teens can only focus on someone talking for 15 minutes at a Fme  they need a change in state of mind every
20 minutes. Use short formats

For young (13 – 16) teens, don’t make topics too abstract
Keep It Real

INTEGRATE THIS into Communica/ve Task Work The teenage brain
NEEDS to CONNECT

EFL teaching implica/ons
“Use it or lose it” brain cell pruning

Focus material on what they see as relevant and useful to them • RelaFonships
• The environment • Racism / Diversity • JusFce • Jobs / Careers • Independence

Get them to not just read a vocabulary item, but also… use it in a sentence use it in a story see a photo of it
play a game based on it hear it in a song unjumble it hear it spoken by a famous actor Repe//on with varia/on

EFL teaching implica/ons
Explosion in brain processing power

Exposure 
Input  Intake

MulFple exposures to language items in different but similar contexts reinforces retenFon.
Manageable chunks, always in a context

Ask : How What Why Provide ANALYTICAL
CHALLENGES that s/mulate higher‐order thinking

Don’t forget: male and female adolescents mature at different rates Grey cell pruning starts at age
10 – 12 Grey cell pruning starts at age 14 – 16 Boys and girls may be ready to absorb challenging material at different stages.

…also don’t forget: the average teen is SLEEP DEPRIVED Physiologically, teens require
9.25 hours of sleep. Most teens report sleeping 5 hours or less per 24‐hour period. Sleep deprivaFon makes it more difficult for most students to learn, remember and think crea/vely.

WHAT ABOUT EFL PEDAGOGY?
What have we learned these past 20 years?

MOST of these match up with Cogni/ve Neuroscience‐based
principles for engaging teens and young adults
NEW EFL
Approaches

One of the things they really enjoy, even
seem addicted to, is VIDEOGAMES. Why?
What else do we know about teens?

What can we learn (and adopt) from Video Games? • Failure is part of the game •
Try and try again without sFgma • RepeFFon breeds competence • PosiFve reinforcement all the ,me • PosiFve vs. negaFve stress • Level design: progress to next level is always a challenge, but achievable • Progress = status enhancement • Social (mulFplayer gaming; leader boards; in‐game chat; challenge‐a‐friend)

Where it all comes together for teens:
MOTIVATION

Understanding Learner MoFvaFon • The “neglected heart” of our understanding of how to design instrucFon. •
ParFcularly an issue for teens, due to: ZZZZZZZ

Learner MoFvaFon For Teens
Exploit learners’ natural curiosity to explore the
world, which is at its most powerful during
teenage and young adult years

Learner MoFvaFon For Teens Make the input material relevant to them.
Do they believe that what they are learning will be useful to them soon?

Learner MoFvaFon for Teens “The simplest way to ensure that people
value what they are doing is to maximise their free choice and autonomy” ‐ Good & Brophy, 2004

Learner MoFvaFon for Teens Three strategies* to encourage posiFve self‐evaluaFon: Promote / Reward
Effort rather than Ability Provide Mo/va/onal Feedback Increase MoFvaFon via Rewards, not Grades *Dornyei, 2001

A word about
technology…

Class Time Is Precious Time: Technology Can Op/mize It • Exposure / input and repeFFon: outside the classroom as much
as possible. • Use precious class Fme for: • discussion • interac/on • group work • tasks requiring teacher supervision • face‐to‐face intelligent error correc/on

The Web allows learners to go beyond
learning: to create

#efl #esl #elt #edtech #iatefl #tesol #eltchat
Some Ed‐Tech Gurus

Some final points about teens and EFL

Language is part of one’s iden/ty and is used to
convey this idenFty to others.

Teens’ idenFty is in full‐swing evoluFon, so both L1 sophisFcaFon and L2 learning have a
significant impact on the social being of the learner. *Thanasoulas, 2007

If we can integrate English into teens’ idea of self, we turbo‐charge their learning, retenFon,
and enjoyment of the process. *Thanasoulas, 2007

Unlocking Learner Mo/va/on In The Age Of The Digital Na/ve TwiTer:
@paulmaglione @englishaTack Web: www.english‐aTack.com Blog: hTp://blog.english‐aTack.com E‐mail: paul.maglione@english‐aTack.com LinkedIn: Paul Maglione