Slides from the Applied Linguistics for Language Teachers course

1. Motivation in
SLAAPPLIED LINGUISTICS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS, SS2016
DR ACHILLEAS KOSTOULAS
(W/ THANKS TO DR NANCY CAMPBELL FOR MATERIALS)

2. Lecture outline
1. What is motivation?
2. Social-psychological approaches
3. Cognitive-situated approaches
4. Process-oriented approaches
5. How might we motivate learners

3. Different approaches
to motivating
Which of the following tasks might motivate a child
learning to play the cello?
1.Offering her a reward every time she plays well
2.Not allowing her to play before she finishes her daily
practice
3.Constant praise and encouragement (regardless of how
well she plays)
4.Scolding her when she makes a mistake
5.Allowing her freedom to choose when to practice and for
how long
6.Setting clear goals for her
7.Regularly discussing progress and future goals
8.Making a fixed practice schedule for her
9.Asking her to make a practice schedule
10.Encouraging her to believe that she’s more gifted than
other children
Based on Williams et al. 2015: 100

4. I. Defining motivation

5. What is motivation
 “the choices people make as to what
experiences or goals they will approach or avoid
and the degree of effort they will exert in this
respect” (Keller 1983: 389)
 “Generally considered one of the primary causes
of success and failure in second language
learning” (Richards & Schmidt 2002: 343)

6. Types of motivation:
Self-determination theory
Extrinsic orientation
 “driven by external
factors, such as parental
pressure, societal
expectations, academic
requirements or other
sources of rewards and
punishments” (Richards
& Schmidt 2002: 343)
Intrinsic orientation
 Learning a language
because you are
interested in the culture
and people who speak
that language
 Completing a language
activity because you
find it exciting

7. But remember!
 While self-determination theory is often
understood as a dichotomy, it’s more accurate to
think of it as a continuum.
 What might be extrinsic motivation for one learner
might be intrinsic for others.
 The nature of motivation can change over time.

8. Overview of motivation
theory

9. II. Social-psychological
approaches

10. Robert C.
Gardner, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Psychology
The University of Western
Ontario

11. The socio-educational
model
“The socio-educational model of second language
acquisition was developed […] in an attempt to
provide a fundamental basis for the role played by
different classes of variables […] It is intended to
provide a platform where the role of these variables
can be understood in the context of learning a
second language in a classroom context.”
Gardner 2010: 22

12. Aspects of motivation
 Motivational intensity
 Desire to learn the language (orientation)
 Attitudes towards language learning

13. Motivation orientations
Instrumental
orientation
 Relating to “practical
concerns such as
getting a job or passing
an examination”
(Richards & Schmidt
2002: 343)
Integrative
orientation
 “willingness to be like
valued members of the
language community”
(Richards & Schmidt
2002: 343)
 More direct impact on
achievement. More
effective (?)

14. Things to remember!
 Orientations refer to reasons why someone might
be motivated; not the motivation itself.
 Instrumental and integrative motivation are not
mutually exclusive.
 Is the distinction between instrumental and
integrative orientations still relevant in a
globalised world?
 A social-psychological approach helps us to
understand broad traits across large groups; less
helpful in dealing with individual in context.

15. Importance of Gardner’s
work
 Focus on importance of social milieu on
language learning
 L2 learning seen as different from learning other
subjects (adoption of new social and cultural
behaviours, change in self-image...)
 Established research techniques for motivation
(empirical studies model)

16. Why is motivation
reserach important?
 It focuses on empirical studies and therefore can
be seen as reflecting classroom reality as
experienced by learners and teachers.
 It enhances our awareness of the centrality of
learner motivation to effective teaching.
 It provides a complex picture of motivation.
 It gives teachers guidelines on how to promote
motivation among their learners.

17. III. Cognitive – situated
approaches

18. Williams & Burden (1997)
Basic tenets
 Psychological and
contextual factors come
together to create
motivation
 Motivation is created by
the learner’s
understanding of the
context.
 Motivation fluctuates
over time, even within a
single lesson.
Implications
 Motivation more
susceptible to teacher
control
 Important to both
generate and sustain
motivation

19. The role of context (1)
We no longer consider learners to be motivated or
non-motivated; rather, we think of them as being
motivated:
at a particular time
in a particular place
to do a particular task

20. The role of context (2)
Context might refer to the learning environment, but
also encompasses factors less directly connected to
learning, e.g.:
Time of day, weather
Teacher behaviour
Classmates’ behaviour
Long-term and short-term goals
Competing social identities

21. Reflective Task
How might the following situations affect
you as a language learner?
1.Getting a surprisingly high score on a test
2.Getting an unexpectedly low score on a
test
3.Seeing a classmate do impressively well in
a foreign language
4.Falling in love with a classmate in a
language class
5.Being praised by the teacher for excellent
pronunciation
6.Being moved by a film in the target
language
7.Being in a class where very few people
seem to be doing particularly well
8.Being in a class where many students
seem to be doing better than yourself

22. Things to remember
 The influence of context is unpredictable
 Human behaviour is not always rational;
importance of emotions

23. IV. Process-oriented
approaches

24. Zoltán
Dörnyei
Professor of
Psycholinguistics
University of Nottingham

25. The L2 Motivational Self-
System

26. The L2 Motivational Self-
System
 Ideal self: the person we would like to become
 Ought-to self: attributes we should have to meet
expectations / avoid negative outcomes
 Learning experience: motives relating to the
immediate environment

27. V. How might we
motivate learners?

28. Dörnyei and Csizér’s study
(1998)
AIM:
to “generate practical guidelines for motivating
learners”
METHOD
“semi-formal survey”
PARTICIPANTS
200 Hungarian teachers of English

29. Ten commandments
1. Set a personal example with your own behaviour
2. Create a pleasant relaxed atmosphere
3. Present the tasks properly
4. Develop a good relationship with the learners.
5. Increase the learner’s linguistic self-confidence.
6. Make the language classes interesting.
7. Promote learner autonomy.
8. Personalise the learning process.
9. Increase the learners’ goal-orientedness.
10. Familiarise learners with the target language culture
(or cultures).
Dörnyei & Csizér 1998: 215

30. Task
Step 1
Write two concrete strategies that you can use to
increase learner’s motivation. You may want to
draw on your own experience for examples of
effective strategies that your teachers used.
Step 2
Working in groups, discuss the strategies that you
identified, and list the three most effective ones.

31. Motivational
strategies in the
language
classroom
Zoltán Dörnyei (ed.) 2001.
Cambridge, CUP.

32. Final words
 You cannot, and don’t have to, implement all the
motivational strategies all the time.
 Different learners will respond to the same
strategies in different ways.
 There is a minimum level of support needed for
successful learning. Your job is to attain that, i.e.,
to be good enough motivators.
 If, despite your efforts, some students are not
motivated, that is not your fault.