The Teacher’s Role in Building

Students’ Motivation in the

Second Language Classroom

Andrus Piazza

A brief review of literature

– How is second language classroom research different from that of other classrooms?

• While much research has been conducted on the source of motivation for learners of a second language, only limited studies have been done in order to show the importance of the language teacher and the classroom environment on the levels of motivation a student has while confronting second language acquisition.

• Even less put learned knowledge into actual practice

A brief review of literature

– How do teachers of a second language affect students’ motivation?

• Dörnyei, et. al. (1998) Ten commandments for motivating language learners

• Study conducted with teachers whose comments lead to a list of 10 strategies that teachers deem as critical components of a language learning classroom

• Noels, et. al. (1999) Perceptions of teachers’ communicative style and students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

• The way in which a student views their instructor, especially in terms of their communicative style, was studied as having a correlation with students’ intrinsic motivation (e.g. if the student found the teacher to be controlling and not very informative, the students showed lower levels of motivation)

Connecting the dots…

– Putting into practice commandment 2, by Dörnyei, et. al. (1998), could lead to positive perceptions of the teachers by the learners, as described by Noels, et. al. (1999)

– This would, in turn, aid in the overall building of motivation in the students to learn the language.

Theoretical Motivation

– lack of evidence actually demonstrating the effects of such strategies on students’ motivation levels

– role of the teacher, although unquestionably vital in assessing learners’ motivation, is practically unknown, empirically speaking

– aforementioned studies as catalysts for further research into how the implementation of certain strategies can influence student motivation.

– Conducting systematic research in which these strategies become hypotheses would prove highly valuable in the progression of second language acquisition as it pertains to the second language classroom.

– This kind of testing would also give teachers confidence that these strategies stand on empirical grounds, rather than simply theoretical.

Research Question

How does the teacher’s attention to creating a relaxed and pleasant environment, specifically in the form of genuine and continuous smiling, contribute to a second language learner’s level of motivation in the classroom?

Research Design

– Method:

• Participants English Language Institute at The University of Texas at Arlington, where there is a wide

variety of ethnicities represented in the student body.

The focus was on two classes, named here as Class A and Class B, both composed of 24 students, studying in an Intermediate level vocabulary class, and both with the same teacher and the same level (intermediate vocabulary class). While the same teacher instructed both classes, the teacher was instructed to do different things for each class, which is discussed in greater detail in the “Procedure” section below.

Research Design cont.

• Materials

For this study, I will a questionnaire loosely based off of an Attitude Motivation Battery Test (AMBT). The questionnaire was comprised of 5 five-point Likert scale items (on a scale of 1 to 5, 1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree).

Research Design cont.

• Procedure Class A: non-smiley teacher

Class B: smiley teacher

• Prescribed behaviors to remain consistent throughout the 16 week semester

• Questionnaire will be administered on last day of class

Students will be told participation is voluntary and anonymous and teacher would not see results unless the signed their name at the end of exam as a sign of written permission

Predicted Results

– Tables 1 and 2, Class A and B respectively, would contain the mean scores for each question with the standard deviation. The predicted results are roughly sketched out in the tables. Table 3 contains the interpretation for the mean scores.

– Table 3*: The mean score for each item indicated the level of students’ motivation; the higher score indicated that students had high motivation, while the lower score indicated low motivation.

* Table 3 comes from Kitjaroonchai, N., & Kitjaroonchai, T. (2012)

Predicted Results cont.

Class A (Non-smiley teacher)

Motivation Items x̄ SD

Q1: My classroom environment was encouraging and supportive. 2.34 .23

Q2: My teacher was friendly and approachable. 2.17 .11

Q3: I was generally excited to come to class and learn English. 2.53 .43

Q4: My teacher motivated me to learn. 2.57 .17

Q5: When told by my teacher to complete an assignment or perform a task, I was generally eager to do so. 2.11 .09

Class B (Smiley teacher)

Motivation Items x̄ SD

Q1: My classroom environment was encouraging and supportive. 4.48 .34

Q2: My teacher was friendly and approachable. 4.53 .23

Q3: I was generally excited to come to class and learn English. 4.46 .12

Q4: My teacher motivated me to learn. 4.60 .13

Q5: When told by my teacher to complete an assignment or perform a task, I was generally eager to do so. 4.45 .29

Table 3

Table 2

Table 1

Predicted Results Discussed

– As one might hypothesize, the mean scores for Class B are higher than those of

Class A, with an overall average motivational level of “very high”.

– As the questions on the survey were almost directly linked to a students’ motivational level, it is implied that these higher means are due to the fact that Class B felt more at ease with their teacher and learning environment. Class A, as one might imagine, produced a lower set of means, averaging an overall motivational level of “average”.

– While the teacher’s purposeful avoidance of smiling may not have de-motivated, per se, the students in Class A, we can certainly surmise that the teacher’s purposeful display of continuous smiles contributed significantly to achieving higher motivational levels for the students in Class B.

– Therefore, it would be fair to suggest that teachers take note of their in-class smiling (or lack thereof), and make a conscious effort to implement more smiles in order to build motivation in their second language learners.

Citations

Dörnyei, Z., & Csizér, K. (1998). Ten commandments for motivating language learners: Results of an empirical study. Language Teaching Research, 2(3), 203-229.

Kitjaroonchai, N., & Kitjaroonchai, T. (2012). Motivation toward English language learning of Thai students majoring in English at Asia-Pacific International University. Catalyst, 7(1).

Noels, K. A., Clément, R. and Pelletier, L. G. (1999). Perceptions of teachers’ communicative style and students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. The Modern Language Journal, 83: 23–34.