THE ENHANCEMENT OF INTRINSIC
MOTIVATION AND WILLINGNESS TO
COMMUNICATE THROUGH A MUSICAL
PROJECT IN YOUNG JAPANESE EFL LEARNERS
American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL)
Denver, Colorado
March 21-24, 2009
Rieko NISHIDA
Graduate School, Kansai University
Dr.Tomoko YASHIMA
Kansai University
TOPICS
Young learners context in Japan
Literature Review
Present Research
Making the Musical: Video
Quantitative Analysis: t-tests and SEM
Qualitative Analysis: video observations,
ethnographical notes and parental comments
Discussion
Introduction: EFL at Public Elementary
Schools in Japan
In January 2008, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,Science and Technology (MEXT) announced a neweducational guideline, according to which foreignlanguage (FL) activity in public elementary schools inJapan was introduced.
The main purpose of this activity is to lay the basis ofcommunication ability by enhancing students’understandings of language and culture, foster a positiveattitude toward communication, make students familiarwith phonetic sound and basic expression, and enhancethe perception of foreign language activity as enjoyable.
Introduction: EFL at Public Elementary
School in Japan
The empirical research concerning young learners in a FL
context in Japan is scarce, as most of the studies on second-
language (L2) learning targeted to adolescents and adults.
Individual differences in L2 learning, the content of English
activities and language accomplishment need to be examined
because they provide better understanding of young learners
in an FL context and promise benefits for teaching practice.
Theoretical Backgrounds:
Self-Determination Theory (SDT)
The self-determination theory (SDT) focuses on intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation and was conceptualized by Deci and
Ryan (1985, 2002).
Deci and Ryan (2000) discuss the SDT concepts of
psychological needs: needs for autonomy, competence
and relatedness. Intrinsic motivation is enhanced when
these three psychological needs are fulfilled.
Theoretical Backgrounds:
Willingness to Communicate
• In recent years, WTC, defined as “the intention to initiate
communicate, given a choice” (MacIntyre et al, 2001,
p.369), was added to affective variables concerning L2.
• The WTC model proposed by MacIntyre el al. (1998)
postulates that individual differences variables including
WTC and motivation as well as intergroup and situational
variables influence individuals tendency to use an L2.
Previous Research
employing SDT in Japan
• In the Japanese context, several studies targeting adultsand adolescents have applied SDT (e.g. Hiromori, 2003,2004, 2006; Hayashi, 2005; Tanaka and Hiromori,2007).
• Hiromori and Tanaka (2006) examined whether the threepsychological needs (for competence, relatedness andautonomy) could be enhanced by instrumentalintervention. “A task-based activity called GroupPresentation Activity” (Hiromori and Tanaka, 2006,p.111) was considered to potentially fulfill the threepsychological needs. These researchers argued that agroup presentation activity did enhance fulfillment ofstudents’ three psychological needs as well as theirintrinsic motivation.
Objectives of this study
• The objectives of the present study were two-fold:
(1) to investigate how young EFL learners who
participate in a musical project increase their
intrinsic motivation through the enhancement of the
three psychological needs and WTC;
(2) to understand how interactions among teachers
and students in a classroom situation change over
time.
The Study Context:
Curricula
For the third- to the sixth-graders, between 9 and 12
years old, the contents included animals, countries of the
world, school, and what you can do (abilities).
During the 2007 school year, around May, and the
musical project was suggested for the fifth graders
because these students love to sing songs and play roles
in front of their parents.
The Study Context:
Teachers
A home room teacher (HRT) is allocated in every home
room, and they teach most subjects and are responsible
for daily duties.
Assistant language teachers (ALTs), who are native
speakers of English, assist teaching language in schools
including elementary, junior high and high schools.
Japanese teachers of English (JTE) are language
specialists who are employed by the city.
The HRT and JTE were team-teaching in this project.
The Musical Project
• The fifth graders had the special musical script that
consisted of 8 scenes with dialogues and 4 advanced
songs in English based on a famous American movie.
Hours of English Lessons for
the Musical ProjectTable1: Timeline until the Musical Presentation (Parents Day)
Day1 September 11, 2007
Day2 October 9, 2007
Day3 October 31, 2007
Day4 November 26, 2007 N/A
Day5 December 13, 2007 N/A
Day6 January 18, 2008
Day7 January 24, 2008
*Note 1) A musical script consisted of 8 scenes
*Note 2) Students were learning 4 advanced songs
Day8 February 6, 2008 (2 hours of practices)
Day9 February 8, 2008 (2 hours of practices)
Day10 February 12 2008 (2 hours of practices)
Day11 February 13, 2008 (3 hours of practices)
Day12 February 14, 2008 (2 hours of rehearsal) In the morning: Rehearsal
In the afternoon: Parents' Day
four songs
four songs
ScenesDates
the scenes 3, 7
the scenes 3, 7
the scenes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
the scenes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
the scenes 1, 2
Phase 1: Classroom Practice (7 hours)
HRTs discussed and the scenes were decided for each class. So each class only practiced scenes.
Songs
one song
one song
Phase 2: Practice at Gym (11 hours)
Practiced 4 songs and movements in the scene
Parents' Day
Contents of Practice
Dates Contents of Practice
one song
three songs
three songs
All 4 classes practiced together
Investigation 1: Quantitative Analysis
Participants
One hundred sixteen students, including 54 boys and
62 girls, participated in the study. (One hundred and
twenty six students, including 59 boys and 67 girls,
between 10 and 11 years old, were to participate in
this study originally, but the number was reduced by
ten students due to absences.)
In previous years, students’ exposure to English lessons
was rather limited: twice in the third grade and seven
times in the fourth grade. Before commencing the
musical project between April 2007 and July 2007,
students received 5 English lessons.
Investigation 1: Procedure
A questionnaire was distributed to the students in
September 2007, right before commencement of the
project, and in February 2008, right after
completion of the project.
Investigation 1: Materials
Self-determination theory: psychological needs. Fifteen items related to threepsychological needs (for autonomy, competency and relatedness) based on SDTwere taken from Hiromori and Tanaka (2006).
Intrinsic Motivation. Three items representing intrinsic motivation were adapted fromNishida (2007), and Tanaka and Hiromori (2006).
WTC. The current study referred to the WTC scale in Yashima (2002).
Open-ended questions. An open-ended question was included in the post-test,indicated by the words “if you have a comment, please write it down”.
• Cronbach’s alpha were between .77-.92. All wordings were changedbecause it was difficult for students to read and understand so they were modified by the researcher and confirmed by the city board of education, the school principle and homeroom teachers.
Investigation 1: Analysis and Results
Graph1: Mean scores of motivation, autonomy, competency, relatedness and WTC
at pre-tests and post-tests
Investigation 1:Results
Table 1:Mean, standard deviation, the results of paired t-tests
Pre-tests Post-tests Variation t p Eta squared
Motivation 3.203 3.316 0.113 -1.103 0.272 0.010
(0.989) (0.994)
Autonomy 2.608 2.956 0.348 -3.938 0.001 0.119
(0.887) (0.938)
Competency 2.796 3.078 0.282 -3.029 0.003 0.074
(0.851) (0.929)
Relatedness 3.188 3.200 0.012 -0.144 0.886 0.000
(0.829) (0.726)
WTC 3.465 3.822 0.357 -2.203 0.030 0.041
(1.123) (1.196)
Note: 1) p* :Bonferroni adjustment was applied to determine the α level.
2) Missing data was controlled by listwise deletion
M (SD) t test
Investigation1: Results
• As you can see in Graph 1 and Table 1 in previous
PPTs, although relatedness did not show any
increase, the other variables showed a significant
increase in the post-test. In particular, students’
competence and autonomy showed a significant
increase in the post-test, while WTC showed a
tendency to increase, although it did not reach a
significant level after Bonferroni’s adjustment.
Investigation 1:
Structural Equation Modeling
**<.001
*<.01
Chi squared=177.460, df=98, GFI=.831, CFI=.913, RMSEA=.084
AU=autonomy, CO=competency, RE=relatedness, MO=motivation
Autonomy
Competency
Relatedness
Motivation
WTC
MO1 MO2 MO3
AT1 AT2 AT3 AT4
CO1
CO2
CO3
CO4
RE1 RE2 RE3 RE4
.45**
.41**
.09
.59**
.58**
.70**
.16
.75**
.79**
.74**
.82**
.89**.57** .59**
.79**
.91** .84** .78**
.68**.65** .76** .65**
Investigation1: Result
• As a result of SEM in the post-test analysis, the paths from
autonomy and competency to intrinsic motivation were fairly
strong. This means that students who were higher in competency
and autonomy were also high in intrinsic motivation.
• Regarding relatedness, the path from relatedness to
intrinsic motivation was not significant.
Investigation 2:Qualitative Analysis
Video-recording Participants
Procedures1: Video-recording
Classroom interaction was video-recorded on the
following dates.
Total Boys Girls
32 15 17
Dates
Day1 September11, 2007
Day2 October 9, 2007
Day3 October 31, 2007
Day4 November 13, 2007
Day5 December 13, 2007
Day6 January 18, 2008
Day7 January 24, 2008
Investigation 2: Qualitative StudyEthnographical Notes and Questions to the Parents
Procedures2: Ethnographical Notes
Between September 2007 and February 2008, JTEs’ethnographical notes were obtained. These ethnographicnotes based on seven days of classroom exercises andfive days of practices at the gym. The JTEs, in particularan assistant JTE, described students’ activities in detailand also recorded information gained from teachers.
Prodecures3: Questions to the Parents
After the musical day, some questions were asked ofstudents’ parents, including “Did you see your son and/ordaughter practice the music at home?” A total of 111parents responded to this question.
Investigation2:Video-recording
All classroom exercises were video-recorded, and the
data were transcribed into a written format from
original video recordings. How the teachers and
students interacted in the classroom discourse was
open-coded and closely examined. The data were
organized into some units of ideas from the
preliminary codes and similar ideas were grouped
together and abstracted into higher-order categories
that represent interactional patterns.
Investigation 2: ResultsMajor Teacher-Student Interactional Patterns Observed
Modeling and Repetition Pair: Teachers modeled and students repeated until the
students were able to say and/or sing by themselves
Group-Focused Scaffoldings (Teacher Scaffolding): When students had enough
modeling-repetition, teachers tried to ask if class as a whole had some questions, and if
students had questions, teachers explained, translated and instructed using both
Japanese and English for the class as necessary.
Individual Focused Scaffolding Episode (Scaffolding Episode): Teachers provided the
necessary scaffoldings to individual students to say the word and/or sentences. For
example, they stood behind students to whisper dialogs so that students were able to
say the words and sentences.
Praise: Teachers provided positive feedback to students during the classroom exercises
when students were able to say the words, sentences and/or songs.
Language Achievement: Students were able to say the words, sentences and/or songs
without teacher scaffoldings.
Investigation 2: Results
This Table describes how teacher-students’ interactional patterns changedbetween Day 1 and Day 7. All teacher-students’ interactional patterns werecounted and described in percentages, and all patterns in a day weresummated as a total of 100 %
Investigation 2: Results
Video Analysis
On Days between Day 1 and Day 5, over 30 % of
classroom exercises were modeling and repetition as
teachers provided a great amount of modeling and
repetition and scaffolding.
On Day 6 and 7, a larger amount of language
achievement was observed, as students learned to
produce words and/or dialogues by themselves.
Investigation 2: Results
Video Analysis
A schematic diagram to show how the teacher-student interactional patterns
develop in classroom practices.
Investigation 2: Results
Video Analysis
Although emphasis of the practice change depending on the
phase of practice, consistent classroom practice cycles were
observed as shown in the diagram. In every lesson, teachers and
young learners in an FL context undergo this process, and
eventually students learn to produce targeted words and
sentences. When new linguistic materials and challenging tasks
are introduced to students, a new cycle begins. This cycle was
observed in everyday lessons.
Investigation 2: Results
Ethnographical Notes
January 18, 2008
According to HRTs, students are excited to perform their own musical as the
day of the performance approaches (February 14, 2008).
February 6, 2008
At the gym, students sang very well from the beginning, and their voices were
very strong and nice. Students seemed to immerse themselves in the world of
songs and the place of the musical.
Investigation 2: Qualitative Study
Results: Questions to the Parents
75%
25%
Did you see your son and/or daughter practice the music at
home?
YES
NO
“I heard my son singing when he was taking a bath and right before he was going to bed”.
“I was in tears. I was so moved.”
Parents said..
“I wondered what sort of charm he was telling his brothers, now I know!”.
Conclusion
• Firstly, the musical project was successfully conducted with thefifth graders who had had little exposure to English.
• Their perceived competence and autonomy showed asignificant increase in the post-test.
• The results of structural equation modeling indicated thatstudents who perceive their competency and autonomyhigher, also had higher intrinsic motivation.
• With the successful conclusion of the musical project, childrenfelt they were more autonomous and competent which,according to SDT, leads to the enhancement of intrinsicmotivation.
• How their autonomy and competence developed wasrevealed in the qualitative study.
Conclusion
• Qualitative data interactional patterns in a classroom setting andstudents’ change outside the classroom. The changes in interactionalpatterns including modeling-repetition, teacher scaffolding, praise,scaffolding episodes, and language achievement were revealed.The sequences shown in the schematic diagram indicate howteacher-learner interactions helped students be able to saysentences and sing songs, and this probably enhanced learners’sense of competency as they went through the practice sessions.
• At a final stage, teachers didn’t help students as much as they did inan earlier stage but only assisted when they needed help. In otherwords, the scaffolding was gradually lifted as students learned toperform independently. This probably helped them develop theirsense of autonomy.
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Correlation Matrix
Correlation Matrix for Pre-test Correlation Matrix for Post-test
Motivation Autonomy Competency Relatedness Motivation Autonomy Competency Relatedness
Autonomy 0.699** Autonomy 0.633**
Competency 0.738** 0.762** Competency 0.635** 0.541**
Relatedness 0.467** 0.537** 0.503** Relatedness 0.570** 0.548* 0.649**
WTC 0.219* 0.321** 0.323** 0.407** WTC 0.112 0.261** 0.244** 0.209*
**<.001, *<.01 N=115 **<.001, *<.01 N=116
Missing data was controlled by listwise deletion. Missing data was controlled by listwise deletion.