THE OTHE SIDE OF THE DESK: UNDERSTANDING LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ COGNITIONS ON MOTIVATIONAL TEACHING PRACTICE

While the field of language learning motivation has progressed significantly in recent decades, there is still a considerable gap in our understanding about teachers ’ motivational practice. Specifically, the focus has been on descriptive accounts of the strategies teachers employ and their perceived effectiveness, but how teachers think about student motivation and their own motivational practice and why teachers do what they do is vastly under-researched. Understanding teacher cognitions on this phenomenon is a crucial component of moving the field forward into real classroom impact. Drawing on stimulated recall interview data, this paper explores the cognitions of English language teachers in Hong Kong, in relation to learner motivation. Findings point to diverse approaches to motivational practice dependent largely on the extent to which teachers’ conceptualisations of motivation are static or dynamic and the degree to which they recognize the agentive role of the teacher in shaping and directing motivation. The paper argues the need for an explicit focus on motivational teaching practice in teacher education programmes, equipping language teachers with the tools for socioculturally classroom responsive pedagogical frameworks.

Examining the role of the learner and the teacher in language learning motivation

Effective teaching practice requires that teachers know their students not as ‘faceless average learners’, but as individuals. The most individual of learner characteristics is personality, and yet language education research has made little progress in understanding the role of personality. As the field of language learning motivation seeks to develop frameworks for motivational teaching practice, a richer understanding of learners’ individuality is crucial in shaping practices that respond to learners’ needs. The present study examines the role of learners’ personality and teachers’ practice in shaping motivation and self-efficacy in language learning. Drawing on data gathered from 277 learners of English in Hong Kong, aged 11–14 years, and 24 lesson observations, across 10 classes, the study applies hierarchical multiple regression analysis to reveal a significant role of personality and teachers’ motivational practice in predicting language learning motivation and self-efficacy. Results reveal that while personality variables demonstrated large effect sizes for motivational orientations, teacher practice variables evidenced large effect sizes for language learning self-efficacy. Implications are discussed for theorization of language learning motivation and for teaching practice, with a particular emphasis on language teacher education.

Teacher Motivational Strategies for EFL Learners: For Better or Worse

This study examines how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ motivational practice affects learners based on a motivational design for learning and performance, the Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction (ARCS) model of motivation. There was also an examination of how learners’ perceptions of teachers’ motivational practices were contributing to learners’ L2 proficiency. A total of 242 high school EFL learners completed questionnaires on their teachers’ motivational practice, and 12 of the learners’ teachers completed complementary questionnaires to indicate their use of motivational tactics or strategies. One-to-one interviews with eight learners were additionally conducted. Results indicated that the learners were underutilizing the motivational strategies (MS) that their teachers claimed to use. On the other hand, teachers’ attention-getting strategies and confidence-building strategies were significant predictors of learners’ language proficiency. Interview data revealed that the learners’ underutilization of teachers’ motivational practices was due to problems in lack of MS variability, motive mismatching, and natural consequences. Although teacher’s use of MS is generally believed to enhance learners’ motivation, the findings provide empirical evidence on how MS need to be implemented to accommodate learners’ vocational aspirations, and support classroom climates that can promote communicative language teaching practices.