Motivating Language Learners: A Classroom-Oriented Investigation of the Effects of Motivational Strategies on Student Motivation

The teacher’s use of motivational strategies is generally believed to enhance student motivation, yet the literature has little empirical evidence to support this claim. Based on a large-scale investigation of 40 ESOL classrooms in South Korea involving 27 teachers and more than 1,300 learners, this study examined the link between the teachers’ motivational teaching practice and their students’ language learning motivation. The students’ motivation was measured by a self-report questionnaire and a classroom observation instrument specifically developed for this investigation, the motivation orientation of language teaching (MOLT). The MOLT observation scheme was also used to assess the teachers’ use of motivational strategies, along with a posthoc rating scale filled in by the observer. The MOLT follows the real-time coding principle of Spada and Frohlich’s (1995) communication orientation of language teaching (COLT) scheme but uses categories of observable teacher behaviors derived from Dornyei’s (2001) motivational strategies framework for foreign language classrooms. The results indicate that the language teachers’ motivational practice is linked to increased levels of the learners’ motivated learning behavior as well as their motivational state.

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