Research method

Study 7 describes the above steps through the process of developing, piloting, and validating a quantitative instrument with a view to measuring which aspects of the language teacher that emerged in Studies 1 to 6 adult learners of English find motivating in corporate on-site language courses. In order to develop a reliable and valid tool for this purpose, a questionnaire was devised through a 5-step validation process based on Dörnyei’s (2007) model. As an initial step, previous research based on the relevant literature and the findings of Studies 1 to 6 were reviewed, which led to drawing up an ‘item pool’, from which the final items of the constructs were selected with the participation of a senior researcher and some friends. Once the pilot instrument was finalised, it was administered to 60 respondents from the organisations participating in my research. Apart from filling in the questionnaires, the respondents were also asked to comment on the instrument. Subsequently, item analysis helped to evaluate and fine-tune the measurement tool. Due to some validity concerns – which manifested themselves in the form of some inconsistencies with the expected findings – a further follow-up round of discussions was initiated, recorded, and transcribed with six

140 randomly selected respondents to possibly decipher the causes of these inconsistencies, which in turn contributed to producing the final form of the questionnaire.

Apart from the core aim of the survey mentioned above, i.e., to test what aspects of the language teacher adult learners of English in a corporate setting found most motivating, the functional aim of the questionnaire was to serve as a pilot instrument in the penultimate stage of my research. In order to find out which aspects of the teacher should be investigated in the current pilot questionnaire, six studies had been conducted in the previous two tiers of the research. Studies 1 to 3 in the first phase were primarily concerned with corporate contexts and L2 motivation in general. Nevertheless, they yielded some results that indirectly informed the subject of my enquiry in the second phase of the research, i.e., the teacher’s role in motivation. Studies 4 to 6 specifically addressed the teacher’s role in motivation by questioning all stake holders with a view to horizontally triangulating the project: Study 4 involved adult learners of English in a corporate environment, Study 5 targeted Human Resources managers, whereas Study 6 questioned teachers working in corporate contexts.

Once the findings of these studies were synthesised, the stage was set for the current pilot questionnaire study to test all the concepts that were hypothesised to determine the motivational influence of the teacher in such settings. Even though the items of the pilot questionnaire were directly pooled from the findings of the studies above, indirectly, they were informed by the literature review that had preceded conducting them (see Chapter 4 of my dissertation).

8.1.1.1 Participants

All of the participants of Study 7 were Hungarian employees of the 18 organisations whose language education practices were investigated in Study 1. The majority of the participants have university degrees and do sedentary knowledge-work with the exception of five respondents who work on a production line or do technical jobs in power plants. In total, 60 employees, 35 females and 25 males filled in the paper-and-pen questionnaire. Six of them were working in managerial positions, 54 of them in non-managerial positions at the time of the survey. The average age of the participants was 35, ranging from 25 to 60 with a standard deviation of 8.32. According to the participants’ self-report, the level of learners’ proficiency in the investigated sample ranged from B1 to C1 on the Common

141 European Framework of Reference (CEFR) (Council of Europe, 2001). eight of the participants rated their proficiency as B1, 38 of them as B2, and 14 of them as C1.

8.1.1.2 The instrument

As was mentioned in Section 8.1.1, Dörnyei’s (2007) 5-step validation model was used to develop the instrument. For a start an ‘item pool’ was drawn up (Step 1) with as many potential items for each scale as possible. All the items of the questionnaire were developed by the author partly based on the literature on the teacher’s role in motivation (Akbari, 2008; Csikszentmihályi, 1997; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Dörnyei, 1994, 2001, 2007;

Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998; Gardner, 1985; Ghanizaded & Moafian, 2010; Heitzmann, 2008;

Williams & Burden, 1997; Dörnyei & Ottó, 1998;), partly based on the results of Studies 1 to 6, which identified themes that HR managers, teachers, and learners working in a corporate context found key in motivating adult learners. Subsequently, a senior researcher and some were friends were asked to provide feedback and narrow down the number of items (Step 2). After getting feedback from them, the pilot questionnaire was put together in the way described below (Step 3).

The pilot instrument consisted of two parts (Appendix G). First, it contained 71 Likert-scale items to measure factors related to the teacher’s motivational influence and one open-ended question to elicit further ideas on what additional aspects of their teachers the participants found motivating. In the second part of the instrument background questions were asked concerning the participants’ age, gender, their level of English, and their position in the organisation.

For questions 171, the participants had to indicate on a 10-point scale to what extent they found the ideas expressed in the statements true for themselves. Applying a 10-point Likert scale made it possible to avoid the ceiling effect, as it was hypothesised that the majority of the values would fall in the higher range of the scale. In this way, the participants were given the opportunity to more subtly differentiate between the items.

The 71 questions intended to cover the following 10 constructs based on the literature review and the emerging themes of Studies 1 to 6:

142 1. Preparedness (seven items): to what extent learners find the professionalism of a teacher motivating. Example: My language teacher motivates me if she or he has a lot of experience in language teaching.

2. Focus on the present (eight items): how motivating it is for the learners to experience that their teacher focuses on the present by addressing current needs of the learners;

by using current technologies, current textbooks, updated handouts. Example: My language teacher motivates me if she or he continuously updates the handouts for the lessons.

3. Appearance (seven items): how motivating it is for the learners if the language teacher is well-groomed, well-dressed. Example: My language teacher motivates me if she or he looks good.

4. Free choice of topic (seven items): how motivating it is for the learners to be given the opportunity to speak about anything they feel like sharing with the teacher.

Example: My language teacher motivates me if I can discuss my problems at work with her or him if I feel like it.

5. Incorporating ESP in the syllabus (English for Specific Purposes) (seven items): how motivating it is for the learners if the teacher incorporates specific vocabulary and tasks related to their work in the lessons. Example: My language teacher motivates me if we learn things in the lesson that I can use in my work.

6. Tailor-made teaching (six items): how motivating it is for the learners if the lessons are personalised to cater for their needs. Example: My language teacher motivates me if she or he adapts to my pace of learning.

7. Personality and behaviour (seven items): how motivating certain personality traits and ways of behaviour of the teacher are for the learners. Example: My language teacher motivates me if she or he starts and finishes the lesson on time.

8. Getting to know the learner (eight items): how motivating it is for the learners if the teacher approaches them holistically, not only as a learner. Example: My language teacher motivates me if she or he is sincerely interested in who I am.

9. Personal branding (seven items): how motivating it for the learners if their teacher is well-know and reputable. Example: My language teacher motivates me if she or he has a good reputation.

143 10. Atmosphere (seven items): how motivating it is for the learners if the teacher creates a good atmosphere in the lessons. Example: My language teacher motivates me if she or he creates an informal atmosphere in the lesson.

8.1.1.3 Procedure

The questionnaire was developed in Hungarian, the mother tongue of the participants. Subsequently, two adult learners of English were asked to think aloud while completing it. Potentially problematic items were reworded before the instrument was piloted with 60 learners in April 2015. All of the completed questionnaires were computer coded and SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) 17.0 was used to analyse the data.