The middle of the 2010s

Despite the fact that instrumental motivation was still dominant in this context in 2014, while the role of intrinsic motivation and the teacher’s role in motivation had gained

63 more ground, the importance of the ideal-self had further diminished. This may be attributed to the fact that the participants of this study are working adults who do not pursue future ideals, “I live in the present, I have to solve problems today with the knowledge I have”

(Henry, p. 1). They were aware of their own limitations, some of them were at the peak of their powers; therefore, talking about an idealistic future state simply did not make sense to them. They were much more concerned about the present; they had already been learning English for some time and would have liked to use that knowledge when they needed it. No wonder instrumentality still scored highly as a motivational force in their language learning aspirations.

Apart from career development and promotions, which emerged in the earlier periods of investigation in this study, Henry, George, and Christine also cited the need to socialise professionally and to access international journals related to their field of work, which are two further examples of emerging themes in the domain of instrumentality. In an increasingly globalised world, one cannot ignore the international influences one is affected by and this is particularly true in the corporate world. Although the corporation where the interviews were conducted is a state-owned group, it is deeply integrated in a global, English speaking community in many ways.

One link to the global community is established through international journals. All of the participants mentioned the necessity to familiarise themselves with professional literature in English. Peter elaborated that some professional materials were only available in English and one simply could not afford not to read them, “you have the basic science (in your head), but there are current issues happening in the world and you must know about them” (p. 2). Judy hinted at the diversified cooperation with foreign and international organisations:

We mostly work internationally. The cross-border things, they all happen with the neighbouring transmission system operators, and all the resolutions and directives come from the European Union. All of this is in English. In the development and implementation [of these directives] we have to collaborate with the European system operators in everything. (p. 3)

The role of intrinsic motivation and the teacher’s role in motivation had gained further ground compared to the 2000s. Apparently, the higher the command of English of the learners, the more they tended to enjoy the learning process and the more dimensions of

64 language learning they discovered. It emerged from the data that apart from the previously mentioned benefits stemming from intrinsic motivation, the personality of the language learner seemed to have gone through some kind of transformation or enrichment. According to Judy, she had become a more experienced person as a result of having friends abroad.

Christine and Peter said it made one more tolerant, whereas Henry attributed becoming more self-confident to languages: “what I enjoy is the self-confidence that I can achieve anywhere.

And when the language is already on the tip of your tongue, the solution is only a question of your thoughts without linguistic barriers” (p. 4).

This is undoubtedly connected to and explained by a higher level of linguistic competence, and might also account for the increasing role of the teacher in motivating the learner, as teachers emerged as promoters of intrinsic motivation in three different ways: as intellectual challengers, as providers of tailor-made attention, and as sources of enthusiasm.

A teacher – adult learner relationship might be much more complex than a simple work relationship when one party gives over their cognitive information on a given subject (in this case the English language) to the other party. This is due to the fact that the subject of this transaction is a language, which makes it possible for the students to express themselves, share their opinions on a myriad of issues, and speak about themselves. If these opinions and feelings are met with the responsive ears of a teacher, a multi-level cooperation evolves between the teacher and the student, which in turn creates a nurturing and motivating environment where language acquisition takes place more effectively.

Christine described this in the following words, “A motivating teacher has to have good people skills; he has to know people well” (p. 3). Both George and Judy underlined that students had to have a good relationship with their teacher, not only in the classroom, but in the corridor as well. Judy even added:

It motivates me if we have a chat as two individuals as well, … [He encourages me] a little not to give up, because it will be important for me … because it tends to get me down if I’m not that good. Naturally, the teacher’s attention cannot revolve around me, because he has 28 students, but it’s a good feeling if he once comes up to encourage me not to give it up and reassures me that it’ll be alright, I’ll manage. (p. 3)

Another aspect that two participants (George and Oliver) mentioned was that the teacher had to transform them into a certain state of mind. Oliver pointed out that it was the teacher’s task to weigh up what made students have a sense of success, “I think the teacher

65 has to teach in such a way that the student should have some sense of achievement all the time in order not to lose his or her motivation” (p. 3). George described another aspect:

In fact, it is the teacher who leads, but the student doesn’t feel this. He always feels that he has a choice. … It isn’t free rambling actually, but to me it comes across as if it were, and in this way the teacher can keep up that kind of self-activity and self-confidence that is needed for the use of the language. (p. 3)

On the teacher’s role Judy said the following: “Today, every kind of service – including language education – is becoming personalised, therefore it is a clear requirement of language educators to provide such services in order for the lessons to be enjoyable and motivating” (p. 4). Her words were echoed by Henry, “Since I’m always pressed for time, if I decide to devote 90 minutes of my week to learning English I want to spend it enjoying it, in a nice environment, with a kind and pleasant teacher” (p. 4). The significance of tailoring the lessons to the needs of the learner was also mentioned by Peter, “It’s a good feeling that the teacher focuses on me, and I expect it, as well” (p. 3). Oliver on the same aspect said the following: “It is the very personal, tailor-made preparation of the teacher that keeps me going and the continuous ‘dialogue’ there and back, like playing ping pong that keeps me on track”

(p. 3). Christine mentioned the same notion from a different angle: “[He or She] pays attention to what my shortages and weaknesses are and guides me in the right direction so that I can deal with that more and better” (p. 3).

Another benefit that emerged was that adults with a relatively good command of English can talk about anything they want, including themselves. With the exception of Henry, all of the participants of this study expressed that they loved talking about themselves. Judy said the following:

I have always enjoyed it. Not only about myself, about anything. To make a presentation, to share your opinion, even within the frame of an argument. It makes me feel good if I have to speak about myself, it’s an excellent opportunity to practise. (p. 3)

Christine was surprised at the question and asked back: “Why wouldn’t I talk about myself with pleasure?” (p. 4)

Finally, the third area where the teacher’s role emerged as key in motivating learners was described by Csikszentmihályi (1997): teacher enthusiasm definitely affects student

66 enthusiasm. All of the participants answered that they became more enthusiastic if they perceived the teachers themselves were enthusiastic as well, while three of them (Henry, George, and Judy) gave a more elaborate answer. Let me quote Judy to illustrate how the dynamics of this transmission might operate:

[The teacher’s enthusiasm] It is absolutely important, because then I feel that he prepared and is so enthusiastic, and I skipped doing homework, and I don’t want to hurt him. It is an inconvenient feeling for me. If I’m not at least as well- or better-prepared – not in a grammatical sense, but concerning my diligence or my homework – it is a very inconvenient situation for me. What I see at such a time is that he has done his best again, and I have been cheeky enough again to neglect it; it’s an embarrassing situation. It is at least as embarrassing as if I couldn’t speak English. (p. 4)