How to motivate students and what it means to motivate students to learn

In this section the students‟ and teachers‟ viewpoints are discussed with regard to who or what is the origin of motivation in their opinion; the teachers‟ definitions of motivation, and some of the tricks and techniques they use to motivate the students to learn are also highlighted. Both classroom observations and the interviews made it clear that the most important motivating force is the teacher, as she is the centre of the language teaching-learning process. This is in line with the literature (Dörnyei, 2001a, 2001b, 2007b; Nikolov, 1995, 1998, 2003; Nikolov & Nagy, 2003), which concurs that the teacher is the common explanatory force regardless of whether the motivation or the demotivation of students is explained (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011; Kormos & Lukóczky, 2004).

The question “who should motivate the students to learn” did not produce a great variety of answers from the students: the teacher is put forward as the single most important person who needs to motivate the students. Interestingly, the student himself/herself is close behind with eight mentions, followed by parents/relatives and situation/context with seven mentions each. Success (five mentions), peers (two mentions), and force (one mention) were also acknowledged. The distribution of potential sources is, surprisingly, more varied among the students. While both the students and the teachers mentioned seven different potential sources, four categories

169 were mentioned only by one teacher. It is not unexpected, however, that the teacher is the most important motivational force according to both students and teachers, as this is in line with the literature (Dörnyei, 2001a, 2001b, 2007b). Table 5.1 shows the scattering.

Table 5.1 The scattering of potential sources of motivation among the students and the teachers

The students (n=13) The teachers (N=5)

Number of mentions Number of mentions

Teacher 10 5

Student himself/herself 8 3

Situation/context (communicate and

understand, useful) 7 1

Parents (relatives) 7 2

Success 5 1

Peers (including friends) 2 1

Situation/context (force, e.g., school

requirements) 1 1

It is striking that the number of mentions for the student himself/herself as a source of motivation was so high, and also that the proportions of the students and teachers who mentioned this are almost equal. Both sides agreed on the order of these elements. The first position of teachers is not surprising, however, it might encourage placing too much responsibility on the teachers‟ shoulders. The fact that the students were the second most important source of inspiration suggests that this aspect should be utilised more when motivating them, and this is exactly the point where the concept of self-regulation can be of assistance. The classroom observations revealed the dominance of the teacher as the main source of information and motivation, but according to the interviews, the students could also be expected to take more responsibility for their learning. The idea of the student as a potential resource did not appear in the classroom or in phases of the teaching-learning process where the teacher herself is present, but

170 seemed to be restricted to domains where it is only the student who is interacting with the language. Neither the observation, nor the interviews revealed a possible explanation for it. The traditional Hungarian educational system and its constraints have been mentioned as an explanation, a phenomenon that has been reported by researchers in Hungary and abroad (e.g., Boekaerts & Niemivirta, 2000; Nikolov, 2003, 2009b).

Having considered the prominent role of the teacher, it is worth studying their voice in regard to motivation and the source of it. The teachers had the following opinions about motivation and motivating the students to learn:

“to make them reach a state in which they are interested in what they are learning, the language and everything beyond it” (Annabella)

“things with which I can encourage them and make them more enthusiastic, or make them feel like doing it, or help them, these things with which I motivate them” (Boglárka)

“to make them achieve success and reach goals […] make them act so that they want to do it, not me standing behind their back and chasing them, hurrying them into doing it, [instead] influencing their will and desires […] making learning the language so exciting that helps them to want to do it” (Cecília)

“to make them like learning and feel it important to learn” (Daniella)

“to reach the state when they like using the language, on the one hand to sit down at home and learn the words, to feel like dealing with it and coming to the language lesson […] [I motivate them if] I‟ve managed to make them like it and they didn‟t want to come but now they want to come, they couldn‟t do it but now they can do it, so by giving them the feeling of success or anything, positive feedback for example which helps them move on and they will start doing things successfully” (Ernesztina).

It is also worth mentioning that Boglárka was not sure about motivation, in terms of what she should be doing, or how she should be motivating the students, and she also referred to motivating students as “horsing around” and “juggling.” Although her standpoint was rather contradictory, the students were seemingly unaware of this uncertainty. In the classroom she was determined and firm, possessing all the qualities and knowledge to guide the students and facilitate learning.

171 What are the tools in the teachers‟ hands that they can use when motivating the students? The motivational strategies the teachers mentioned are listed as follows:

 being nice with the students (Boglárka),

 the teacher‟s personality (Boglárka, Daniella),

 setting a good example (e.g., correcting tests for the next lesson, attitude to work) (Boglárka),

 not deceiving the students (Boglárka),

 giving them the choice to decide how to go about doing an activity (Daniella),

 finding positive points to praise in what they say or do (Daniella),

 creating a happy and relaxed atmosphere (Daniella, Cecília, Ernesztina),

 presentations (with adding extra elements such as a round of applause or referring back to extraordinary presentations later in the course) (Daniella),

 making the students integrate into the life of the group and contribute to the lessons (Daniella),

 interesting and appropriate activities (Boglárka),

 success (Boglárka),

 graded and authentic readings depending on the student (Boglárka),

 giving explanations (e.g., about attributions, c.f. Section 5.4.2) (Boglárka),

 giving exercises and tasks to individual students according to their level and needs (Boglárka),

 offering a great variety of activities in classes (including materials and forms of work) (Annabella, Ernesztina),

 grades (Cecília, Ernesztina), and

 praise (Cecília).

172 The teachers used these techniques in various combinations during the lessons, and although it was only Daniella who worded her approach to motivation as a block (see below), the other teachers‟ lessons were permeated with these strategies. Several of these strategies were mentioned by one teacher only, while another teacher mentioned only one strategy. This fact, however, does not mean that some of the teachers‟

motivational teaching practice is faulty or modest. Rather, this suggests that other strategies might not have come to their mind during the interview, or they did not consider some techniques important enough or relevant. Another possible explanation is that Daniella‟s view on motivation as a block came into effect, in that it is relatively difficult to single out certain strategies or units from a substantial chunk.

There are two points worthy of mention here. One is that these answers above are replies to the more general questions “How do you motivate your students to learn?”

and “Do you have any tricks or strategies to motivate your students to learn?”, rather than from those specific questions that asked the teachers about different motivational strategies. The result was that although the thread of the interview was organised around the points Dörnyei (2001a) mentions, when it came to identifying motivational strategies, some teachers seemed to be at a loss. The following comments illustrate this point, with Daniella‟s comment exemplifying the other participating teacher‟s opinions:

“I cannot execute what is expected from me [in books of methodology] […] I do something but not with the aim of motivating” (Boglárka)

“I‟m not aware of techniques for motivating students” (Cecília)

“I‟m not conscious enough for this. I don‟t think I have any [motivational strategies]” (Daniella)

“they are so motivated that it‟s unnecessary to motivate them for each task or part of lesson. The whole thing is a block for me” (Daniella)

“experience […] reacting to situations” (Ernesztina).

173 The second point that is interesting is the fact that although Boglárka was the most negative about the issue of motivation, the general question on motivation managed to elicit the most strategies and techniques from her.

To sum up, as attested to by the interviews with the teachers and the students (and also based on the questionnaires), the teachers did motivate their students to learn, but it was mostly unconscious (i.e., not identified as motivating students or motivational strategies), learnt by practice and teaching, and adapting to the students‟ needs. In other words, when asked directly the teachers could not list motivational strategies, but when asked indirectly, they proved to have a broad selection of motivational strategies. The origins and the consequences of this odd contrast might be worth further research, and Chapter 6 will address this question when answering the first two research questions.