Niềm tin về chiến lược tạo động lực học và việc thực hành sử dụng chiến lược của sinh viên năm thứ ba trong giảng tập tại khoa sư phạm tiếng anh trường đại học ngoại ngữ

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

FELTE-ULIS THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS’ BELIEFS
AND PRACTICES OF MOTIVATIONAL
STRATEGIES IN THEIR MICRO-TEACHING

Supervisor

: Dương Thu Mai, Ph.D.

Student

: Lý Hoàng Yến

Course

: QH2015

HANOI - 2019


ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

NIỀM TIN VỀ CHIẾN LƯỢC TẠO ĐỘNG LỰC HỌC
VÀ VIỆC THỰC HÀNH SỬ DỤNG CHIẾN LƯỢC
CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ BA TRONG GIẢNG TẬP
TẠI KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH,
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

Giáo viên hướng dẫn

: T.S Dương Thu Mai

Sinh viên

: Lý Hồng Yến

Khóa

: QH2015

HÀ NỘI - 2019


ACCEPTANCE PAGE
I hereby state that I: Lý Hoàng Yến, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of
Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use
of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or
reproduction of the paper.

Signature

June 1st 2019


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, it is my pleasure to be supervised by Ms. Duong Thu
Mai, to whom I would like to express my deepest gratitude. Without her precious
support, careful guidance and critical comments, the study could have not been
completed.
Secondly, with all sincerity, I would like to thank 109 third-year students at
the Faculty of English language Teacher Education, University of Languages and
International Studies for their enthusiastic and responsible participation in the
research.
Additionally, I would have not been completed the study without my
classmates Vu Phuong Hanh, Tran Thi Hoai Linh, Tran Hong Duyen and my
beloved friend Le Thi Thanh Huyen, who provided me listening ears and
encouragement all the time.
My sincere gratefulness is finally dedicated to my beloved family, especially
my parents, who had been caring and supporting me wholeheartedly during the time
I carried out this study.
I would like to offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported
me in any respect during the completion of the study.

i


ABSTRACT

L2 learners‟ motivation has been voiced by many scholars to be closely
related to teachers‟ motivational teaching practices, yet many young teachers hardly
ever employ motivational strategies in their classes. The question to answer is
whether those teachers are aware of the effect of the techniques to motivate learners
and practice those techniques during pre-service teacher training programs. There
have been a significant body of research on this matter in the world but since there
has been little research on this matter in Vietnam, this study was carried out.
The study took third-year students at the Faculty of English language
Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies as
participants and employed mixed methods design to scrutinize the student teachers‟
beliefs and practices about motivational strategies in their micro-teaching.
Specifically, 109 student teachers were invited to participate in the research surveys
using stratified and simple random sampling method. Questionnaires, classroom
observations and interviews were used as data collection instruments while
descriptive statistics and interpretative procedures served as the main data analysis
methods.
The findings reveal profound beliefs of the third-year students about the
effectiveness of motivational strategies as well as their attempt to apply the
strategies in micro-teaching. An undisputable link between the student teachers‟
beliefs and practices about MSs was also identified since the participants had the
tendency to use the strategies which they highly value. Besides their beliefs, other
factors such as students and classroom conditions, particularly micro-teaching
context, lesson contents and learners‟ level, also relate to the third-year students‟
application of MSs in micro-teaching. These results suggest the pre-service teachers
should try to vary the use of MSs in their teaching, even the techniques that they do
not evaluate, for better motivating effects.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................................... iii
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ........................................................................ v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................. vii
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1
1.1. Statement of research problem and rationale .......................................................1
1.2. Research aims and research questions ..................................................................2
1.3. Scope of the study.................................................................................................2
1.4. Significance of the study ......................................................................................3
1.5. Organization of the paper .....................................................................................4
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 5
2.1. Pre-service teachers‟ beliefs and practices ...........................................................5
2.1.1. Teachers‟ beliefs ..............................................................................................5
2.1.2. The relation between pre-service teachers‟ beliefs and practices ....................6
2.2. Motivation ............................................................................................................7
2.2.1. Definition of motivation ...................................................................................7
2.2.2. Frameworks of L2 Motivation .........................................................................8
2.2.3. Frameworks of Motivational strategies ..........................................................10
2.2.4. Studies on L2 motivation in Vietnam ............................................................17
2.3. Micro-teaching....................................................................................................19
2.3.1. Definitions and basic concepts .......................................................................19
2.3.2. Advantages and limitations of micro-teaching ..............................................20
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY .............................................................................. 22
3.1. Settings of the study ...........................................................................................22
3.2. Sampling and participations ...............................................................................23
3.3. Data collection ....................................................................................................24
3.3.1. Data collection instruments ............................................................................24
3.3.2. Data collection procedure...............................................................................26

3.4. Data analysis .......................................................................................................29
iii


Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................ 31
4.1. The beliefs of the student teachers about the effectiveness of MSs ..................31
4.2. The student teachers‟ frequency of using MSs in micro-teaching .....................37
4.2.1. Data from questionnaires ................................................................................37
4.2.2. Data from classroom observations ..................................................................40
4.3. The relation between the student teachers‟ beliefs and practices about MSs. ...45
4.3.1. Motivational strategies in creating basic motivational condition ...................45
4.3.2. Motivational strategies in generating initial motivation .................................46
4.3.3. Motivational strategies in maintaining and protecting motivation .................47
4.3.4. Motivational strategies in encouraging positive self-evaluation ....................49
Chapter 5: CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 52
5.1. Major findings of the study ................................................................................52
5.2. Pedagogical implications ...................................................................................53
5.3. Limitations of the study .....................................................................................54
5.4. Suggestions for further study .............................................................................54
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................ 56
APPENDICES ......................................................................................................... 59

iv


LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
List of Figures
Page
Figure 1: The components of motivational teaching practice in L2 classroom

12

Figure 2: The student teachers‟ beliefs about the effectiveness of MSs in
creating basic motivational condition ………………………………………...

32

Figure 3: The student teachers‟ beliefs about the effectiveness of MSs in
generating initial motivation ………………………………………………….

32

Figure 4: The student teachers‟ beliefs about the effectiveness of MSs in
maintaining and protecting motivation ……………………………………….

34

Figure 5: The student teachers‟ beliefs about the effectiveness of MSs in
encouraging positive self-evaluation …………………………………………. 36
Figure 6: The student teachers‟ self-perceived frequency of using MSs in
creating the basic motivational conditions …………………………………… 37
Figure 7: The student teachers‟ self-perceived frequency of using MSs in
generating initial motivation ………………………………………………….

38

Figure 8: The student teachers‟ self-perceived frequency of using MSs in
maintaining and protecting motivation ……………………………………….

39

Figure 9: The student teachers‟ self-perceived frequency of using MSs in
encouraging self-evaluation …………………………………………………..

40

Figure 10: The student teachers‟ frequency of using MSs in encouraging
self-evaluation as observed by the researcher ……………………………....... 40
Figure 11: The student teachers‟ frequency of using MSs in generating
initial motivation as observed by the researcher ……………………………...

41

Figure 12: The student teachers‟ frequency of using MSs in maintaining and
protecting motivation as observed by the researcher …………………………

43

Figure 13: The student teachers‟ frequency of using MSs in encouraging
self-evaluation as observed by the researcher ………………………………... 44

v


List of Tables
Table 1 The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacher‟s Motivational Practice ... 13
Table 2 Data collection procedure ............................................................................................... 26

vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

MS

: motivational strategy

MSs

: motivational strategies

FELTE

: Faculty of English Language Teacher Education

ULIS

: University of Languages and International Studies

L2

: second language; foreign language

EFL

: English as a foreign language

ESL

: English as a second language

ELT

: English language teaching

MOET

: Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam

SDT

: Self-determination theory

vii


Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
This initial chapter justifies the problem and reasons for this research to be
carried out. Furthermore, four research questions together with the aims, scope and
significance of the study will be clarified. Finally, the thesis organization to
orientate readers throughout the paper will be presented and close the chapter.
1.1.

Statement of research problem and rationale
Motivation has been recognized by both teachers and researchers as “one of

the main determinants of second/foreign language (L2) learning achievement”
(Dornyei, 2008, p.237). As a result, language teachers are supposed to develop
skills in motivating learners or make use of several motivational strategies (MSs) in
their teaching. However, according to Veenman (1984, as cited in Melnick &

Meister, 2008), motivating pupils is one of the most serious problem areas of new
teachers. This triggers a need for pre-service teachers to be aware of and to practice
applying MSs before they come to real teaching.
Within the context of the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education,
University of Languages and International Studies (FELTE-ULIS), several studies
about the topic of motivation and the exploitation of MSs in stimulating learners
have been carried out such as Nguyen‟s (2008) study about the frequency and
effectiveness of MSs during speaking lessons for first-year students, the study of
Nguyen (2011) which attempts to scrutinize the teachers‟ use of MSs in correlation
with their teaching experience, and Tran‟s (2012) study which investigates the preservice teachers‟ exploitation of MSs during practicums. Given the fact that the
teacher training courses provided by FELTE-ULIS do not include systematic
training about MSs, these studies have acknowledged the use of MSs among
teachers in their teaching and teacher trainees in practicums. This may indicate that
the trainees also utilize MSs in micro-teaching, which is their earlier teaching
practice; however, such utilization has not been examined.
Deemed as an essential teaching practice in teacher training programs
(Remesh, 2013), micro-teaching is also exploited among FELTE-ULIS third-year
1


students in their sixth semester. It is a component part of the ESL/EFL Classroom
Techniques and Practices (ELT 2) course and also an early teaching practice of
FELTE students. A body of research has shown that micro-teaching helps teacher
trainees to “get deeper knowledge regarding the art of teaching”, “improve in-class
teaching performances”, and “develop classroom management skills” (Remesh,
2013). Nonetheless, the number of studies that digs deep into the development of
specific skills during micro-teaching (e.g. skill in motivating learners) is limited.
Additionally, student-teachers‟ beliefs and teaching practices are proved to be
interrelated during practicums, yet has not thoroughly been examined in such an
early teaching practice as micro-teaching.

The aforementioned points set the context for this research, which attempts
to explore the beliefs and practices of FELTE-ULIS third-year students about MSs
in their micro-teaching practice.
1.2.

Research aims and research questions
At the first place, this study aims at scrutinizing FELTE-ULIS third-year

students‟ beliefs about the effectiveness of MSs and their frequency of using MSs in
micro-teaching. After that, the relationship between the student teachers‟ beliefs and
practices will be detected. These aims can be summarized into three research
questions:
 To what the extent do MSs help stimulate learners in learning as
perceived by the student teachers?
 What is the student teachers‟ frequency of using MSs in their microteaching?
 To what extent are the student teachers‟ beliefs about MSs and their
perceived practices in micro-teaching similar?

1.3.

Scope of the study
Firstly, as the topic of the study is “the beliefs and practices” of pre-service

teachers, the focus is on scrutinizing the connection between what student teachers
believe about MSs and how they practice those strategies in micro-teaching.
2


Secondly, although MSs can be defined in two ways: the strategies that can
be employed by teachers to stimulate students‟ motivation and the students‟ selfregulating techniques, within the framework of this paper, the researcher only

focuses on the former. Moreover, among several frameworks of MSs, this research
adopts the motivational teaching practice proposed by Dornyei (2001), particularly
Dornyei and Guilloteaux (2008) MOLT scheme about teachers‟ motivating
behaviors as the background framework to assist data collection and analysis.
Finally, this study is carried out using mixed methods design. The target
participants of the study are third-year students who have just conducted a microteaching session in ELT 2 course at FELTE, ULIS. 109 student-teachers were
randomly chosen to do a survey on their beliefs about MSs and their practices of
those strategies in micro-teaching. Besides, the researcher conducted observation
sessions on ten micro-teaching periods of twenty student teachers who were
recommended by their teacher trainers. The samples are deemed to be
representative of the whole population, enabling the researcher to generalize the
results to all third-year students enrolling in the academic year 2018-2019 in
FELTE-ULIS context.
1.4.

Significance of the study
With a view to examining the beliefs and exploitation of MSs of pre-service

teachers in their micro-teaching, this research is believed to benefit both trainees
and trainers in English teachers training programs.
For student teachers, since they are not thoroughly trained all MSs during the
course, this research will first provide them opportunities to reflect on their microteaching practice to reinforce the acquired MSs and secondly inform them explicitly
of other strategies that they can use to motivate learners. They, therefore, will have
a holistic view of MSs and be able to maximize the potentials of those strategies in
future teaching.
For teacher trainers, they can be more conscious of their students‟
perspectives towards the motivational practice, which can lead to adjustments in
3

their teaching methods and/or further adaptation for the teachers training courses in
order to enhance the student-teachers‟ motivating skills.
1.5.

Organization of the paper
This research consists of five chapters:
Chapter 1 – Introduction - aims at stating the research problems, the

significance of the study and proposing questions to answer.
Chapter 2 - Literature review - includes the explanation of key definitions as
well as the review on different previous works about motivation theories and
frameworks of MSs.
Chapter 3 - Methodology – describes research participants and instruments;
data collection procedure and data analysis method.
Chapter 4 - Findings and discussion – presents, analyzes and discusses the
research findings.
Chapter 5 – Conclusion - summarizes research findings and implication,
acknowledges

the

limitations

of

the

recommendations.

4

findings,

proposes

pedagogical


Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter aims to provide a brief review of the related literature and gives
the study a more solid theoretical foundation. The definitions of the key terms such
as pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices, motivation, motivational strategies
and micro-teaching will be generally presented, while a strong focus will be placed
on various motivational approaches in L2 field as well as the framework of
motivational strategies that the researcher is going to follow. In the last part of the
chapter, the research gap will be detected from the related literature to rationalize
the aims and significance of this paper.
2.1.

Pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices

2.1.1. Teachers’ beliefs
Richardson

(1996,

p.104)

defines

beliefs

as

“psychologically-held

understandings, premises or propositions about the world that are felt to be true”.
Beliefs also help individuals to understand the world and serve as guides for
assessing the future (Goodenough, 1963, as cited in Richardson, 1996). Therefore,
in the field of L2 teaching, Zheng (2009) proffers the view that teachers‟ beliefs
play an important role in understanding teachers‟ thought processes and
instructional decisions in the classroom.

EFL pre-service teachers‟ beliefs, as

proposed by Othman and Kiely (2016), are internalized primarily from their years
of language classroom experience, the beliefs and practices of their previous
language teachers, as well as their personal experience.
In the literature, beliefs are often mistaken for attitudes since they are both
mental states that are thought to drive a person‟s action. Nevertheless, according to
Fishbein (1967, as cited in Richardson, 1996), the former belong to one‟s cognition
and the latter is more of an affective component. In L2 teaching, while teachers‟
beliefs are comprised of perceptions, values, and ideology, teachers‟ attitudes may
involve the teacher‟s interests, enthusiasm and confidence, or their opposites,
towards L2 and L2 teaching. Within the framework of this paper, however, only
teachers‟ beliefs will be discussed. As proffered by Pajares (1992), the beliefs about
teaching of pre-service teachers embrace their perceptions and understanding of
5

what it takes to be a teacher. These beliefs are then either nurtured or reformed as a
result of their observations throughout teacher training programs.
In addition, the distinction between beliefs and knowledge should also be
clarified. In many studies, knowledge is used as an umbrella term to describe both
what we know and what we believe, thus somehow being similar to beliefs (Zheng,
2009). Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish whether teachers refer to their
knowledge or beliefs to make decisions and act in the classroom. However, as being
looked closely, knowledge depends on a “truth condition” in which a premise is
agreed to be true by a community of people whereas belief can be accepted as true
by an individual himself (Green, 1971, as cited in Richardson, 1996). This basic
difference can be exemplified by the fact that two teachers may have similar
knowledge, but choose to employ different approaches in their teaching as being
influenced by their own beliefs. To put it simply, knowledge is more widely
accepted than beliefs and will become one‟s beliefs when it is accepted as true by
that individual.
Given the aforementioned difference between beliefs and knowledge, the
researcher supposes that each construct has certain influences on the teaching
practices of student teachers. This paper would thereby examine pre-service
teachers‟ beliefs in correspondence with their knowledge acquired during teacher
training programs to embrace the complexity of teachers‟ mental lives underlying
their practices.
2.1.2. The relation between pre-service teachers’ beliefs and practices
On the one hand, EFL student teachers‟ beliefs can have a great influence on
their teacher learning and teaching practices. Specifically, according to Johnson
(1994), pre-service teachers‟ beliefs are based on images of teachers, materials,
activities and classroom organization generated by their own L2 learning experience
and such experience relates to their instructional practices during a teaching
practicum. Moreover, the study of Almarza (1996, as cited in Zheng, 2009)
acknowledges that students‟ teaching practices are also consistent with knowledge
and theoretical beliefs that originated from the teacher education programs. On the

6


other hand, Zheng (2009) shows that what student teachers say and do in
classrooms can, in turn, shape their beliefs. That is to say, pre-service teachers can
identify and examine their beliefs in relation to their classroom practices, thus being
able to “eliminate detrimental beliefs” about language teaching (Peacock, 2001).
As a result, researchers have acknowledged the need to examine EFL preservice teachers‟ practices in relation to their beliefs so as to enhance the quality of
teachers training programs in particular, and future L2 teaching and learning in
general. Notably, since motivating pupils is one of the shortcomings of young
teachers (Veenman, 1984, as cited in Melnick & Meister, 2008), this paper would
take account of the relation between teacher trainees‟ beliefs and practices about
motivation to better their future motivational practice.
2.2.

Motivation

2.2.1. Definition of motivation
According to Oxford Learner‟s Dictionary (2018), motivation means “the
reason why somebody does something or behaves in a particular way”. Similarly,
Lai (2011) defines motivation as the reason underlying behavior which is
characterized by willingness and desire. Besides, as proffered by Dornyei (2001,
p.7), motivation explains “why people decide to do something, how hard they are
going to pursue it and how long they are willing to sustain the activity”. Motivation
can be defined in many different ways, yet proves its importance in encouraging,
guiding and maintaining people‟ behaviors.
Inspired by the definition of motivation, Gardner and Tremblay (1994)
define motivation in L2 acquisition as the combination of positive attitudes towards
learning the language and efforts together with the desire to master the language. In
1997, a similar definition of motivation was stated by Ellis as “the attitudes and

affective states that influence the degree of effort that learners make to learn an L2”.
Crookes and Schmidt (1991) identify L2 motivation as the learner‟s orientation with
regard to the goal of learning a second language. Combining the three definitions,
this study would look into L2 motivation as the learners‟ positive attitudes,
direction and efforts to master the language.
7


As proffered by Dornyei (1998, p.117), motivation is deemed as a key factor
that influences the rate and success of L2 learning since “without sufficient
motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish
long-term goals, and neither are appropriate curricula and good teaching enough on
their own to ensure student achievement”. Therefore, it is essential that teachers
create a motivational learning environment and involve students in activities with
motivations to learn.
2.2.2. Frameworks of L2 Motivation
Since motivation plays an essential role in L2 learning, understanding what
lies behind motivation will be of great help to teachers in stimulating students to
learn. As a result, there has been a great amount of research discussing different
kinds and sources of motivation. Following the social psychological approach,
Gardner and Lambert (1972, as cited in Dornyei, 2001) divide L2 motivation into
two categories: integrative motivation and instrumental motivation:
 Integrative motivation deals with “positive attitudes towards the target
language group” and reflects self-desires to interact with the community of
the language (Gardner & Lambert, 1959, as cited in Crookes & Schmidt,
1991, p.471).
 Instrumental motivation, in contrast, refers to “more functional reasons for
learning a language” or the desire to gain something practical such as
meeting school requirements or getting a good job (Gardner & Lambert,
1959, as cited in Crookes & Schmidt, 1991, p.472).

According to Ellis (1997), integrative motivation is considered more
important in formal learning than instrumental motivation. This is because in some
contexts like Vietnam, where learners have few opportunities to use the foreign
language or interact with foreigners, instrumental reasons such as a need to get
promotions or qualifications have more influences on language learners.
Beside integrative and instrumental motivation, intrinsic and extrinsic
motivation proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985) in self-determination theory (SDT) is
8


also a well-known classification of motivation. Whilst intrinsic motivation deals
with a behavior performed for its own sake in order to experience the feeling of
enjoyment and satisfaction, extrinsic motivation refers to doing something “because
it leads to a separable outcome” or because it is influenced by external factors like
rewards, failure, competitions, and so on (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p. 55). These two
types of motivation are deemed contrasting yet interrelated. Wang (2008) reports
that people having to do an activity to attain certain extrinsic goals can lose their
natural intrinsic interest in that activity. From a different perspective, Dornyei
(1998) argued that extrinsic rewards can be combined with or can even lead to
intrinsic motivation as supported by certain factors like sufficient selfdetermination. Individuals who learn an L2 because they think it is important for
their educational development, for example, all fall within this case.
Along with the educational shift in the 1990s, researchers wanted to close the
gap between motivational theories in educational psychology and in the L2 field
(Dornyei, 2001). In their article published in 1991, Crookes and Schmidt criticize
Gardner‟s social psychological model for not focusing sufficiently on the L2
instructional context and call for new extended L2 motivation constructs. As a
result, Dornyei (1994) proposes a more “educational” framework of L2 motivation,
which conceptualizes motivation into three components: (1) the language level
which addresses the social side of L2 motivation and relates to Gardner‟s theory of
integrative and instrumental motivation; (2) the learner level which represents

individual characteristics of learners; (3) the learning situational Level concerning
the motivational factors of specific classroom settings.
However, this framework of Dornyei was not seen as a proper model since
there were no clear relationships among the components. The problem then set the
idea for the Dornyei and Otto‟s (1998) process-oriented approach, which attempts
to synthesize different conceptualizations of motivation in a systematic framework.
The approach is based on the Heckhausen and Kuhl‟s Action Control Theory (1985,
as cited in Guilloteaux, 2007), suggesting that students‟ motivation, in either small

9


or large scales time frame, consists of three distinct temporal stages: preactional,
actional and postactional stage.
 preactional stage refers to the phase during which individuals form an
intention to act and select an action plan in order to realize that intention.
 actional stage is when individuals translate their intention into action
 postactional stage is the phase when learners evaluate their action and form
inferences about future ones.
Dornyei (2001) believes that learners‟ motivations are not stable, and by
including a “temporal axis”, the construct can cover the ongoing changes of
motivation over time. The process model of L2 motivation, moreover, has laid the
foundation for a systematic and comprehensive framework of MSs of Dornyei later
on.
2.2.3. Frameworks of Motivational strategies
MSs are defined as (1) “instructional interventions applied by the teacher to
elicit and stimulate student motivation” and (2) “self-regulating strategies that are
used purposefully by individual students to manage the level of their own
motivation” (Dornyei & Guilloteaux, 2008, p.57). The MSs discussed in this
research belong to the first definition. Since teachers‟ use of MSs has generally

believed to stimulate students‟ motivation in learning, several scholars have
developed different lists of motivational techniques that teachers can apply to create
a more motivational classroom environment.
In line with the notion of Deci and Ryan‟s (1985) self-determination theory
about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivations (see 2.2.2), several MSs were also
derived. According to Urdan (2003), both tangible and intangible rewards can be
effective MSs when administered properly and valued by their potential recipients.
Additionally, with a focus on learners‟ autonomy, SDT does not suggest how
teachers can motivate students but focuses on how they can “create the condition
within which others can motivate themselves” (Deci, Connell & Ryan, 1989, as
cited in Keblawi, 2000, p.32). Therefore, in order to enhance the students‟
motivation, teachers may consider allowing more autonomy for their students by
10


providing them with more choices in learning content, teaching methods or
performance outcomes. On the other hand, a study conducted by Spratt,
Humphreys, and Chan (2002) shows that teachers sometimes face students‟
resistance to engaging in autonomous activities. The teachers are hereby suggested
to shift to develop students‟ intrinsic motivation by spending more time on activities
in which learners wish to engage for their own sake and recognizing the diversity of
students‟ learning styles and preferences, for example.
Another MSs theory is The ARCS Model proposed by Keller (1984, as cited
in Keller, 1987). The model provides an overview of four primary components of
motivation: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction, each of which is
accompanied by different MSs for teachers to use and design into a lesson with a
view to boosting students‟ learning motivation (Keller, 1987).
 Attention deals with strategies that capture interest of learners, increase
learners‟ curiosity and maintain learners‟ attention.
 Relevance suggests the strategies to meet learners‟ needs, highlight learners‟

responsibility in learning and relate learners‟ experiences to the lesson.
 Confidence refers to techniques that help learners enhance their belief in
success based on their efforts and abilities.
 Satisfaction means providing learners with opportunities to apply new
knowledge and reinforcing learners‟ success.
From the educational psychology perspective, Wlodkowski (1986, as cited in
Dornyei, 2001) provides an inventory of twenty-four teachers‟ behaviors and
techniques that are important with regard to motivating teaching. This can be seen
as an early attempt to describe motivational teaching practice, yet lacks a theoretical
background.
Although the aforementioned publications have raised the ideas about
teacher behaviors that can be effective in fostering student motivation in the
classroom, they fail to provide a theory-based framework and/or a comprehensible
list of MSs for L2 classroom application (Guilloteaux, 2007). In 2001, Dornyei
11


compensates for this gap by proposing a notable model for motivational L2 teaching
practice which is developed based on the Process-oriented approach discussed in
2.2.2.
Dornyei‟s (2001) motivational teaching practice comprises four main
dimensions as illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 1: The components of motivational teaching practice in L2 classroom
The first dimension is creating the basic motivational conditions, which
involves strategies to create basic classroom conditions (e.g. good relationship
between teachers and students, disciplined group work, etc.). The second
dimension, generating initial motivation, refers to techniques to develop learners‟
positive attitudes towards language learning and strengthen their belief on success.
Helping students to develop positive social image and autonomy are the strategies

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that belong to the third dimension, maintaining and protecting motivation. The last
dimension is encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation, which comprises
techniques to enhance learners‟ satisfaction such as positive feedback or rewards.
The model follows motivational circle from initial arousal of the motivation to the
completion and evaluation of the motivated action. Each dimension above is
followed by several main motivational teaching techniques which are further broken
down into over 100 MSs. All strategies are explained thoroughly in the author‟s
book entitled “Motivational strategies in Language Classroom”.
However, hardly had the L2 motivation literature claimed the effectiveness
of MSs, which, according to Gardner and Tremblay (1994), should be verified with
empirical evidence. Although one published study of Dornyei and Csizer (1998)
endeavors to provide data about the effectiveness of ten MSs originated from a list
drawn up by Dornyei (1994), it merely relies on teachers‟ self-reports and fails to
measure teachers‟ motivational practice based on the students‟ motivated behaviors.
As a result, Dornyei and Guilloteaux (2008) conduct a large-scale empirical
study using salient classroom observation to measure the effectiveness of MSs in
classroom settings. In order to achieve their aims, the two authors develop the
MOLT classroom observation scheme which follows the real-time coding principle
of Spada and Frohlich‟s (1995, as cited in Dornyei and Guilloteaux, 2008)
classroom observation scheme – the COLT but uses 25 clearly definable and
observable teachers‟ behaviors derived from Dornyei‟s (2001) motivational
strategies framework. The study reveals a strong positive correlation between the
teachers‟ motivational practice and students‟ motivated classroom behaviors within
the context of L2 motivation research.
Table 1
The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacher’s Motivational Practice
Strategies

Description

1. Social chat

Having an informal chat with students on matters unrelated to
the lesson.

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2. Signposting

Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or giving retrospective
summaries of progress already made toward realizing the
objectives.

3. Stating the

While presenting an activity, mentioning its communicative

communicative

purpose, its usefulness outside the classroom, its cross-culture

purpose or utility utility, or the way it fits into the sequence of activities planned
of the activity

for the lesson.

4. Establishing

Connecting what has to be learned to the students‟ everyday

relevance

lives.

5. Promoting

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and cultural products and

integrative

encouraging students to explore the L2 culture and community.

values
6. Promoting

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in the world and how

instrumental

knowing the L2 can be potentially useful for the students

values

themselves as well as their community.

7. Arousing

During the presentation of an activity, raising the students‟

curiosity or

expectations that the upcoming activity is going to be

attention

interesting and/or important.

8. Scaffolding

Providing appropriate strategies and/or models to help students
complete an activity successfully.

9. Promoting

Setting up a cooperative learning activity or explicitly

cooperation

encouraging students to help one another, offering suggestions
on how best to do this.

10. Promoting

Offering students a choice of activities, involving them in

autonomy

making decisions regarding the timing of an activity, having
them use the Internet or do research.

11. Referential

Asking the class questions to which the teacher does not

questions

already know the answer, including questions about the
students‟ lives.

12. Group work

The students are mingling, working in fluid pairs, or groups.

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13. Pair work

The students are working in fixed pairs.

14. Tangible

Offering students tangible rewards (e.g., candy, stickers) for

rewards

successfully taking part in an activity.

15.

Creating opportunities for students to express personal

Personalization

meanings (e.g., experiences, feelings, opinions)

16. Element of

The activity contains ambiguous, paradoxical, problematic,

interest,

controversial, contradictory, incongruous, or exotic material;

creativity,

connects with students‟ interests, values, creativity, fantasy, or

fantasy

arouses their curiosity.

17. Intellectual

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (e.g., it involves

challenge

a memory challenge, problem or puzzle solving,..)

18. Tangible task The students are working on the production of a tangible
product

outcome (e.g., a poster, a brochure).

19. Individual

The activity involves an element of individual competition.

competition
20. Team

The activity involves an element of team competition.

competition
21. Neutral

Going over the answers of an exercise with the class without

feedback

communicating any expression of irritation or personal
criticism.

22. Process

Focusing on what can be learned from the mistakes that have

feedback

been made, and from the process of producing the correct
answer.

23. Elicitation of

Encouraging students to correct their own mistakes, revise their

self or peer

own work, or review/correct their peers‟ work.

correction
24. Effective

Offering praise for effort or achievement that is sincere,

praise

specific (i.e., more than merely saying “Good job!”), and
commensurate with the student‟s achievement.

25. Class

Celebrating a student‟s or group‟s success, risk-taking, or effort

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