انگیزش یکی از عوامل کلیدی است که تعیین کنندهی موفقیت یا شکست زبانآموزان در محیطهای EFLیا ESL میباشد. بنابراین مسئولیت سنگینی بر دوش پژوهشگرهای حوزهی انگیزش قرار دارد تا معلمان را در جهت ایجاد انگیزش در زبانآموزان، بالا بردن، و حفظ آن یاری کنند. تحقیق دورنیه و سیزر (1998) در کشور مجارستان اولین مطالعهی مهم روی راهبردهای انگیزشی بود. بعد از آنها مطالعات اندکی در این حوزه انجام شد. در این تحقیق 250 نفر معلم ایرانی شرکت کردهاند و از آنها خواسته شده است که دو نوع پرسشنامه شامل 48 راهبرد انگیزشی را به این شرح کامل کنند: (1) نگرش آنها دربارهی میزان اهمیت راهبردهای انگیزشی (پرسشنا مهی میزان اهمیت) و (2) نگرش آنها دربارهی میزان استفاده از راهبردهای انگیزشی در کلاس درس (پرسشنامه ی میزان استفاده)، در ضمن نسخهی فارسی پرسشنامهها به معلمان تحویل داده شده است. نتایج بدست آمده از تحلیل آماری پرسشنامهها مشخص کرد که : راهبردهای انگیزشی ” نمایش رفتار مناسب از طرف معلمان” و “ آشنا کردن زبان آموزان با ارزشهای مربوط به زبان انگلیسی” در هر دو پرسشنامه به ترتیب در رتبههای اول و دهم ( آخرین رتبه ) قرار گرفتهاند. در میان 10 ماکرو راهبرد انگیزشی استخراج شده از هر دو پرسشنامه، راهبردهای اشاره شده در بالا وابسته به فرهنگ خاصی نیستند و در اکثر فرهنگهای کشورهای مختلف به میزان مشابهی قابل رویت هستند، ولی تکنیکهای انگیزشی از قبیل: “بوجود آوردن محیطی شاداب در کلاس درس” به نظر میرسد وابسته به فرهنگ خاص کشورها هستند و میزان اهمیت و کاربرد آنها برای فرهنگهای کشور های مختلف، متفاوت است. علاوه بر این، مقایسهی نتایج پرسشنامههای “میزان اهمیت” و “میزان استفاده” مشخص کرد که نگرش معلمان نسبت به اهمیت راهبردهای انگیزشی هیچ رابطهای با نگرش آنها نسبت به میزان کاربرد واقعی این راهبردها در کلاس درس ندارد.
Abstract
Motivation is one of the key factors that determine language learners’ success/ failure in ESL/EFL situation. Thus, it is a major challenge for language motivation researchers to help teachers elicit, enhance, and sustain students’ motivation. Dörnyei and Csizér’s (1998) research in Hungary was the first important study on motivational strategies. Following Dörnyei and Csizér (1998), a few similar studies have been carried out in this realm. 250 Iranian EFL teachers participated in this study and they were asked to rate a list of comprehensive 48 motivational strategies in terms of (1) how much importance, Importance Questionnaire, they attached to these and (2) how often, Frequency Questionnaire, they implemented them in their real teaching practice. The Persian version of the questionnaires was used in this study. The results provide evidence that some strategies like “displaying appropriate teacher behaviors” and “familiarising learners with L2-related values” were ranked first and tenth respectively in both questionnaires. Among ten macro-strategies derived from both questionnaires, some scales like two aforementioned ones are culture specific and can transfer across cultures but some other scales like “Creating a pleasant classroom climate” are culture dependent and vary from culture to culture. Also, comparing the results of two questionnaires revealed that teachers’ attitudes to the Importance of motivational strategies have no relationship with their answers to their actual Frequency of use in real EFL classes.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE- INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. Overview 2
1.2.Statement of the Problem 3
1.3.Significance of the Study 5
1.4.Research Questions 6
1.5.Definition of Key Terms 7
1.6. Limitations of the study 8
CHAPTER TWO- REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 10
2.1.Overview 11
2.2.Conceptualizations of Motivation 11
2.3.The Influential Theories of L2 Motivation 13
2.3.1. The Social-Psychological Period (1959-1990) 14
2.3.1.1. Gardner’s Social-Psychological Theory 14
2.3.1.2. Keller’s (1983) Motivational-Design Model 20
2.3.2. The Cognitive-Situated Period (1990-2000) 21
2.3.2.1.Dörnyei’s (1994) Framework of L2 Motivation 22
2.3.2.2. Williams and Burden’s (1997) Model of L2 Motivation 25
2.3.2.3. Task Motivation 27
2.3.2.4. L2 Motivation Expectancy-Value Theories 28
2.3.2.4.1. The Concepts of Self-Confidence and Linguistic Self-Confidence 29
2.3.2.4.2. Language Anxiety 31
2.3.2.4.3. Attribution Theory of L2 Learning 32
2.3.2.5. Achievement Motivation Theory 33
2.3.2.6. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) 34
2.3.3. The Process-Oriented Period (2000 Onwards) 36
2.3.3.1.Dörnyei and Ottó’s (1998) Process Model of L2 Motivation 36
2.4. Significance of Motivation/ L2 Motivation 39
2.5. Types of Motivation and their Role in SL/FL Acquisition 40
2.5.1. Integrative Motivation 40
2.5.2. Instrumental Motivation 42
2.5.3. Intrinsic Motivation 43
2.5.3.1. The Intrinsic Needs of Students 44
2.5.3.1.1. The Need for Autonomy and Self-Determination 45
2.5.3.1.2. The Need for Competence 45
2.5.3.1.3. The Need for Belonging and Relatedness 46
2.5.3.1.4. The Need for Self-Esteem 46
2.5.3.1.5. The Need for Involvement and Enjoyment 46
2.5.3.2. Achieving Intrinsic Motivation in L2 Learning 47
2.5.3.3. The Role of Intrinsic Motivation in L2 Learning 47
2.5.4. Extrinsic Motivation 48
2.6. The L2 Motivational Self System 51
2.7. Motivational Strategies 53
2.7.1. Creating Basic Motivational Conditions 59
2.7.1.1. Demonstrating Proper Teacher Behaviour 59
2.7.1.1.1. Teacher’s Enthusiasm 59
2.7.1.1.2. Teacher’s Commitment 62
2.7.1.1.3. Teacher’s Care and Acceptance 63
2.7.1.1.4. Teacher’s Immediacy 65
2.7.1.2. Creating a Pleasant Classroom Atmosphere 66
2.7.1.3. Promoting Group Cohesiveness and Setting Group Norms 67
2.7.2.Generating Initial Motivation 70
2.7.2.1. Familiarising Learners with L2 Culture and L2 Related Values 70
2.7.2.2. Increasing Learners’ Expectancy of Success 71
2.7.2.3. Promoting Learners’ Positive Goals (Goal-Orientedness) and Realistic Beliefs 74
2.7.2.4. Relating Language Learning to Learners’ Needs and Goals 77
2.7.3. Maintaining and Protecting Motivation 78
2.7.3.1. Making Learning Stimulating and Enjoyable 78
2.7.3.2. Diminishing Learners’ Anxiety and Building up Their Self-Confidence 79
2.7.3.3. Promoting Learners’ Autonomy 82
2.7.4. Encouraging Positive Self-Evaluation 83
2.7.4.1. Promoting Learners’ Motivational Attributions 83
2.7.4.2. Providing Learners with Motivational Feedback 85
2.7.4.3. Increasing Learners’ Satisfaction 86
2.8. Current Status of English in Iran 90
CHAPTER THREE- METHOD 92
3.1. Overview 93
3.2. Participants 93
3.3. Instruments 94
3.4. Design 95
3.5.Procedure 95
3.5.1.Piloting 95
3.5.2.Data collection 96
3.6. Data Analysis 97
CHAPTER FOUR- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 101
4.1. Overview 102
4.2. Research Question 1 102
4.2.1. Results 102
4.2.2. Discussions 109
4.3. Research Question 2 110
4.3.1. Results 110
4.3.2. Discussions 111
4.4. Research Question 3 112
4.4.1. Results 112
4.4.2. Discussions 114
4.5. Research Question 4 115
4.5.1. Results 115
4.5.2. Discussions 117
CHAPTER FIVE-CONCLUSION, PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 118
5.1. Overview 119
5.2. Conclusion 119
5.3.Pedagogical Implications 121
5.4.Suggestions for Further research 126
References 137
List of Appendixes
Appendix 1: English version of Frequency Questionnaires 127
Appendix 2: English version of Importance Questionnaires 130
Appendix 3: Farsi version of Frequency Questionnaires 133
Appendix 4: Farsi version of Importance Questionnaires 135
List of Tables
Table 3.1. Gender of Participants 93
Table 3.2. EFL Teaching Experience of Participants 93
Table 3.3. Importance and Frequency Survey Results: Descriptive Statistics and Rankings of Ten Macro-strategies and Related Strategies 99
Table 4.1. Importance Questionnaires Results: Descriptive Statistics and Rankings of Ten Macro-strategies and Related Strategies 103
Table 4.2. Comparison of the Final Rank Order of the Macro-strategies/scales Obtained in This Study and in Hungary (1998), Taiwan (2007) 110
Table 4.3. Frequency Questionnaires Results: Descriptive Statistics and Rankings of Ten Macro-strategies and Related Strategies 112
Table 4.4. Pearson Correlation Results between Overall Means of Motivational Strategies of the Importance and Frequency Questionnaires 115
Table 4.5. Pearson Correlation Results between Macro and Micro-strategies of the Importance and Frequency Questionnaires 116
List of Figures
Figure 2.1. Gardner’s (1985) Socio-Educational Model of Second Language Acquisition (Gardner, 1985, p.199) 15
Figure 2.2. Components of Gardner’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB) (Gardner, 1985, 144) 17
Figure 2.3. Tremblay and Gardner’s (1995) Model of L2 Motivation (cited in Dörnyei& Ushioda, 2011, p.48 19
Figure 2.4. Dörnyei’s (1994) Model of L2 Motivation (Dörnyei, 1994a, p.280) 24
Figure 2.5. Williams and Burden’s (1997) Framework of L2 Motivation (cited in Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p.54) 26
Figure 2.6. Schematic Representation of the Three Mechanisms Making up the Motivational Task- Processing System (cited in Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p.96) 28
Figure 2.7. Dörnyei and Ottó’s (1998) Process Model of L2 Motivation (Dörnyei and Ottó, 1998, p.48) 38
Figure 2.8. Gardner’s Conceptualisation of the Integrative Motivation (Gardner, 1986, p.87) 41
Figure 2.9. Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System (cited in Dörnyei & Usioda, 2011, p. 52) 52
Figure 2.10. The Components of Motivational L2 Teaching Practice (cited in Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p.108) 58
Figure 2.11. Knight’s (2006) Model of Teacher’s Credibility (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p.108) 61
List of Abbreviations
TEFL: Teaching English as a Foreign Language
ESL: English as a Second Language
EFL: English as a Foreign Language
SL: Second Language
FL: Foreign Language
L2: Second Language
SDT: Self-Determination Theory
AMTB: Attitude/Motivation Test Battery
ARCS: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction
CET: Cognitive Evaluation Theory
ESOL: English for Speakers of Other Languages
MOLT: Motivation Orientation of Language Teaching
COLT: Communication Orientation of Language Teaching
LSP: Language for Specific Purposes
NO: Number
M: Mean
SD: Standard Deviation
Diff: Difference
Corr.: Correlation
Sig.: Significance
CHAPTER ONE- INTRODUCTION
1.1. Overview
In the field of second or foreign language (L2) teaching and learning, motivation is a significant factor that leads to the language learners’ success or failure. Motivation is the most used concept for explaining the failure or success of a learner. Dörnyei (1998) claimed that motivation is a key to learning. It is an inner source, desire, emotion, reason, need, impulse or purpose that moves a person to a particular action. Motivation has been regarded as one of the main factors that influence the speed and amount of success of foreign language learners. This issue seems to be highly related to the educational context of Iran where it is seen that many Iranian learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) fail to reach at least an average level of proficiency in English. As Dörnyei (2001b) claims, motivation is not a concrete concept; it is an abstract and hypothetical concept that is used to explain why people think and behave in certain situations as they do.
Students’ lack of motivation in language leaning contexts is a major problem for language teachers. According to Dörnyei (as cited in Marie-Jose´ Guilloteaux, 2013), a lot of researchers have tried to help teachers find ways of motivating language learners. In spite of the studies which have been done in this regard, the cultural and ethno-linguistic differences in various contexts were one of the important motives of doing this research.
Accordingly, the aim of this research is to evaluate (a) the extent to which a list of motivational strategies derived from Western educational contexts are perceived as relevant by Iranian EFL teachers and (b) the cross-cultural validity of those motivational strategies. To this effect, the present study builds on Dörnyei and Csizér ’s (1998) initial investigation in Hungary and on its modified replication conducted in Taiwan(Cheng and Dörnyei, 2007) and strives to find out how the same concept functions in Iran.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
Regarding the complex nature of motivation and its remarkable influence in second and foreign (L2) language learning, there are a growing number of studies focusing on motivation and motivational strategies in language teaching and learning settings. Dörnyei (as cited in Marie-Jose´ Guilloteaux, 2013) believes that until the early 1990s, most of the researchers studied motivation from a social psychological perspective. Much of the research in this period has been initiated and inspired by two Canadian psychologists, Robert Gardner and Wallace Lambert, who, together with their colleagues and students, grounded motivation research in a social psychological framework. Gardner and his associates also established scientific research procedures and introduced standardized assessment techniques and instruments, thus setting high research standards and bringing L2 motivation research to development (Ellis, 2008). Although Gardner’s motivation construct did not go unchallenged over the years, it was not until the early 1990s that a marked shift in thought appeared in papers on L2 motivation as researchers tried to reopen the research agenda in order to shed new light on the subject. The main problem with Gardner’s social psychological approach appeared to be, ironically, that it was too influential. While acknowledging unanimously the fundamental importance of the Gardnerian social psychological model, researchers were also calling for a more pragmatic, education-centered approach to motivation research, which would be consistent with the perceptions of practicing teachers and which would also be in line with the current results of mainstream educational psychological research. It must be noted that Gardner’s motivation theory does include an educational dimension and that the motivation test he and his associates developed, the Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (AMTB), contains several items focusing on the learner’s evaluation of the classroom learning situation. However, the main emphasis in Gardner’s model and the way it has been typically understood is on general motivational components grounded in the social milieu rather than in the foreign language classroom. For example, the AMTB contains a section in which students’ attitudes toward the language teacher and the course are tested. This may be appropriate for measurement purposes, but the data from this section does not provide a detailed enough description of the classroom dimension to be helpful in generating practical guidelines. Finally, Gardner’s motivation construct does not include details on cognitive aspects of motivation to learn, whereas this is the direction in which educational psychological research on motivation has been moving during the last fifteen years.
Gardner’s social psychological approach has never clearly approached the classroom implications of motivation theory and it did not help language teachers in promoting their teaching practice. However around the 1990s, second and foreign language motivation research has seen an explosion of interest and the researchers have studied motivation from a more education-based perspective. In this period the authors’ attention were shifted to cognitive-situated view of motivation and situation-specific factors like learning and teaching situation were given more attention (Ellis, 2008). Authors like Dörnyei (2001a) gave prominence to more process-oriented view of motivation with an emphasis on dynamic nature of motivation and its temporal variation. Recently, some nearly similar studies on motivational strategies have been carried out by some authors like Dörnyei and Csizér ’s (1998) in Hungary, Cheng and Dörnyei (2007) in Taiwan, Hsu (2008) in Taiwan, Kassing (2011) in Indonesia, Gilloteaux and Dörnyei (2010) in South Korea, and Alrabai (2011) in Saudi-Arabia. Thus, the similarities and differences in the use of motivational strategies by English teachers in different educational contexts have been identified. Similar to the aforementioned studies, in the present study, it has been attempted to identify the top 10 strategies that Iranian EFL teachers perceive as the most important for promoting students’ L2 motivation in the language classroom. By comparing the results of this study with others conducted in different educational setting in different countries, we can recognize the motivational strategies which are culture dependent or vise-versa. In addition, we want to design practical techniques for educators and teachers of English in Iran that can be used to effectively implement motivational strategies in the L2 classroom. And again this study wants to identify the proportion with which Iranian English teachers perceive the list of motivational strategies important for language classes or the proportion with which they use these strategies in their actual language teaching situations. By making a complete list of motivational strategies that are more useful and practical in EFL context of Iran, the English teachers can make use of them for finding ways of eliciting, enhancing, and sustaining students’ motivation.
As mentioned earlier, Dörnyei and Cheng (2007) carried out a research to identify the use of motivational strategies among Taiwanese English teachers. They explored the frequency and the importance of the strategies used by Taiwanese English teachers. They compared these results with the findings of the nearly identical study conducted by Dörnyei and Csizér (1998) in Hungry. Similar to the aforementioned studies in Hungary and Taiwan, the current study is based on Dörnyei’s (2001b) framework of motivational teaching practice in the L2 classroom, which was based on the process-oriented model by Dörnyei and Otto (1998). Therefore, the frequency and the importance of the use of motivational strategies among Iranian EFL teachers will be studied to reveal the similarities and differences between Iranian teachers’ ratings of motivational scales and the other countries’. Whether unique cultures of different countries can influence the teachers’ ratings or strategy use or not? Which strategies are culture-specific or culture-dependent?
