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[John Hall]

I just finished talking to an EFL professor who described his approach to teaching his university class as "purely motivational." In other words, in every class he works first and foremost on the students' motivation. Every activity he does in class is designed to improve that motivation. It is an intensive four-skills class of about 20 students that he teaches, but he says that he spends most of his time working on getting the students--sometimes on a one-to-one basis--to lose their fear of speaking in English.

I wonder how many of us use an approach like this. Or do most of us concern ourselves with abstract explanations of the concepts behind the meaning of the present perfect tense, and that sort of thing? As an English teacher, to what extent do you see yourself as a motivator? Do you address personal issues, such as the fear of speaking in public, the fear of making a mistake, the students' "language ego" (does the student believe that he or she can become proficient in English?), or the students' awkwardness or uneasiness with English language cultures?

[spiral78]

Interesting question!

Obviously students who feel safe enough in a classroom environment to speak freely will probably develop their English skills faster. In my opinion, a part of our work is to set up conditions that contribute to a comfortable, co-operative atmosphere, so that students will feel safe enough to take linguistic risks.

But I don't think we can teach motivation, particularly not on a one-to-one basis. A classroom's not made up of student + teacher, it's student+student+student X however many students, + teacher. To me, it's almost more important that they feel comfortable speaking English with each other - they're going to have far more talking time in this mode than one to one with me, in real terms.

In fact, I'd be leery of singling out a student for this kind of 'counseling,' not to make him/her feel self-conscious.

I just finished a pilot intensive course for mixed-level adult learners a couple of months ago. It's only two weeks, so it was really important to get them started talking right away, on day one. The first task was to stand and introduce yourself to all the other students in the room (standing, moving around, and talking to everybody right away 'breaks' the traditional rules of classrooms). Then I asked them to plan to introduce someone else to the whole class. That's where I thought they'd start to freak - it's scary to speak to the whole class, especially so early in a course. So I let them choose what turns they wanted to take, meaning the more confident ones went first, providing models for less confident/weaker students. All feedback was positive, and if there were any questions about an intro, I referred them to the student being introduced, not the speaker, so nobody got stuck trying to produce info they might not have.

The rest of the day continued in small group and pair mode, and by day 2 every student opted to be videotaped as a part of an instruction-giving task.

I give most credit to the students themselves - they were great, really highly motivated long before I ever met them, but the did say that setting the class mode right away gave them more confidence to speak.

[johnnyappleseed]

[tedkarma]

To me, it is all about motivation - and I certainly see myself as a motivation-focused instructor.

While reducing the student's anxiety about speaking is certainly a primary task, I think it is also important to let students know WHY they need to learn to do this, WHEN they might need to use it - and with WHOM.

I almost never teach straight grammar, but tend focus on functions. Certainly with occupational English it makes much more sense, but can also be applied in a regular university or language school settings just as well.

The use of functions, to me, greatly increases motivation as students at least have some idea why they might need to use the language (some day . . .).

And - lessons do need to be set up for student success. That doesn't mean we lower the bar - but it does mean that it needs to be realistic.

[johnnyappleseed]

I agree, but maybe it's just a matter of semantics, but to me that's what teaching grammar is.

I like how you put it!
Show them how to do it, why, when and with whom!! Then get them to practice

I'm not teaching a class of linguistics, I'm trying to get them speaking so they can use their skills in the real world.

[tedkarma]

[johnnyappleseed]

I see. That's not exactly what I had in mind, but I don't disagree. I certainly think that those functional skills should be included in general course.

[John Hall]

[nickpellatt]

Im a new teacher, and employed in China as an oral teacher...this of course means I dont have to worry so much about the grammar side of things.

For anyone in my shoes....encouraging the students to speak is a difficult task...and whilst I do see myself as a motivator outside the classroom with the keener students, its much harder to succesfully transfer these skills to an entire class of mixed ability and confidence, so I hope this thread continues and some more ideas get added for us newbies...especially as there may be some more new FTs starting in the new term.

I do agree with the comments about making the lesson easy enough...I try to plan activities for the lower end of ability, but leave enough scope and freedom for the brighhter students to do more..

Any more ideas for classroom motivation much appreciated though!

[tedkarma]

[rusmeister]

I agree with Ted that motivation is key. Also that functions are important, but would say that grammar is, too (bucking a modern trend to eliminate grammar) - my courses revolve around 50% grammar (theory) and 50% functions (practice). 1st year students get a heavy dose of phonetics as well.

But their motivation is key. A key to that key is to have the students constantly experience success. You have to give them something they can 'win' at and let them see themselves win. That's probably why, John, your results went down.

For example, if you are teaching beginners how questions are formed, you provide a table showing question word order, explain it, provide examples, have them (orally or in writing) fill in blanks, and
then give them simple questions in L1 to translate. Once they get the mathematical nature of question word order and start doing it themselves, they light up!

Point is, at every step, they need to be successful. When they get more stuff thrown at them than they can handle, they will start dropping out.

[Kent F. Kruhoeffer]

^ well said Rooskimeister. привет

[tedkarma]

[Sherri]

Motivation from teachers is what separates a language class and self-study. The adult students that I have taught could probably study English by themselves, the reason they pay money and attend a class is to be motivated, by the teacher and by the other students.

I observed a teacher not too long ago who was having a lot of complaints from students. I found (among other things) that he didn't praise or give feedback to his students once in his 90 minute lesson. The students worked hard and did a great job, but it was never acknowledged and they left the class feeling deflated.

A former student who recently graduated from our college with an AA degree told me, "I will never forgot what you told us on our first day of class." I couldn't remember. She said, you told us to push ourselves and not to give up. Whenever I got tired of studying or felt I had reached my limit, I remembered that and it helped to motivate me.

Students have to feel that they are making progress. That is why they will return to the class day after day or re-enroll when the time comes--their teacher motivated them.

[Glenski]

John Hall wrote: