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Date Posted: 11:17:39 10/16/05 Sun
Author: Angela T C Santos
Subject: Final Draft - Motivation and English Leaning in Regular schools

Motivation and English Learning in Regular Schools

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going”
Jim Ryun

In most private and public Brazilian schools, the English language is a mandatory subject. Some children start studying the language in the first grade and have it up to high school. However, if one of those students needs to use the language in pratical terms such as listening to songs, watching movies or even ordering food, he or she is not able to. Eventually, this failure leads to serious disciplinary classroom problems, which occur mainly due to lack of students` willingness to learn. In other words, most students do not learn the language specially because they are not motivated. Therefore, teachers have to face great attitude problems.

According to Brown (1994), when the learner is intrinsically motivated, he/she is concerned with his/her personal satisfaction, which may lead to internal positive reward feelings. Opposingly, extrinsically motivated students look for outside rewards, such as prizes, grades or positive feedback (p. 164). Intrinsic motivation is the best atttitude towards learning. If the learner is not worried about just the grade but also cares for the learning process itself, then he becomes more autonomous and can aquire more knoledge.

In a general sense, motivation is a strong influential factor in the cognition process. When the learner is intrinsically involved and driven to learning a second language, the chances of success is higher. The opposite is also true, low motivated students have immense trouble learning another language.

Students are not so enthusiastic about acquiring another language due to a belief regarding the impossibility of learning English at school. In fact, a great number of students and parents prefer to look for Language Institutes in order to learn the language, rather than demanding for effective teaching and learning. As students do not believe they are able to learn, boredom in the classroom is inevitable. Once there is no stimuli or motive to learn, learning instead of being a rewarding experience, becomes only a way of achieving a
compulsory school requirement.

Such disruptive belief can lead to misbehavior in the classroom, high anxiety as well as low self-confidence. Those negative affective states may interfere in students` learning process, limiting their development and performance. According to Ellis (1985), “Learners with high motivation and self confidence, and with low anxiety have low filters and so obtain and let in plenty of input”(p.263). Indeed, the more motivated students are, the more cooperatively they become towards learning.

However, beliefs can be confronted and changed. The teacher’s role in arousing students’ motivation is extremely relevant. The teacher is the one who guides, coordinates, evaluates, implements and facilitates learning. She/he is equipped with tools, which are capable to turn the classes into lively and fresh learning opportunities.

For instance, teachers can give students positive support in order to help him/her build a strong self confidence. It is very hard to learn something once one does not believe she/he can do it (Brown, 1994). So through constant feedback students are able to percieve the progress they are making and try to overcome their difficulties.

Another step a teacher should take in order to influence students’ attitudes and motivation is to have well prepared classes. That involves clear goals, organized and sequenced procedures, contextualization, effective group arrangement and oriented feedback.

Therefore, classes should be developed in a way, which the four abilities (speaking, writing, listening, reading) are dealt with. Students should be able to see the language as a whole. In order to provide that, a variety of activities and tasks are to be proposed, such as role-plays, listening and comprehension exercises, vocabulary practice and grammar and writing exercises. In addition, the use of mother tongue should be avoided as much as possible. The more input students get, the better. Teacher talking time cannot be very high, it of course will depend on the group level, and the instructions have to be clear and objective so that behavior problems are avoided.

Once the students are involved in their learning process, accomplish the tasks proposed and succeed in language performance, they will realize it is possible to learn in school. Consequently, they will be motivated and willing to learn more.

Lack of motivation in schools seems to be the key factor, which determines bad behavior in the classroom leading to failure in successful learning. Nevertheless, professional, competent and committed teachers can change this reality and make the difference in such educational setting.


Angela T C Santos

References

BROWN, H. Douglas (1994). Teaching by Principles, an interactive approach to language pedagogy. New Jersey, Prentice Hall Regents.

BROWN, H. Douglas (2001). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. New York, Longman.

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