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Motivation in the classroomMost people would agree that motivation is a crucial factor and component of learning and developing any new skill whether it is a new job, new knowledge, or a physical skill set. A coach of a sports team is expected to research and utilize effective ways to motivate his team to achieve maximum performance. Learning a foreign language is no different and should be analyzed accordingly by teachers and educators in all countries. There are a variety of ways to motivate people with some being more effective than others. Understanding the differences in motivational tactics and obtaining knowledge of why certain techniques may be more appropriate than others in a particular circumstance is critical for teachers to understand if they are to get the most out of their students.
There are clearly multiple strategies to motivate people to do something, and we will exam 3 of the primary ways in this paper. The first of which is through power and punishment. For example, a teacher may be able to control to an extent by threatening to give them lower marks, call their parents, or remove them from class among other tactics. While this tactic can be effective and certainly has its place, it may only motivate students to a certain extent. Teachers can certainly utilize the threat of consequences and in many cases should, but relying solely on threats and punishment can lead to students only learning the material to avoid a bad mark in the short term and not actually retaining the information.
The second primary way to motivate students is through reward, which can often overlap with the punishment method. Teachers can offer students rewards in the form of higher marks, general praise, and even external rewards such as field trips. Rewards can also be an effective way of motivating students and may certainly drive some students to learn the material. However, this may vary from student to student as some students will care more about these rewards than others. A teacher can?t solely rely on this tactic because if the rewards do not appeal to a particular student the teacher risks losing them in the classroom all together.
The third primary way to achieve results from students is to provide real world motivation. To give the students a personal motivation that will carry over and drive them regardless of external motivations (punishments and rewards). If students have internal motivation their overall drive to not only learn, but retain, English will increase exponentially. In some cases students may already have this internal motivation, but in many cases a teacher should help students to achieve this motivation by showing them the importance of improving their English. This can be done by relating English to their current life and future life such as potential university placement, career choices, ability to travel and many others.
Overall, a blend of external and internal motivations is ideal for teachers to motivate their students. However, internal motivators are the key to success as they are permanent drivers and will last even after the class has ended. A successful teacher will find ways to convey the importance of internal motivators and foster them within the classroom and students.
? Alison, J. 1993. Not bothered? Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4: London: CILT.
? Argyle, M. 1969. Social Interaction. London: Tavistock Press.
? Chambers, G. N. 1999. Motivating language learners. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
