MLL Motivating Language Learners’ ProjectUniversity of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

Changes in Perceptions: Motivation, Teaching Styles, Engagement Maya Sugita and Kim Noels

Department of Psychology , University of Alberta

Sleep Quality Results

CONCLUSIONS

• Independence from parental care was associated with poorer sleep (living away, financial stress)• Influences of stress and negative affect on sleep quantity and quality may indicate difficulties with first-year adaptation• Socializing with friends during first year may have positive influences on sleep

CONCLUSIONS

Motivation and Engagement Language teachers are eager to find ways to increase the quantity and quality of students’ engagement in language learning activities. Motivational instruction for promoting students’ engagement is important for many reasons. Increased students’ engagement is associated with both better academic activities, greater involvement and communication with the target language community. One way of getting practical information about how to motivate language learner is to investigate what they are actually motivated by during the classes.

Purposes:The present study aimed to explore the changes in perceptions among university students in terms of : 1) language learning engagement; 2) teachers’ teaching styles based on three psychological needs of Self-Determination Theory and; 3) motivational factors.

MethodParticipants: The 141 students who were enrolled in a foreign language course were recruited to participate in the two questionnaire sessions conducted in mid semester (November 2010), and the end of semester (December 2010). these students were predominately female (70.2%), first-year students (62.4%), born in Canada (86.5%) who identified English as their native language (87.2%).

Design: The data were collected with a longitudinal design in which these participants completed two questionnaire sessions. An open-ended questionnaire was employed to capture motivational factors; student’s perceptions about teachers’ style of teaching; and student’s learning engagement.

Instrument: Open-ended Questionnaire (Q1) is about language learning engagement in the past week, specifically in terms of their feelings, perceived amount of learning, and any noteworthy occurrences.(Q2) is about their teachers’ teaching styles, and the aspects of this instruction which influenced their motivation in the prior week. (Q3) is about other motivational factors from classmate, the classroom environment, and any self-motivating strategy they might have used, as well as anything else that brought them enjoyment or made them work hard.

Results1) Language Learning Engagement

2) Teachers’ Teaching Styles

3) Other Motivational Factors

Major results obtained from coding analysis were: 1) five categories were found for language learning engagement; behavioral engagement (‘stay engaged for success’) was the largest category; 2) four categories were found for teachers’ teaching styles; competence supports (informative feedback) were recognized as the most salient teaching styles; and 3) seven categories were found for motivational factors; among them, classroom interaction and self-regulation were the strongest motivational factors. These categories did not show changes between the first and second session. Based on the participant responses, a key way to keep students emotionally and behaviourally engaged is to provide constructive feedback so that students can measure their progress, to facilitate peer interaction, to create a comfortable classroom environment, and to make them self-regulated.

Conclusion

In-class Factors: Classroom Environment- “The classroom has a great environment! What I like is that our teacher often wants us to talk to our peers in the language, so we all know each other pretty well. We’re all a friendly bunch and we can talk to each other with comfort” Teaching Style- “I feel that the instructor is really excited to teach the course and has a positive and knowledgeable outlook on the course, which makes me more inclined to listen and really work hard for the class and [get] a good grade, because I am now more interested than before taking the class. Peer Interaction- “I have a few of my friends in the class which seem to help me learn and it helps me get better grades because I can compete with them.” Out-Class Factors: Communication with Native Speakers- “The fact that mother’s side is [second-language culture] makes me motivated to learn the language. I would like to speak fluently with my family in [culture] and also [my grandparents] that live there” Media and Culture- I love anime, J-pop, and modern [Asian culture] a lot- for a long-time I think that ‘that’ has helped motivate me into learning the language. Learning the language will only help me to appreciate the [Asian] culture” Self: Self-Regulation- “Thinking about how this language could come in handy in the future and feeling of accomplishment helps motivate myself to learn the language” Intrinsic Motivation- “I still really do enjoy learning the language and will continue to learn the language for as long as I can”

Background and Study

Competence Support: “[The teacher] made very clear notes and explained a topic in depth in English to [ensure] that we all understood. I felt motivated afterwards as the topic was not as difficult anymore” “My instructor plays games with us to help us understand the concept and new vocabs which makes me more motivated to learn about the subject for fun” Relatedness Support: “My prof always encourages everyone to participate. I feel that [he/she] cares about my progress with the language.” “My professor always brings patience, encouragement and humor to class. I am so grateful to [him/her] for all the time [he/she] takes with us individually and as a group to make our experience fun” Autonomy Support VS Controlling: “During review [he/she] has been particularly receptive to what the class needs to work on” “[The instructor is] strict and stern and I feel pressure to perform in a high manner” Integrative (Cultural) Support: “[He/She] told us some common [second-language] culture jokes and personal stories that helped connect us with the language we are learning. “[He/She] often tells us stories about experiences growing up in [second-language culture]. The stories make me really excited for being able to live in [second-language country] and be part of that entirely different culture. All [his/her] insights on names and culture-language connections always make me really stoked”.

Behavioral Engagement: “ [I have been] paying attention in class and attempting to complete my homework on time” “I’m looking forward to completing the second paper in order to show my work in this area” Emotional Engagement: “I feel great and joyful in learning [the] new language” “We had to read a pretty challenging text and I felt motivated to understand it because the content was interesting” Behavioral Disengagement: “ I have a tendency to give up listening in class” “I make a habit of leaving [language] homework to the last minute before its due” Emotional Disengagement: “I feel like I don’t learn anything in class and that it is a waste of my time” “ I have felt distracted and antsy in my language classes lately” Competing Demands: “I had a midterm in another class this week so I didn’t focus on [the language] class” “I wasn’t very engaged [this week] because I had a lot of other things to deal with”