the enhancement of intrinsic motivation and willingness to communicate ... · motivation and...

THE ENHANCEMENT OF INTRINSIC

MOTIVATION AND WILLINGNESS TO

COMMUNICATE THROUGH A MUSICAL

PROJECT IN YOUNG JAPANESE EFL LEARNERS

American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL)

Denver, Colorado

March 21-24, 2009

Rieko NISHIDA

Graduate School, Kansai University

Dr.Tomoko YASHIMA

Kansai University

TOPICS

Young learners context in Japan

Literature Review

Present Research

Making the Musical: Video

Quantitative Analysis: t-tests and SEM

Qualitative Analysis: video observations,

ethnographical notes and parental comments

Discussion

Introduction: EFL at Public Elementary

Schools in Japan

In January 2008, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,Science and Technology (MEXT) announced a neweducational guideline, according to which foreignlanguage (FL) activity in public elementary schools inJapan was introduced.

The main purpose of this activity is to lay the basis ofcommunication ability by enhancing students’understandings of language and culture, foster a positiveattitude toward communication, make students familiarwith phonetic sound and basic expression, and enhancethe perception of foreign language activity as enjoyable.

Introduction: EFL at Public Elementary

School in Japan

The empirical research concerning young learners in a FL

context in Japan is scarce, as most of the studies on second-

language (L2) learning targeted to adolescents and adults.

Individual differences in L2 learning, the content of English

activities and language accomplishment need to be examined

because they provide better understanding of young learners

in an FL context and promise benefits for teaching practice.

Theoretical Backgrounds:

Self-Determination Theory (SDT)

The self-determination theory (SDT) focuses on intrinsic and

extrinsic motivation and was conceptualized by Deci and

Ryan (1985, 2002).

Deci and Ryan (2000) discuss the SDT concepts of

psychological needs: needs for autonomy, competence

and relatedness. Intrinsic motivation is enhanced when

these three psychological needs are fulfilled.

Theoretical Backgrounds:

Willingness to Communicate

• In recent years, WTC, defined as “the intention to initiate

communicate, given a choice” (MacIntyre et al, 2001,

p.369), was added to affective variables concerning L2.

• The WTC model proposed by MacIntyre el al. (1998)

postulates that individual differences variables including

WTC and motivation as well as intergroup and situational

variables influence individuals tendency to use an L2.

Previous Research

employing SDT in Japan

• In the Japanese context, several studies targeting adultsand adolescents have applied SDT (e.g. Hiromori, 2003,2004, 2006; Hayashi, 2005; Tanaka and Hiromori,2007).

• Hiromori and Tanaka (2006) examined whether the threepsychological needs (for competence, relatedness andautonomy) could be enhanced by instrumentalintervention. “A task-based activity called GroupPresentation Activity” (Hiromori and Tanaka, 2006,p.111) was considered to potentially fulfill the threepsychological needs. These researchers argued that agroup presentation activity did enhance fulfillment ofstudents’ three psychological needs as well as theirintrinsic motivation.

Objectives of this study

• The objectives of the present study were two-fold:

(1) to investigate how young EFL learners who

participate in a musical project increase their

intrinsic motivation through the enhancement of the

three psychological needs and WTC;

(2) to understand how interactions among teachers

and students in a classroom situation change over

time.

The Study Context:

Curricula

For the third- to the sixth-graders, between 9 and 12

years old, the contents included animals, countries of the

world, school, and what you can do (abilities).

During the 2007 school year, around May, and the

musical project was suggested for the fifth graders

because these students love to sing songs and play roles

in front of their parents.

The Study Context:

Teachers

A home room teacher (HRT) is allocated in every home

room, and they teach most subjects and are responsible

for daily duties.

Assistant language teachers (ALTs), who are native

speakers of English, assist teaching language in schools

including elementary, junior high and high schools.

Japanese teachers of English (JTE) are language

specialists who are employed by the city.

The HRT and JTE were team-teaching in this project.

The Musical Project

• The fifth graders had the special musical script that

consisted of 8 scenes with dialogues and 4 advanced

songs in English based on a famous American movie.

Hours of English Lessons for

the Musical ProjectTable1: Timeline until the Musical Presentation (Parents Day)

Day1 September 11, 2007

Day2 October 9, 2007


Day4 November 26, 2007 N/A

Day5 December 13, 2007 N/A

Day6 January 18, 2008


*Note 1) A musical script consisted of 8 scenes

*Note 2) Students were learning 4 advanced songs

Day8 February 6, 2008 (2 hours of practices)


Day10 February 12 2008 (2 hours of practices)


Day12 February 14, 2008 (2 hours of rehearsal) In the morning: Rehearsal

In the afternoon: Parents' Day

four songs

four songs

ScenesDates

the scenes 3, 7

the scenes 3, 7

the scenes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

the scenes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

the scenes 1, 2

Phase 1: Classroom Practice (7 hours)

HRTs discussed and the scenes were decided for each class. So each class only practiced scenes.

Songs

one song

one song

Phase 2: Practice at Gym (11 hours)

Practiced 4 songs and movements in the scene

Parents' Day

Contents of Practice

Dates Contents of Practice

one song

three songs

three songs

All 4 classes practiced together

Investigation 1: Quantitative Analysis

Participants

One hundred sixteen students, including 54 boys and

62 girls, participated in the study. (One hundred and

twenty six students, including 59 boys and 67 girls,

between 10 and 11 years old, were to participate in

this study originally, but the number was reduced by

ten students due to absences.)

In previous years, students’ exposure to English lessons

was rather limited: twice in the third grade and seven

times in the fourth grade. Before commencing the

musical project between April 2007 and July 2007,

students received 5 English lessons.

Investigation 1: Procedure

A questionnaire was distributed to the students in

September 2007, right before commencement of the

project, and in February 2008, right after

completion of the project.

Investigation 1: Materials

Self-determination theory： psychological needs. Fifteen items related to threepsychological needs (for autonomy, competency and relatedness) based on SDTwere taken from Hiromori and Tanaka (2006).

Intrinsic Motivation. Three items representing intrinsic motivation were adapted fromNishida (2007), and Tanaka and Hiromori (2006).

WTC. The current study referred to the WTC scale in Yashima (2002).

Open-ended questions. An open-ended question was included in the post-test,indicated by the words “if you have a comment, please write it down”.

• Cronbach’s alpha were between .77-.92. All wordings were changedbecause it was difficult for students to read and understand so they were modified by the researcher and confirmed by the city board of education, the school principle and homeroom teachers.

Investigation 1: Analysis and Results

Graph1: Mean scores of motivation, autonomy, competency, relatedness and WTC

at pre-tests and post-tests

Investigation 1:Results

Table 1:Mean, standard deviation, the results of paired t-tests

Pre-tests Post-tests Variation t p Eta squared

Motivation 3.203 3.316 0.113 -1.103 0.272 0.010

(0.989) (0.994)

Autonomy 2.608 2.956 0.348 -3.938 0.001 0.119

(0.887) (0.938)

Competency 2.796 3.078 0.282 -3.029 0.003 0.074

(0.851) (0.929)

Relatedness 3.188 3.200 0.012 -0.144 0.886 0.000

(0.829) (0.726)

WTC 3.465 3.822 0.357 -2.203 0.030 0.041

(1.123) (1.196)

Note: 1) p* :Bonferroni adjustment was applied to determine the α level.

2) Missing data was controlled by listwise deletion

M (SD) t test

Investigation1: Results

• As you can see in Graph 1 and Table 1 in previous

PPTs, although relatedness did not show any

increase, the other variables showed a significant

increase in the post-test. In particular, students’

competence and autonomy showed a significant

increase in the post-test, while WTC showed a

tendency to increase, although it did not reach a

significant level after Bonferroni’s adjustment.

Investigation 1:

Structural Equation Modeling

**<.001

*<.01

Chi squared=177.460, df=98, GFI=.831, CFI=.913, RMSEA=.084

AU=autonomy, CO=competency, RE=relatedness, MO=motivation

Autonomy

Competency

Relatedness

Motivation

WTC

MO1 MO2 MO3

AT1 AT2 AT3 AT4

CO1

CO2

CO3

CO4

RE1 RE2 RE3 RE4

.45**

.41**

.09

.59**

.58**

.70**

.16

.75**

.79**

.74**

.82**

.89**.57** .59**

.79**

.91** .84** .78**

.68**.65** .76** .65**

Investigation1: Result

• As a result of SEM in the post-test analysis, the paths from

autonomy and competency to intrinsic motivation were fairly

strong. This means that students who were higher in competency

and autonomy were also high in intrinsic motivation.

• Regarding relatedness, the path from relatedness to

intrinsic motivation was not significant.

Investigation 2:Qualitative Analysis

Video-recording Participants

Procedures1: Video-recording

Classroom interaction was video-recorded on the

following dates.

Total Boys Girls

32 15 17

Dates

Day1 September11, 2007



Day4 November 13, 2007

Day5 December 13, 2007



Investigation 2: Qualitative StudyEthnographical Notes and Questions to the Parents

Procedures2: Ethnographical Notes

Between September 2007 and February 2008, JTEs’ethnographical notes were obtained. These ethnographicnotes based on seven days of classroom exercises andfive days of practices at the gym. The JTEs, in particularan assistant JTE, described students’ activities in detailand also recorded information gained from teachers.

Prodecures3: Questions to the Parents

After the musical day, some questions were asked ofstudents’ parents, including “Did you see your son and/ordaughter practice the music at home?” A total of 111parents responded to this question.

Investigation2:Video-recording

All classroom exercises were video-recorded, and the

data were transcribed into a written format from

original video recordings. How the teachers and

students interacted in the classroom discourse was

open-coded and closely examined. The data were

organized into some units of ideas from the

preliminary codes and similar ideas were grouped

together and abstracted into higher-order categories

that represent interactional patterns.

Investigation 2: ResultsMajor Teacher-Student Interactional Patterns Observed

Modeling and Repetition Pair: Teachers modeled and students repeated until the

students were able to say and/or sing by themselves

Group-Focused Scaffoldings (Teacher Scaffolding): When students had enough

modeling-repetition, teachers tried to ask if class as a whole had some questions, and if

students had questions, teachers explained, translated and instructed using both

Japanese and English for the class as necessary.

Individual Focused Scaffolding Episode (Scaffolding Episode): Teachers provided the

necessary scaffoldings to individual students to say the word and/or sentences. For

example, they stood behind students to whisper dialogs so that students were able to

say the words and sentences.

Praise: Teachers provided positive feedback to students during the classroom exercises

when students were able to say the words, sentences and/or songs.

Language Achievement: Students were able to say the words, sentences and/or songs

without teacher scaffoldings.

Investigation 2: Results

This Table describes how teacher-students’ interactional patterns changedbetween Day 1 and Day 7. All teacher-students’ interactional patterns werecounted and described in percentages, and all patterns in a day weresummated as a total of 100 %


Video Analysis

On Days between Day 1 and Day 5, over 30 % of

classroom exercises were modeling and repetition as

teachers provided a great amount of modeling and

repetition and scaffolding.

On Day 6 and 7, a larger amount of language

achievement was observed, as students learned to

produce words and/or dialogues by themselves.


Video Analysis

A schematic diagram to show how the teacher-student interactional patterns

develop in classroom practices.


Video Analysis

Although emphasis of the practice change depending on the

phase of practice, consistent classroom practice cycles were

observed as shown in the diagram. In every lesson, teachers and

young learners in an FL context undergo this process, and

eventually students learn to produce targeted words and

sentences. When new linguistic materials and challenging tasks

are introduced to students, a new cycle begins. This cycle was

observed in everyday lessons.


Ethnographical Notes

January 18, 2008

According to HRTs, students are excited to perform their own musical as the

day of the performance approaches (February 14, 2008).

February 6, 2008

At the gym, students sang very well from the beginning, and their voices were

very strong and nice. Students seemed to immerse themselves in the world of

songs and the place of the musical.

Investigation 2: Qualitative Study

Results: Questions to the Parents

75%

25%

Did you see your son and/or daughter practice the music at

home?

YES

NO

“I heard my son singing when he was taking a bath and right before he was going to bed”.

“I was in tears. I was so moved.”

Parents said..

“I wondered what sort of charm he was telling his brothers, now I know!”.

Conclusion

• Firstly, the musical project was successfully conducted with thefifth graders who had had little exposure to English.

• Their perceived competence and autonomy showed asignificant increase in the post-test.

• The results of structural equation modeling indicated thatstudents who perceive their competency and autonomyhigher, also had higher intrinsic motivation.

• With the successful conclusion of the musical project, childrenfelt they were more autonomous and competent which,according to SDT, leads to the enhancement of intrinsicmotivation.

• How their autonomy and competence developed wasrevealed in the qualitative study.

Conclusion

• Qualitative data interactional patterns in a classroom setting andstudents’ change outside the classroom. The changes in interactionalpatterns including modeling-repetition, teacher scaffolding, praise,scaffolding episodes, and language achievement were revealed.The sequences shown in the schematic diagram indicate howteacher-learner interactions helped students be able to saysentences and sing songs, and this probably enhanced learners’sense of competency as they went through the practice sessions.

• At a final stage, teachers didn’t help students as much as they did inan earlier stage but only assisted when they needed help. In otherwords, the scaffolding was gradually lifted as students learned toperform independently. This probably helped them develop theirsense of autonomy.

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Correlation Matrix

Correlation Matrix for Pre-test Correlation Matrix for Post-test

Motivation Autonomy Competency Relatedness Motivation Autonomy Competency Relatedness

Autonomy 0.699** Autonomy 0.633**

Competency 0.738** 0.762** Competency 0.635** 0.541**

Relatedness 0.467** 0.537** 0.503** Relatedness 0.570** 0.548* 0.649**

WTC 0.219* 0.321** 0.323** 0.407** WTC 0.112 0.261** 0.244** 0.209*

**<.001, *<.01 N=115 **<.001, *<.01 N=116

Missing data was controlled by listwise deletion. Missing data was controlled by listwise deletion.

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