Centre Genuine TEFL

Motivation in classroomThe article I have chosen for my independent research would be motivation in classroom. I believe motivation is a crucial factor in learning a language as I'm sure most teachers would agree with me. The main reason I'm coming to this point of view is that most of our students have low motivation to learn English, while most of them have a vague sense that whether "English will be useful for my future" or not, they don't have a clear idea of what that means, nor is that a very strong motivator. The word "motivation" means arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behaviour. It is often used to describe certain sorts of behaviour. A student who studies hard and tries for top grades may be described as being "highly motivated", while his/her friend may say that he is "finding it hard to get motivated". Such statements imply that motivation has a major influence on our behaviour. There are several ways and techniques that we as teachers can use to motivate students in the classroom. I personally think that these methods would help to encourage and stimulate their motivation towards learning English. ? Pair work or Group work A teacher needs to be resourceful and skilful; to motivate their students to participate in the lesson is to use ?pair work? or ?group work? appropriately. Language is best learned through the close collaboration and communication among students. students can help each other while working on different types of tasks such as writing dialogues, interviews, drawing pictures and making comments about them, play roles, games, discussion, etc... students have differences in mastering skills. While one student is good in drawing, another can be good in expressing ideas verbally; a third student can be good at role play and imitation. Some students find it less stressful, and comfortable to learn certain rules or usages of language from their peers and comrades than from their teacher. ? The seating of the students The way the students are seated in the classroom will often determine the dynamics of the lesson. A simple change in the seating pattern can make an incredible difference to group coherence and student satisfaction. I?ve seen many other cases where seating has been a crucial element in the success or failure of the lesson. Teachers have different preferences for seating arrangements. Average size classes could be anything from 10 to 35 students. Group seated in round small table is one choice, for larger classes. When dealing with smaller group, adults or teenagers, I think a horseshoe shape will be the most appropriate. There are many advantages associated in this method. Whatever the seating method we choose or impose on a class, the class will be more successful if we maximise eye contact with the students, to ensure they are seated in a comfortable distance from each other and how well we organise in changing partners or groups. ? The Error Correction There is frequently asked question of how teachers correct student?s errors. We as teachers should not over do it until there are no room for errors. There are chances that students will be afraid to make mistakes and they will be reluctant to participate in the lesson or an activity. Teachers should be aware of when to correct errors and how to do that without any hurt or humiliation. Certain errors must be dealt immediately especially when students make them unconsciously, whenever there is a gap of communication and when students misunderstand or misinterpret an idea expressed. Other than that all the rest of the errors can be dealt through student correction themselves, peer correction and finally the teacher?s correction. ? Role play Many teachers use a role play activity in a lesson to motivate their students and to help the less motivated students to take part in the lesson. We can find many role play activities in the book, on the internet, or use our own imagination to invent a new role play. It is important to keep this very exciting and interesting as possible. Role plays generates interest and stimulate positive energy in a student to be adventurous. Examples of role play can be in a method of guessing game, drama between customer and shop assistant, doctor and a patient, an interviewer and interviewee and so forth. ? Using realia, flash cards, Stories and songs in teaching Realia and flash cards are considered as important tools in teaching especially in a foreign language, since they play the role of a facilitator in teaching new vocabularies such as fruits, vegetables, clothes items, etc? Realia is an authentic material that helps the teacher to overcome classroom artificiality. Creating stories or continuing a story is a good way to motivate students. They could develop their speaking and writing skills. They could also create stories using their personal experiences or imagination. This helps a teacher to check on students? fluency and their accuracy. Many teachers prefer to use songs to teach grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and community building. These days? students are all exposed to music and therefore to capture their attention we could use songs in our lesson. This is a productive way in teaching English. ? Using audio visual material: cassette player, video, computer? Schools are equipped with various audio visual materials such as cassette recorders, videos, computers, projectors, magic boards and many others; teachers should use these materials when teaching. Teacher should include the appropriate material to use while planning their lessons. For instance, we should include a cassette player in a lesson based on listening, while we need could use a computer in any e-lesson or a lesson about designing a website. We can use an overhead projector in presenting writing drafts for classroom correction or to read. ? Using the L1 in the EFL/ ESL classroom This is also a frequently asked question, whether teachers are in favour of using the students? first language or against it in a classroom? I personally think there are more advantages to disadvantages in using L1. I feel we could use L1 as part of intellectual development rather than using it for communicative purposes. We can use L1 to point out problem areas of grammar, we could save time by not repeating the instructions and we could use it with beginners who are struggling to form sentences. I think using L1 makes the student more comfortable and they will be more open in understanding the language. Motivation is the key for students to be successful. Therefore, we will have to take these factors into account and develop more innovative motivation skills in the future. Bibliogaraphy: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/worldview/motivation.pdf http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/classroom-management/classroom-management-pair-and-group-work-in-efl/-esl/146454.article http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/classroom-management/classroom-management-speaking-correction-techniques/146455.article