L2 Motivational Strategies that Do not Work: Students’ Evaluations and Suggestions

Abstract

Motivation has received a high priority in discussion of second language (L2) teaching and learning, as successful L2 learners are often observed to have motivation (Ushioda, 2008). Connected to this, L2 teachers in various educational contexts are expected to employ motivational strategies to promote students’ goal-related behaviour and bring about enduring positive effects. Prior research on L2 motivational strategies tends to be primarily quantitative and teacher-oriented, so little has been done to explain why some students’ L2 motivation stays stagnant and their learning remains less than successful, despite their teachers’ regular motivational interventions. There also appears to be limited research which gathers students’ suggestions for better strategy implementation. To address these research gaps, this chapter reports on a qualitative study on students’ negative reactions to some L2 motivational strategies and their suggested remedies. Throughout a semester in a Hong Kong tertiary institution, 32 regularly adopted L2 motivational strategies were recorded in nine English classes, and 26 students’ feedback on the strategies was collected with reflective journals and individual interviews. About a quarter of the student comments were unfavourable, whereas boredom and inappropriate materials emerged as the most frequent complaints. Some students did not appear to be motivated by strategies which aroused interest or ensured better future L2 performance, which contradicts the common conceptualization of motivation as an intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomy. The students also provided insightful suggestions related to teacher intervention, workload for learners, frequency of strategy use, difficulty level, and variety.

Appendix

• Guide for Student Reflective Journals

Name: _____________________

Email: _____________________

• 1. Instruction

Below is a list of second language motivational strategies your English teacher has used in the last few weeks, according to his/her self-report. Please evaluate each of the strategies used. Some prompts are provided to guide your writing. You are free to include other content that is relevant. Write in total 200–300 English words.

Second language motivational strategies reported by your English teacher:

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• 1. Do you remember your teacher using these second language motivational strategies?

• 2. Were the strategies effective? How?

• 3. What did they motivate you to do?

• 4. Why did you think they were effective/ ineffective?

• 5. Can they be modified so that they are more effective? If so, how?