Boosting Teenagers’ Motivation: An Action Research Project

Mark Bain, Spain

Mark Bain was working in a small language school in Catalonia, Spain, where he struggled to get his teenagers interested in learning English. For unconnected reasons, he is no longer teaching teens, but instead working as a teacher-trainer for Oxford TEFL, Barcelona, and teaching ‘in-company’ classes for the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He continues to be interested in motivation, as well as learner autonomy and educational technology. He tries to find the time to write a blog about these things. Website and blog: www.teachertrainer.es. Email: mark@teachertrainer.es

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Introduction
Objectives
Class profile
Lessons
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Recent research concludes that motivation “is as important for teenagers’ school success as the ways teachers deliver the subject matter” (Bromley, 2006). Fortunately, this is an area in which the teacher can make a crucial difference. Secondary school students have identified the teacher as the most important factor in their levels of motivation (Chambers, 1996). On the other hand, one consequence of demotivation amongst learners is demotivation amongst teachers. This is especially true when it leads to disruptive behaviour, the most serious problem teachers face in the classroom (Dörnyei, 2002).

I began to think about this when I was recently faced with a class of teenagers who did not appear to be interested in learning English; several exhibited disruptive behaviour. This article records the attempts I made to tackle the problem. “Motivation represents one of the most appealing, yet complex, variables used to explain individual differences in language learning.” (MacIntyre, MacMaster & Baker, 2001).

The history of the study of motivation can be summarised as an effort to reduce the complexity of this variable to more manageable proportions. While the study of motivation continues to be dominated by categories such as integrative, instrumental, intrinsic and extrinsic, it is clear, if only from the number of competing theories, that motivation is highly complex. As a teacher, it seems prudent to consider motivation as multi-faceted, and our classroom practices should reflect this.

Objectives

Dörnyei (2001) provides teachers with an extensive list of strategies they can use to motivate their learners. It is from this list that I have selected and adapted the following objectives.

To promote the learners’ awareness of the instrumental values associated with the knowledge of English.

I believe teenagers need constant reminders of the practical and personal value of English. Instrumental motivation is present “when the learner has a functional objective, such as passing an exam or getting a job” (Thornbury, 2006: 137). Parents are often acutely aware of these objectives, paying for their children to attend private English classes as a consequence. Often these parental objectives are long-term; teenagers, as a rule, have difficulty in achieving such goals. Recent research suggests that there may be a neurological reason for this (Bjork, et al, 2004).

To make learning more stimulating and enjoyable by varying the learning tasks and other aspects of my teaching in response to the motivational “flow”.

Teenagers are often accused of having “short attention spans”; but one only need look at the hours spent playing video games to see that they are quite capable of spending many hours concentrating. Video games succeed because they capture teenagers’ interest, and hold it, by presenting them with a wide variety of new challenges; the classroom should do likewise.

To make the curriculum more relevant to the learners by relating the subject matter and the teaching materials to the learners’ experiences and interests.

I have selected the third objective because many teenagers frequently describe school experiences as irrelevant and lacking appropriate and meaningful challenges (Bromley, 2006). Educators have a responsibility to make their classes interesting for teenagers. They often just aren’t interested in what educators have to say – or the way they say it.

Class profile

All the reflections in this project relate to an Intermediate General English class which I have been teaching since the start of the academic year. This class consists of 12 young teenagers (12-14 years old); they come twice a week after school for an hour and a half. Few demonstrate “the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favourable attitudes toward learning the language”, Gardner’s definition of motivation (1985:10) ; several are consistently disruptive.

Lessons

Lesson 1

In order to introduce the topic of ‘work’, I had created a letter from a teenager who’s worried about his work prospects. I asked them how important English would be to them in the future. Those who wanted jobs which involved travelling or working abroad were aware that it was going to be very important, but some of the others didn’t think so. I asked them if they knew anything about English as an International Language. Some of them did, and explained it to the rest of the class: many had never realised that English could be useful for communicating with other non-native speakers.

While coursebooks often feature non-native speakers, they usually appear in the context of tourism in a country where English is the native language. This doesn’t reflect the true utility of English, and thus misses an opportunity to boost instrumental motivation.
This lesson also gave the learners the opportunity to express their fears for the future related to exam success, university entrance and the world of work. Helping them to understand ‘the practical value and advantages of learning a new language’ (Lambert, 1974: 98) in the modern world allows them to make sense of the pressure they are under to achieve proficiency in English.

Lesson 2

This lesson was based on a text about a clinic for “Internet addicts” in China. The rationale for choosing this text was to appeal to the interests of the class, and also highlight some instrumental reasons to learn English. All of the learners have Internet access at home, and some play online role-playing games, which sometimes brings them into conflict with their parents. During the lesson, we discussed the importance of knowing English in order to fully enjoy the Internet. One learner pointed out that role-playing games were a good way to learn English. I finished the class by handing out a list of sites in English which they might enjoy. Their homework task was to investigate one of the sites and complete a feedback form. The form asks how useful, how enjoyable and how difficult the site is (based on Clandfield and Kerr, 2007).

While this lesson was an undoubted success, it would be time consuming to prepare materials such as these for each and every class. Good teachers “figure out how to convey relevance and get the students interested even if the subject seems unrelated to their daily lives” (Bromley, 2006).

Lesson 3

This lesson featured a listening comprehension about a librarian who, with some expert help, became a political reporter. I felt that, although not directly related to the experiences of the learners, this topic might allow me to “convey relevance”. I began by referring back to what we had discussed in a previous class about their career plans.

The listening comprehension went extremely well, perhaps because it and because I encouraged them to compare answers between sections, monitoring and giving feedback. I then followed the coursebook and introduced some grammar. Unfortunately, the learners quickly became distracted and involved in several unrelated conversations. I made the decision to change the activity, but I it became necessary to remove one learner from the classroom for a short time.

I later spoke to the class about why they didn’t seem to be interested in the lesson. They said they were exhausted after being at school all day, and had homework to complete when they got home. Although most saw English as important for the future, their parents were asking too much of them. Clearly, instrumental motivation alone is not enough, and I will have to find a way to make grammar fun.

Lesson 4

Paying more attention to the motivational flow, I took note of the learners’ low energy levels when they enter the class. It seems like a fun, high-energy activity (such as “Simon says”) is appropriate to start the class off on the right note. Yet, in an attempt to solve nagging discipline problems, I have tended to avoid starting with game-like activities, using them as rewards for acceptable behaviour, and only at the end of the class.

This classroom management strategy clearly conflicts with Dörnyei’s call to vary activities in response to the motivational flow. It also ignores what is known about teenagers and delayed gratification. Carl Rogers (1967) suggested that a good teacher empathises with their students: how must some of the well-behaved learners feel when the class as a whole is punished? I would feel indignant were I to be penalised for the wrong-doings of others. Not only do they have to put up with the disruption to their learning, but they miss out on the more fun activities.

I had hoped that peer-pressure would help me achieve my objective, but rather than turning against the disruptive learners, the class turned against me for intentionally making the class boring. I have thus decided to abandon this unfair strategy. Instead, I will bookend the lesson with a fun activity, whatever happens.

Lesson 5

For this class, I had prepared a song, which I decided to use early in the lesson, for reasons discussed above. Although it was a popular song which had been suggested by learners, the learners’ reaction was not particularly positive. Apparently, it was no longer popular. Nevertheless, they listened enthusiastically the first time. The accompanying worksheet, however, was deemed “boring” and “too difficult”. In fact, several conversations began during the second playing. I was tempted to abandon the activity, but didn’t want to penalise those who were listening. Instead, I went around the class asking for silence. I remember a trainer on my CELTA course telling us that it was impossible to maintain silence in a classroom full of teenagers, even during listening activities. Teachers often demand silence, but is it even necessary?

Although we didn’t achieve as much as I had hoped in the lesson, I asked them to put away their books 15 minutes before the end. We finished the class with a game of bingo. I was disheartened to note that, even when we are playing a game, there are still those who are disruptive. Nevertheless, the class finished on a high note, and the learners left laughing and smiling.

Lesson 6

There are 8 classes remaining before the exam. I decide to negotiate what we are going to do with the learners. According to a recent study by University of Virginia psychology professor Joseph Allen and education professor Robert Pianta, high-quality teachers “give teens plenty of chances to be active in the classroom, allowing them to make choices and decisions, without giving up their authority as the teacher. Setting up this environment plays to teens’ desires for independence and competency” (Bromley, 2006).

I remind the class that they have an exam soon, and ask them to plan what activities we are going to do over the coming weeks. They work in two groups of four: apart from two learners, they are all involved and seem to be taking the task very seriously. Group one produces a detailed syllabus, including homework tasks, but makes no mention of games or songs. Group two’s syllabus is less detailed, and includes more fun activities, but still a worthwhile attempt. I later combine the two documents, making some alterations, and give each learner a copy.

Lesson 7

I usually check and correct the learners’ homework near the start of the class. Today, I decide to do it after the first activity, a quiz, which had started the lesson on a positive note.

As is normally the case, several learners have ‘forgotten’ to do it. I had previously warned them that I would contact their parents if it happened again. One learner in particular takes exception to this decision, claiming it is unfair and that I am singling him out for punishment. He is particularly vocal in his opposition, and initially refuses to participate in the class. Homework is often an area of conflict between the learners and the teacher. As such, it perhaps better dealt with at the end of the class. By doing so, I will avoid any negative atmosphere affecting the rest of the class, and the final ‘fun’ activity will diffuse the tension before they leave.

Lesson 8

There are two friends in the class who love the Disney film, “High School Musical”. I had suggested that they could bring songs from the film to listen to in class. One of the girls has a high level of English, but shows little interest in the class, and I thought this might encourage her to participate more. Today, they brought a couple of songs, along with gap-fill type exercises. At the end of the class, I let them take over. Although they are often chatty during activities, they found it frustrating that others weren’t paying full attention. I hoped that this experience would cause them to reflect on their own behaviour. Perhaps asking the learners to get more involved in activities involving a degree of classroom management would encourage them to show more respect for me and their classmates.

I reflected on why they had gone to all that effort, when they struggle to do five minutes’ homework. Obviously, the topic was one that interested them, and being given the freedom to choose is very motivating. Perhaps equally important, however, is having the opportunity to share their interests with their peers.

Lesson 9

The final exam is next week, and the class had asked me to go over a number of grammar points. I had found some good activities but they asked me to “explain the rules first”. I stood in front of the class and explained the rules and then they did the exercises. Surprisingly, I had their attention throughout. No doubt the looming exam helped focus their minds. Exams are motivating for learners, especially teenagers; and short-term goals tend to be more effective than long-term ones. Perhaps regular tests or continuous assessment would lead to a more consistent level of motivation. However, I had previously noticed a negative reaction to activities which call upon the learners to work out the rules for themselves. Perhaps because of their experience at school, teenagers seem to feel more comfortable with a more teacher-centred approach. One learner explained this as follows: “The coursebook is boring and I don’t understand it. Listening to the teacher explain grammar is still boring, but at least I understand”. Where the methodology used is different from what they are accustomed to, the learners are less likely to trust that they are making progress. This is particularly important where learners have no tests or marked assignments by which to measure their improved performance.

Lesson 10

I had previously decided to omit a unit in the coursebook due to the theme, Jack the Ripper, which I felt might be unsuitable for some of the younger learners. However, after finishing an unrelated exercise, some of the learners began a spontaneous discussion about the topic in L1, which quickly involved the whole class. Hearing the widespread involvement in the topic, I abandoned my planned lesson. For once, the learners were participating in the class with genuine interest. There was a real information gap that they wanted to breach. For a maybe ten minutes, it was easy to forget that an English class was taking place. The high level of motivation continued during the subsequent presentation of question tags.

At the start of the course, teachers could ask learners to say how interesting they find the topic of each unit in the coursebook. The learners could decide on alternative topics to replace those which are unpopular. The teacher could involve the learners in the preparation of these substitute units, maybe as part of a project. It would require additional preparation on the part of the teacher, but I think the boost to motivation would pay off.

Conclusion

Recent research from the University of Virginia concludes that motivation “is as important for teenagers’ school success as the ways teachers deliver the subject matter” (Bromley, 2006). This project has opened my eyes to a number of important issues regarding the motivating of teenagers. For example, I have realised that even young teenagers have a short-term, instrumental motivation to learn English: they want to pass the exam at school. It seems obvious, yet, as negligent as it now appears, I have never asked them about English at school, their exams or their results. In future, I will strive to bring these two worlds together, and show the learners how what we do in class can help them achieve success at school.

I also now realise how vital it is to make the materials relevant to the learners, even if this requires the teacher to create new materials from scratch. However, I feel that the learners can contribute to this process. I intend to ask future teenaged learners to agree on three units of the coursebook which they would like to see replaced. They should then agree on three alternative themes. I intend to ask each of the learners to then contribute something to each replacement unit: a text, a section of a film, a video from the Internet, a song, etc. When teenagers are given the opportunity to share something they find interesting with the rest of the class, I have found that they are willing to do so, even if it involves extra effort on their part. I therefore believe that learners will get involved in this process. I am also convinced that they will participate in the substitute units with greater enthusiasm, because they have contributed. Finally, I feel that by limiting the substitution to three units, this would be considered acceptable by both my school and the parents.

With adults, I think that it is important to negotiate not only what we do in class, but how we do it. There is no reason why this can’t be done with younger learners. Of course, it would be ridiculous to suggest that teenagers know how best to learn a new language; but so is the notion that they have nothing valuable to contribute. If the teacher does not behave in accordance with learner expectations, I believe that it is beholden upon the teacher to explain and justify her approach: to engage in what Wendon calls ‘persuasive communication’ (1998: 126). Teenagers value their time as much as adults do, if not more so, and need to be shown that it is not being wasted. To do otherwise shows a lack of respect for the learner; yet we often demand that teenagers treat us with respect.

Finally, progress tests and continuous assessment may contribute to a more consistent level of motivation; however, there are risks as well as benefits. What has become clear is that the modern teenager in Spain is under far more pressure than I was at an equivalent age. Teenagers are called upon to juggle numerous commitments, academic and social, and private English classes often come last in line. I feel the best way to tap into the motivational value of testing, therefore, is to treat the end-of-unit tests as team quizzes. Quizzes give us the opportunity to display our knowledge in front of our peers in a way that exams do not. Learners often feel strongly motivated to contribute to the success of a team, even when there is only team pride at stake. Being part of a team encourages a sense of group identity, and if this can be achieved without damaging the group identity as a whole, I feel it could significantly increase individual motivation.

References

Bromley, A. (2006). What teenagers want: Allen, Pianta team up to help teachers connect with students, Inside UVA Online, Vol. 36, Issue 12. www.virginia.edu/insideuva/teenagers.html. Accessed 24/7/07.

James M. Bjork, Brian Knutson, Grace W. Fong, Daniel M. Caggiano, Shannon M. Bennett, and Daniel W. Hommer, (2004) Incentive-Elicited Brain Activation in Adolescents: Similarities and Differences from Young Adults, Journal of Neurosciences, 24: pp 1793 - 1802.

Chambers, G. N. (1996) Motivational Perspectives of Secondary School Pupils Taking German, University of Leeds.

Clandfield, L. and Kerr, P. (2007) Getting to grips with learner autonomy, The Teacher, 5:49, pp 25-30.

Dörnyei, Z. (2001) Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom, CUP.

Dörnyei, Z. (2002) Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom - Reviewed by the author, Humanising Language Teaching, Year 4, Issue 1.

Gardner, R.C. (1985) Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: The role of attitudes and motivation, Edward Arnold.

Lambert, W. E. (1974). Culture and language as factors in learning and education. In F. F. Aboud & R. D. Meade (Eds.) Cultural factors in learning and education, Bellingham: Western, pp. 91–122.

MacIntyre, P.D., MacMaster, K., & Baker, S.C. (2001) The convergence of multiple models of motivation for second language learning: Gardner, Pintrich, Kuhl, and McCroskey. (p.462). In Z. Dörnyei & R. Schmidt (Eds.), Motivation and second language acquisition (Technical Report #23, pp.461-492), Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, Second Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.

Rogers, C. 1967. ‘The interpersonal relationship in the facilitation of learning’ reprinted in H. Kirschenbaum and V. L. Henderson (eds.) (1990) The Carl Rogers Reader, London: Constable, pp 304-311.

Thornbury, S. (2006) An A-Z of ELT, Macmillan ELT, p 137.

Wenden, A. 1998. Learner Strategies for Learner Autonomy. Great Britain: Prentice Hall.

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