Motivating middle school students in an urban language arts classroom

It has been widely reported that many children experience a significant decline in achievement during the critical transition period of adolescent development. This decline indicates a need to provide academic support to these adolescents, particularly those who are at-risk. Due to the increase in poor performance rates among middle school students in language arts, there is a need to understand how teachers successfully motivate those students in the language arts classroom. The purpose of this qualitative ethnography is to learn how the perceptions and actions of language arts teachers in urban middle schools influence student motivation in the classroom, and how this motivation manifests within the classroom culture. Observational data was compiled after extensive fieldwork in four urban language arts classrooms. Results from this data answered the first research question: What actions of language arts teachers in urban middle schools are observed that influence student motivation in the classroom? The four teachers of the observed urban middle school language arts classrooms were interviewed regarding how students are successfully motivated. Results from this data address the second research question: What are the perceptions of language arts teachers in urban middle schools that influence student motivation in the classroom? Observational data and interview data agree that middle school students in an urban language arts classroom are motivated by meaningfulness of content and instructional influences. Interest, enjoyment, and challenge were the strongest indicators of meaningfulness, in addition to engaging instruction and teacher attitudes being the predominate instructional influences of student motivation. There was a slight discrepancy between what teachers perceived to be motivational factors in regards to teaching and learning language arts in an urban middle school classroom, and the actions of those same teachers while teaching language arts. The juxtaposition of actual behavior and ideal behavior provided means for description and analysis of the classroom culture. Final conclusions indicated that meaningfulness and instructional influences played a significant part in middle school students being successfully motivated in an urban language arts classroom.