Effects Of English Teachers’Motivational Strategies On Vocational College Students’Bebaviors In Classroom

Motivation is evoked to explain what gets people going, keeps them going, and to help them finish tasks (Pintrick&Schunk,2002). As the source of students choosing the language and maintaining to learn it, motivation is crucial for successful language learning. Researchers have explored its characteristics and effects upon second language learning during the past two decades. The research focus has shifted from the impact of language learning environment to that of teacher motivational strategies. The researchers now are considering how to mobilize students in language learning. This entails the need to develop teachers’ motivational strategies for effective teaching. Given that student demotivation is a major problem in Vocational English class, how to raise teachers’awareness of their motivating practice and how to develop motivating skills have become a prominent methodological concern. More and more researchers have examined how the teacher would be able to promote students’motivation, and keep them actively involved in the learning process.However, in China, research of English teachers’motivational strategies is relatively limited in quantity and quality. Most studies considered teaching inspiration and reflection, they cited solely on teachers’self-reports about which strategies they valued and how often they used them, but no voice was heard from the students’side. Bernaus, Wilson and Gardner (2009) observed that the use of strategies in terms of students’perception, rather than that of the teacher’s perception, is closely related to the affective characteristics of the class.In a pilot survey, the researcher found that teachers and students hold different positions with regard to certain strategies, such as "group work","culture" and "personal relevance". Therefore, further information needs to be obtained to better understand the effect of motivational strategies valued by students on language teaching and learning effectiveness. There were30teachers and94students from Hunan Technical College of Railway High-Speed in China involved in the study.The data were collected through questionnaire survey and classroom observation. The findings are:1) Students and teachers perceive motivational strategies differently;2) Students from the experimental class were motivated to be more engaged in class activities than those in the control class;3) Among the four intervention motivational strategies of "instrumental values related to pragmatic benefits","familiarizing learners with L2culture","sharing teachers’positive L2experiences","supplementing authentic materials", the last one appears to be the most effective.The thesis consists of five parts. Part One is a preliminary introduction, which includes research background, research purpose and significance, research questions, and the organization of the thesis. Part Two reviews the literature of studies on the teachers’motivational strategies in a classroom context home and abroad, and introduces the related theoretical foundations. Part Three describes methodological concerns such as material selection, participants, instruments, and the procedure of data collection and analysis. Part Four exhibits the results and interpretations of the study. Part Five contains the major findings of this study, pedagogical implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research.