EFL Teacher Motivational Strategies,Student Perceptions And Student Motivation

With motivation being regarded as one of the key predictors of success in foreign/second language learning,how to generate and enhance learners' motivation is of great importance in language education.For past two decades,a considerable amount of studies have proposed different motivational strategies for classroom application.However,empirical studies about the effect of motivational strategies on learners' motivation are still insufficient.In China,research on EFL teachers' motivational strategies is still in the initial stage.Most previous studies have focused on teachers' attitudes and utilization of motivational strategies in college classroom teaching,while relatively few studies have been done among the middle school English class.This study aimed at investigating middle school EFL teachers' utilization of motivational strategies and students' perceptions of motivational strategies applied by teachers in classroom teaching as well as further exploring the influence of teachers' motivational strategies on students' English learning motivation.In addition,the relationship among teachers' motivational strategies,students' perceptions and students' motivation was also explored.Both quantitative and qualitative methods were adopted to achieve the objectives of the study.38 teachers and 399 students from three minzu middle schools participated in questionnaire survey and 6 teachers and 12 students were respectively invited to be interviewed for qualitative data collection.The results obtained from quantitative and qualitative analysis showed that: 1)Three macro strategies,which were related to proper teacher behaviour,learners' self-confidence and assignment of learning tasks,were frequently used by middle school EFL teachers.Two macro strategies that familiarize learners with L2-related value and promote group cohesion and norms were not much often used in EFL class;2)From students' perceptions,two macro strategies which involved teachers' behavior and learners' self-confidence were the most effective to motivate students themselves.It revealed that students agreed on the effectivity of most of the teachersstrategies which were frequently used to motivate them;3)Among the 37 micro motivational strategies investigated in this study,8 micro strategies showed significant differences between teachers' utilization and students' perceptions,which implied that certain motivational strategies could be motivational for students,but not often used by teachers in teaching practice;4)There existed no significant relationship between students' motivation and teachers' motivational practice,while students' motivation was significantly related to students' perceptions of teachers' motivational practice;5)Further analysis also proved that student' attitudes towards English learning,L2 self-confidence and ideal L2 self could be the important motivational factors to affect students' feedback of teachers' motivational strategies.The results of the study may shed light on English language teaching and learning in middle schools in China.Implications of the findings are discussed at the end of the thesis.The thesis closes with a brief description of the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.