Motivate to Educate

Motivation in ELT
Dragana Filipovi
Skopje, June 2016

Motivation is the key learner variable and nothing

much happens without it.

(Cohen and Dornyea 2002)

Stop That Noise!

Stop That Noise (chant)

Teacher:
Chorus:
Teacher:
Girls:

Sh! Sh! Stop that noise!

Sh! Sh! Stop that noise!
Sh! Sh! Stop that noise!
Come on girls, tell all the boys!
Tell all the boys to stop that noise!
Please be quiet. Stop that noise!
Please be quiet. Stop that noise!
Please be quiet. Stop that noise!

Teacher:
Boys:

Teacher:
Chorus:

Come on boys, tell all the girls!

Tell all the girls to stop that noise!
Please be quiet. Stop that noise!
Please be quiet. Stop that noise!
Please be quiet. Stop that noise!
Come on girls, come on boys.
Tell everybody to stop that noise!
Sh! Sh! Stop that noise!
Sh! Sh! Stop that noise!
Sh! Sh! Stop that noise!

Motivation

Motivation is what moves us to act

In ELT context:

to learn English

to learn to teach English

to teach English

The four elements motivation involves

the reasons why we want to learn

the strength of our desire to learn

the kind of person we are

the task, and our estimation of what it requires of us

Motivation is a property of the learner, but it is also a

transitive concept: coaches can motivate their clients,
teachers can motivate their students. Furthermore, it is
dynamic and changes over time, especially in the usually
long-drawn out process of language learning. Motivation
is thus remarkably complex.

(Steven McDonough)

Types of motivation

Integrative
like the people that speak the target language
admire the culture and have a desire to become familiar
with or even to integrate into the society in which the
language is used.
Instrumental
meeting the requirements for school or university
graduation
applying for a job
requesting higher pay based on language ability
achieving higher social status
(Distinction made famous by Gardner 1985)

Reasons to learn English

living in an English speaking country

studying abroad

personal gratification

gain skills for a job

instrumental

working abroad

instrumental

school requirements

instrumental

travelling as a tourist

instrumental

integrative
instrumental
integrative

Types of motivation according to the source of

influence

extrinsic (perceived as being from the outside)

intrinsic motivation (within oneself)

Other factors
Beliefs learners hold about themselves (how learners estimate their
capabilities and manage themselves)
Ability to develop effective motivational thinking
Striving for success versus avoidance of failure
Learners beliefs about the task or sub-tasks
the level and nature of the difficulties
what is expected of them
Learners beliefs about learning outcomes (attribution theory)
e.g. success is attributed to having a good teacher, that learner will
not believe it will occur in the absence of that teacher
e.g. failure is seen as the result of lack of effort rather than talent,
the learner may believe working harder will result in success

How to motivate
students

How to motivate students

Explain
2. Reward
3. Care
4. Have students participate
5. Teach inductively
6. Satisfy students needs
7. Make learning visual
8. Cater for multiple intelligences
9. Use positive emotions to enhance learning and
motivation
10. Remember that energy sells
1.

Explain

Speak clearly
Give clear instructions and check
Say why we are doing it (topic, grammar,
activity)
Show enthusiasm
Say what you expect them to be able to do
(outcomes)

Reward

Extrinsic motivation
Small rewards (stamps, stickers, crayons, verbal
praise)
It can lead to intrinsic motivation
Feeling of accomplishment

Game: Stop that bus!

1. Put the students into pairs and select 3 or more categories.
i.
Animals
ii.
Countries
iii. Sports
2. Choose a letter from the alphabet.
F
3. Students have to write a word for each category that starts with F.

Frog
France
Football
4. First pair to get a word for each has to say Stop the bus! to win.

Care

Be human and caring

Share parts of yourselves with students (stories
of problems and mistakes youve made)
Be approachable
Ask students about their concerns and goals

Have students participate

Active involvement of students

Group problem solving activities
Working with each other (pair work, group work)
Physical involvement
Helping the teacher
Assign them homework that involves helping
you (e.g. illustrations)

Problem solving

You have three boxes of fruit. One box of apples, one of oranges and
one contains a mixture of apples and oranges. Each box is labeled:
one says "Apples", one says "Oranges", and one says "Apples and
Oranges."
Unfortunately, all three labels are on the wrong boxes. You can pick
one piece of fruit from only one box. You cant see inside any of the
boxes. If you choose wisely, you can tell what is in each box. Which
box do you choose? How can you tell what is in all three boxes, by
taking only 1 sample from 1 box?

Take a sample from the box labeled "Apples and

Oranges". If it is an apple, then that box should be
labeled "Apples". The box labeled "Oranges" cant
be oranges because the labels are all wrong, it cant
be apples because youve already found the apples,
so it must be apples and oranges. The only box left,
labeled "Apples" must be oranges.
If the first sample is an orange, the above situation
applies in reverse.
The first box cant be "Apples and Oranges"
because the labels are all wrong.

Three missionaries and three cannibals want to cross a river in a small

boat. The boat can only carry two at a time. The cannibals must never
outnumber the missionaries on either shore, even if one stays in the
boat. How can they all cross the river?

Two cannibals cross, one comes back. Two cannibals cross, one
comes back. Two missionaries cross, one missionary and one
cannibal come back. Two missionaries cross, one cannibal
comes back. Two cannibals cross, one comes back. Two
cannibals cross, everybody is across.

Teach inductively

Presenting conclusions first and then providing examples

robs students of the joy of discovery
Examples first ask students to draw the conclusions
themselves
Maintain interest and increase motivation

Discovering grammar

Dictation

Hi, hows it going? Look theres a party at Steves place. Hes

invited some musicians round. Toms going, and his flatmate,
whats her name, Tracey. Shes a guitarist and shes got a great
voice. Its been ages since I went to Steves. Its going to be lots of
fun. Hes cooking a curry and hes got some beers in, but lets take
a bottle, too. Theres an off licence thats just opened near Toms.
Its called Joes Wines. Lets meet there at seven. OK, see you later.
How many times did you write s ?
20
An abbravation of is, has, us or a possessive s

Satisfy students needs: Maslows hierarchy

Satisfy students needs

The choice of activites
Activities

that have value for students

Meet their long term & short term needs
Belonging to a group
Build their self-esteem
Give sense of achievement
Let them be creative
Let them have fun

Vocabulary
Collocation Circles
In pairs
Draw a circle in the middle.
Think of a word to put there (but dont write it).
Draw circles around the centre.
Write words that collocate with the central one.
See how quickly your partner can guess the word.

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Corner
Floor

Assistant

Online

SHOP

Closed

33

Creative Teaching

For
food

At
Tesco

Price
Pick
up a

A
good

Store

Bargain

Basement

34

Creative Teaching

Drive a
hard

Hunter

It was on
____for
$2
The end
of
season
___

The ___
starts on
Saturday

I bought it
in the
____

SALE

Theres a
___ on at
the moment

35

Creative Teaching

This is the
___ price

That
house is
for ___

Make learning visual

Attractive page layouts (magazine, website or

computer games feel) and illustrations
Memory is often connected to visual images
Attach images to the ideas
Drawings, diagrams, pictures, charts, graphs,
tables

Cater for multiple intelligences

Multiple intelligences

New song

Practice activities

Stickers

40 Presentation Title runs here l 00/00/00

Listening
Speaking
Drawing
Personalisation
Evaluation

41 Presentation Title runs here l 00/00/00

sticker

Use positive emotions to enhance learning and

motivation

People remember better when the learning is accompanied by

strong emotions.
If you can make something fun, exciting, happy, loving, or perhaps
even a bit frightening, students will learn more readily and the
learning will last much longer.
Emotions can be created by classroom attitudes, by doing
something unexpected or outrageous, by praise, and by many other
means.

Remember that energy sells

Why is rock music more popular with youth than classical music?
Why are Star Wars or Warcraft more popular than Youth or Lost in
Translation?
Be proactive, energetic, creative.
Rock it! (= to do what you do in an outrageous and marvelous
way)

Boom chicka boom

T: "I Say a BOOM"

Ss: "I say a Boom"
T: "I say a boom - chicka"
Ss: "I say a boom-chicka"
T: "I say a boom-chicka-boom"
Ss: "I say a boom-chicka-boom"
T: "I say a boom-chicka-rocka-chicka-rocka-chicka-boom"
Ss: "I say a boom-chicka-rocka-chicka-rocka-chicka-boom"
T: "Oh yeah"
Ss: "Oh yeah"
T: "One more time"
Ss: "One more time"

Competition: Riddles

1.
2.

3.
4.
5.

A is the father of B, but B is not the son of A. How is it

possible?
A black man dressed all in black is walking down a country
lane. Suddenly a large black car without any lights on comes
round a corner and screeches to a halt. How did the car driver
know he was there?
A rooster laid an egg on top of the barn roof. Which way did it
roll?
How much dirt is there in a hole of 3m deep, 6m long, and 4m
wide?
If a doctor gives you 3 pills and tells you to take one pill every
half hour, how long would it take before all the pills had been
taken?
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

There was an airplane crash and every single person on

board died, but yet two people survived. How is it possible?
If there are 12 fish and half of them drown, how many are
there?
What goes up and never comes down?
If you throw a red stone into the blue sea, what will it
become?
Some months have 31 days, other have 30 days. How many
have 28 days?

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1.
2.

3.

4.
5.

An electric train is going one way and the wind is going the
other way. Which way is the smoke going?
There are 6 people jumping into a pool over and over. Five
people got their hair wet. Why didn't the other one get his
hair wet?
There are 12 apples hanging in an apple tree. 12 men walk
by. Each grabs 1 apple and still leaving 11 hanging ther.
How is this possible?
What type of room has no walls?
A box without hinges, lock or key, yet golden treasures
reside within. What is it?

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1.
2.
3.

The more you have of me the less you see? What am I?

Even the strongest man can only hold me for a few minutes.
What am I?
How far can you run into the woods?

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And the winner is ..!

Thank you!

dragana.filipovic@fpn.bg.ac.rs