Motivating Language LearnersA Classroom-Oriented Investigation ofthe Effects of Motivational Strategies onStudent MotivationMARIE J GUILLOTEAUXGyeongsang National UniversityJinju South Korea

ZOLTAacuteN DOumlRNYEIUniversity of NottinghamNottingham England

The teacherrsquos use of motivational strategies is generally believed toenhance student motivation yet the literature has little empirical evi-dence to support this claim Based on a large-scale investigation of 40ESOL classrooms in South Korea involving 27 teachers and more than1300 learners this study examined the link between the teachersrsquo mo-tivational teaching practice and their studentsrsquo language learning mo-tivation The studentsrsquo motivation was measured by a self-report ques-tionnaire and a classroom observation instrument specifically devel-oped for this investigation the motivation orientation of languageteaching (MOLT) The MOLT observation scheme was also used toassess the teachersrsquo use of motivational strategies along with a posthocrating scale filled in by the observer The MOLT follows the real-timecoding principle of Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) communication ori-entation of language teaching (COLT) scheme but uses categories ofobservable teacher behaviors derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework for foreign language classrooms The resultsindicate that the language teachersrsquo motivational practice is linked toincreased levels of the learnersrsquo motivated learning behavior as well astheir motivational state

Motivation is one of the most important concepts in psychologyTheories concerning motivation attempt to explain nothing less

than why humans behave and think as they do The notion is also of greatimportance in language education Teachers and students commonlyuse the term to explain what causes success or failure in learning In-deed motivation provides the primary impetus to initiate second orforeign language (L2) learning and later the driving force to sustain the

TESOL QUARTERLY Vol 42 No 1 March 2008 55

long and often tedious learning process Without sufficient motivationindividuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals Similarly appropriate curricula and good teaching are notenough on their own to ensure student achievementmdashstudents alsoneed to have a modicum of motivation (for recent reviews see Doumlrnyei2005 Ushioda in press)

Traditionally motivational psychologists have been more concernedabout what motivation is than about how we can use this knowledge tomotivate learners Recently however more and more researchers havedecided to examine the pedagogical implications of research by concep-tualizing motivational strategies (for reviews in educational psychology seeeg Brophy 2004 Ginsberg amp Wlodkowski 2000 Pintrich amp Schunk2002 within the area of language education see eg Alison amp Halliwell2002 Doumlrnyei 2001 2006 Williams amp Burden 1997) Thus motivationresearch has reached a level of maturity such that theoretical advanceshave started to inform methodological developments This article hasbeen written in that vein

The motivational strategies reported in the literature are usuallygrounded in sound theoretical considerations However very little re-search has been done to answer a crucial question Are the proposedtechniques actually effective in language classrooms This deficiency wasalready highlighted by Gardner and Tremblay (1994) over a decade agoIn reflecting on the potential usefulness of motivational strategies theyargued that from a scientific point of view intuitive appeal withoutempirical evidence was not enough to justify strong claims in favor ofusing such strategies They therefore recommended that motivationalstrategies be considered merely as hypotheses to be tested and high-lighted a number of possible pitfalls that such research should avoidThe possible discrepancy between the assumed and the actual motiva-tional power of certain motives or motivational strategies is indeed a realconcern which is well reflected in the title of a recent article by ChenWarden and Chang (2005) ldquoMotivators That Do Not Motivaterdquo

In retrospect we can conclude that L2 scholars have not taken upGardner and Tremblayrsquos (1994) recommendation that proposed moti-vational strategies be investigated in actual language classrooms Valida-tion studies are labor-intensive because they require the investigator toapply experimental designs andor extensive classroom observation Weare aware of only two published studies (Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007Doumlrnyei amp Csizeacuter 1998) that had the explicit objective to provide em-pirical data on the effectiveness of motivational strategies Howeverthese studies relied solely on teachersrsquo self-reports about how importantthey considered certain strategies and how often they used them theywere not based on documentation of the actual nature of the participat-

56 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing teachersrsquo motivational practicemdashwhich would have been more ob-jectivemdashnor on any classroom student behavior to which such practicemight have been linked

The current research aims to fill this gap by providing empirical dataobtained in a large-scale investigation of 40 ESOL classrooms in SouthKorea which involved more than 1300 learners and examined the linkbetween the teachersrsquo motivational teaching practice and their studentsrsquolanguage learning motivation A novel feature of our study is that incontrast to the usual practice of L2 motivation research which relies onself-report questionnaires our research paradigm includes a salient class-room observation component For this purpose we developed a newclassroom observation instrument the motivation orientation of lan-guage teaching (MOLT) which we used to assess the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational teaching practice as well as the level of the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior The MOLT follows the real-time coding prin-ciple of Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) communication orientation of lan-guage teaching (COLT) scheme but uses categories of observableteacher behaviors derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motivational strategiesframework for foreign language classrooms

A FRAMEWORK FOR MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES

Motivational strategies refer to (a) instructional interventions applied bythe teacher to elicit and stimulate student motivation and (b) self-regulating strategies that are used purposefully by individual students tomanage the level of their own motivation the motivational strategiesdiscussed in this article belong to type (a) Motivational strategies firstreceived substantial attention in the L2 literature in the 1990s when amajor paradigm shift in L2 motivation research highlighted the impor-tance of the learning environment in shaping situated aspects of thelearnersrsquo motivational disposition Various scholars published slightlydifferent lists of recommended motivational techniques (eg Alison1993 Doumlrnyei 1994 Oxford amp Shearin 1994 Williams amp Burden 1997)that classroom practitioners could apply to improve their teaching prac-tice by creating a more motivating classroom environment It soon be-came clear that the spectrum of available techniques was much widerthan the carrot-and-stick approach (ie offering rewards and punishment)that most language teachers associated with motivational teaching prac-tice However the diverse techniques lacked a theory-based frameworkthat could accommodate them The most systematic attempt to date toproduce such a taxonomy was made by Doumlrnyei (2001) who proposed aparsimonious system of four main dimensions

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 57

bull Creating basic motivational conditions by establishing a good teacher-student rapport creating a pleasant and supportive classroom atmo-sphere and generating a cohesive learner group with appropriategroup norms

bull Generating initial motivation that is ldquowhetting the studentsrsquo appetiterdquoby using strategies designed to (a) increase the learnersrsquo expectancyof success and (b) develop positive attitudes toward the languagecourse and language learning in general

bull Maintaining and protecting motivation by promoting situation-specifictask motivation (eg through the use of stimulating enjoyable andrelevant tasks) providing learners with experiences of success allow-ing them to maintain a positive social image even during the oftenface-threatening task of having to communicate with a severely lim-ited language code and promoting learner autonomy

bull Encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation by promoting adaptiveattributions providing effective and encouraging feedback increas-ing learner satisfaction and offering grades in a motivational man-ner

Figure 1 presents the schematic representation of the model indicat-ing the main macrostrategies associated with each dimension Doumlrnyei(2001) broke these macrostrategies down further into more than 100specific motivational techniques This motivational strategies frameworkserved as background to our investigation when we designed the class-room observation instruments

RESEARCH DESIGN AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In the current study we set out to examine empirically how a teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice affects his or her studentsrsquo motivatedlearning behavior as manifested by the amount of attention the studentspay in class and the extent of their participation and volunteering intasks When we designed the study we realized that the standard datagathering technique of L2 motivation researchmdashnamely the adminis-tration of questionnairesmdashwould not be sufficient to assess this processWe therefore decided to carry out a large-scale classroom observationstudy with a motivational focus with the intention of producing gener-alizable results and of obtaining varied and rich quantitative data con-cerning both the teacher and the students To this effect we designed ahighly structured observation scheme following the model of Spada andFroumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT We supplemented this instrument with a stu-dent questionnaire and a teacher appraisal form

58 TESOL QUARTERLY

At the beginning of the study we faced an important decision Shouldwe visit each site more than once or should we increase the sample sizeto the level that is appropriate to produce statistically significant resultsThe former option would have enhanced the picture we obtained ofeach class but would have reduced the number of L2 classes that wecould include in our sample Therefore partly because we wanted tocombine the observational data with a student survey we chose the

FIGURE 1The Components of a Motivational L2 Teaching Practice

(Doumlrnyei 2001 p 29 used with permission)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 59

second option and included 40 learner groups in our study with a stu-dent population of more than 1300 It followed from such a design thatinstead of focusing on the impact of specific strategies used by specificteachers which would have required a more intensive and preferablylongitudinal investigation we focused on examining the quality of theteachersrsquo overall motivational teaching practice by generating a compos-ite index of the rich observational data In other words although we didnot intend to claim that the particular motivational techniques we docu-mented in an observed class were all typical of the particular teacherrsquosgeneral practice we felt it was fair to assume that the sum of all themotivational techniques a teacher applied in his or her class would offera representative index of that teacherrsquos overall motivational awarenessand skills Having created this composite index we followed a correla-tional design whereby we computed correlations between the measuresrelated to the teacher and the students in order to establish links be-tween the teacherrsquos practice and the studentsrsquo behavior Our researchquestions were as follows

1 How does the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice affect thestudentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level of their atten-tion participation and volunteering

2 What is the relationship between the studentsrsquo self-reported motiva-tion (assessed by questionnaire) their actual classroom behaviorand the teacherrsquos classroom practice

METHOD

Participating Schools Teachers and Students

In South Korea the site of our research project there is a consciouseffort to provide equal educational opportunities for secondary schoolchildren (Seth 2002) Students who reside in a specific local educationdistrict are allocated to a school within the district through a lotterysystem and teachers vice-principals and principals in state schools arerotated within their provincial or metropolitan (not just local) educationdistrict usually every four years This was good news from our samplingperspective because it guaranteed a certain degree of school compara-bility and thus helped to avoid ending up with a biased sample The maincriterion for our specific sampling was to generate as much diversity aspossible in terms of school location and the teachersrsquo age qualificationsexperience and level of English proficiency To ensure a large enoughsample size we approached a wide network of regional contacts and also

60 TESOL QUARTERLY

applied snowball sampling that is participating teachers introduced us toother willing participants who met our criteria In the end 20 juniorhigh school principals granted permission to carry out research in theirschools which were located in a variety of mainland island rural urbanand metropolitan sites within one large region of South Korea Oursample of schools included 8 boysrsquo schools 5 girlsrsquo schools 5 coedschools with coed learner groups and 2 coed schools with single-sexlearner groups

After receiving their principalsrsquo permission 27 language teachers (4male and 23 female) agreed to take part in the main study They pre-sented a suitable variety Their ages ranged from 23ndash44 (M = 3165) andtheir teaching experience ranged from 1ndash20 years (M = 832) Allteacher-participants were asked to evaluate their own level of proficiencyin English None of them rated themselves as fluent 30 judged them-selves to be advanced 40 higher intermediate and 30 lower intermediate

Because of the considerable washback effect of the university entranceexamination (ie teaching to the test) in Korea we excluded highschool classes from our sample in favor of junior high classes and amongthe junior high students we preferred Year 1 and Year 2 learner groups(12ndash13 and 13ndash14 year olds) to Year 3 students (14ndash15 year olds) when-ever possible The final student sample involved 1381 students in 40classes 46 of the sample was from Year 1 46 from Year 2 and 8from Year 3 The participating students were 60 boys and 40 girls1

All of them were South Koreans and spoke Korean as their first language

Instruments

To obtain a valid and reliable picture of the motivational character-istics of the sample we used three different types of instrument (a) aclassroom observation scheme (b) a student questionnaire and (c) apostlesson teacher evaluation scale All three instruments were devel-oped for this study Each instrument underwent extensive pilotingwhich is described in the Procedures section

The MOLT Classroom Observation Scheme

The MOLT classroom observation scheme (see Appendix A) com-bines two established schemes or frameworks Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) system ofmotivational teaching practice and Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) class-

1 We must note that the final sample does not fully reflect the characteristics of the popu-lation in terms of its gender and age distribution however because of the large samplesize we believe the results are still generalizable

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 61

room observation scheme the COLT To replicate the real-time natureof Part A of the COLT the MOLT follows a time-sampling formatwhereby relevant classroom events are recorded every minute in an on-going manner

The content categories included in the MOLT concerned features ofthe learnersrsquo motivated behavior and the teacherrsquos motivational teaching prac-tice The learnersrsquo motivated behavior was operationalized as the stu-dentsrsquo levels of behavioral engagement in instructional events Moreprecisely it involved the observerrsquos assessment of the learnersrsquo level ofmotivated behavior in terms of the proportion of students who paidattention or actively participated during the class and who eagerly vol-unteered during teacher-fronted oral activities Table 1 presents a de-scription of the three variables belonging to the learnersrsquo motivated behav-ior cluster The attention and participation variables were encoded simi-larly to Emmer (1971 cited in Good amp Brophy 2003) but in this case athree level-scale was used very low = a few students low = one third to twothirds of the students and high = more than two thirds of the studentsFor the purpose of the analyses a conservative stance was taken andlearnersrsquo motivated behavior was equated with only the high level ofengagement

The aspects of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice included in theMOLT were based on Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) model of motivational teachingpractice described earlier We selected 25 motivational variables thatwere clearly definable and observable using our real-time observationscheme these are presented in Table 2 These variables were grouped inthe observation sheet into four categories teacher discourse participationstructure encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation and activity designIn accordance with Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) concept of the primaryfocus coding convention whenever two different events belonging to thesame category took place within a one-minute time segment only theevent that had taken up the greater portion of the one-minute segment

TABLE 1Observational Variables Measuring Learnersrsquo Motivated Behavior

Variables Description

Attention Students appear to be paying attention They are not displaying anyinattentive or disruptive behavior they are looking at the teacher andfollowing his or her movements looking at visual stimuli turning towatch another student who is contributing to the task following thetext being read or making appropriate nonverbal responses

Participation Students are actively taking part in classroom interaction or working onassigned activity

Volunteering forteacher-frontedactivity

At least one third of the students are volunteering without the teacherhaving to coax them in any way

62 TESOL QUARTERLY

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued on p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Social chat Having an informal (often humorous) chat withthe students on matters unrelated to the lesson

0ndash711 108

Signposting Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or givingretrospective summaries of progress alreadymade toward realizing the objectives

0ndash439 055

Stating thecommunicativepurpose or utilityof the activity

While presenting an activity mentioning itscommunicative purpose its usefulness outsidethe classroom its cross-curricular utility or theway it fits into the sequence of activities plannedfor the lesson

0ndash338 044

Establishingrelevance

Connecting what has to be learned to the studentsrsquoeveryday lives (eg giving grammatical exampleswith references to pop stars)

0ndash1238 395

Promotingintegrativevalues

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and culturalproducts and encouraging students to explorethe L2 culture and community

0ndash100 003

Promotinginstrumentalvalues

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in theworld and how knowing the L2 can bepotentially useful for the students themselves aswell as their community

0ndash102 005

Arousingcuriosity orattention

During the presentation of an activity raising thestudentsrsquo expectations that the upcoming activityis going to be interesting andor important(eg by asking them to guess what they aregoing to do next or by pointing out funchallenging or important aspects of the activityor contents to be learned)

0ndash900 149

Scaffolding Providing appropriate strategies andor models tohelp students complete an activity successfully(eg the teacher thinks aloud whiledemonstrating reminds students of previouslylearned knowledge or skills that will help themcomplete the activity or has the class brainstorma list of strategies to carry out the activity)

0ndash900 110

Promotingcooperation

Setting up a cooperative learning activity orexplicitly encouraging students to help oneanother offering suggestions on how best to dothis

0ndash307 043

Promotingautonomy

Offering students a choice of activities involvingthem in making decisions regarding the timingof an activity having them use the Internet ordo research (eg for oral presentationsprojects and displays)

0ndash787 066

Referentialquestions

Asking the class questions to which the teacherdoes not already know the answer includingquestions about the studentsrsquo lives

0ndash700 247

Group work The students are mingling working in fluid pairsor working in groups (simultaneously orpresenting to the whole class)

0ndash2500 273

Pair work The students are working in fixed pairs(simultaneously or presenting to the wholeclass)

0ndash1465 324

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 63

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

long and often tedious learning process Without sufficient motivationindividuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals Similarly appropriate curricula and good teaching are notenough on their own to ensure student achievementmdashstudents alsoneed to have a modicum of motivation (for recent reviews see Doumlrnyei2005 Ushioda in press)

Traditionally motivational psychologists have been more concernedabout what motivation is than about how we can use this knowledge tomotivate learners Recently however more and more researchers havedecided to examine the pedagogical implications of research by concep-tualizing motivational strategies (for reviews in educational psychology seeeg Brophy 2004 Ginsberg amp Wlodkowski 2000 Pintrich amp Schunk2002 within the area of language education see eg Alison amp Halliwell2002 Doumlrnyei 2001 2006 Williams amp Burden 1997) Thus motivationresearch has reached a level of maturity such that theoretical advanceshave started to inform methodological developments This article hasbeen written in that vein

The motivational strategies reported in the literature are usuallygrounded in sound theoretical considerations However very little re-search has been done to answer a crucial question Are the proposedtechniques actually effective in language classrooms This deficiency wasalready highlighted by Gardner and Tremblay (1994) over a decade agoIn reflecting on the potential usefulness of motivational strategies theyargued that from a scientific point of view intuitive appeal withoutempirical evidence was not enough to justify strong claims in favor ofusing such strategies They therefore recommended that motivationalstrategies be considered merely as hypotheses to be tested and high-lighted a number of possible pitfalls that such research should avoidThe possible discrepancy between the assumed and the actual motiva-tional power of certain motives or motivational strategies is indeed a realconcern which is well reflected in the title of a recent article by ChenWarden and Chang (2005) ldquoMotivators That Do Not Motivaterdquo

In retrospect we can conclude that L2 scholars have not taken upGardner and Tremblayrsquos (1994) recommendation that proposed moti-vational strategies be investigated in actual language classrooms Valida-tion studies are labor-intensive because they require the investigator toapply experimental designs andor extensive classroom observation Weare aware of only two published studies (Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007Doumlrnyei amp Csizeacuter 1998) that had the explicit objective to provide em-pirical data on the effectiveness of motivational strategies Howeverthese studies relied solely on teachersrsquo self-reports about how importantthey considered certain strategies and how often they used them theywere not based on documentation of the actual nature of the participat-

56 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing teachersrsquo motivational practicemdashwhich would have been more ob-jectivemdashnor on any classroom student behavior to which such practicemight have been linked

The current research aims to fill this gap by providing empirical dataobtained in a large-scale investigation of 40 ESOL classrooms in SouthKorea which involved more than 1300 learners and examined the linkbetween the teachersrsquo motivational teaching practice and their studentsrsquolanguage learning motivation A novel feature of our study is that incontrast to the usual practice of L2 motivation research which relies onself-report questionnaires our research paradigm includes a salient class-room observation component For this purpose we developed a newclassroom observation instrument the motivation orientation of lan-guage teaching (MOLT) which we used to assess the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational teaching practice as well as the level of the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior The MOLT follows the real-time coding prin-ciple of Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) communication orientation of lan-guage teaching (COLT) scheme but uses categories of observableteacher behaviors derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motivational strategiesframework for foreign language classrooms

A FRAMEWORK FOR MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES

Motivational strategies refer to (a) instructional interventions applied bythe teacher to elicit and stimulate student motivation and (b) self-regulating strategies that are used purposefully by individual students tomanage the level of their own motivation the motivational strategiesdiscussed in this article belong to type (a) Motivational strategies firstreceived substantial attention in the L2 literature in the 1990s when amajor paradigm shift in L2 motivation research highlighted the impor-tance of the learning environment in shaping situated aspects of thelearnersrsquo motivational disposition Various scholars published slightlydifferent lists of recommended motivational techniques (eg Alison1993 Doumlrnyei 1994 Oxford amp Shearin 1994 Williams amp Burden 1997)that classroom practitioners could apply to improve their teaching prac-tice by creating a more motivating classroom environment It soon be-came clear that the spectrum of available techniques was much widerthan the carrot-and-stick approach (ie offering rewards and punishment)that most language teachers associated with motivational teaching prac-tice However the diverse techniques lacked a theory-based frameworkthat could accommodate them The most systematic attempt to date toproduce such a taxonomy was made by Doumlrnyei (2001) who proposed aparsimonious system of four main dimensions

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 57

bull Creating basic motivational conditions by establishing a good teacher-student rapport creating a pleasant and supportive classroom atmo-sphere and generating a cohesive learner group with appropriategroup norms

bull Generating initial motivation that is ldquowhetting the studentsrsquo appetiterdquoby using strategies designed to (a) increase the learnersrsquo expectancyof success and (b) develop positive attitudes toward the languagecourse and language learning in general

bull Maintaining and protecting motivation by promoting situation-specifictask motivation (eg through the use of stimulating enjoyable andrelevant tasks) providing learners with experiences of success allow-ing them to maintain a positive social image even during the oftenface-threatening task of having to communicate with a severely lim-ited language code and promoting learner autonomy

bull Encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation by promoting adaptiveattributions providing effective and encouraging feedback increas-ing learner satisfaction and offering grades in a motivational man-ner

Figure 1 presents the schematic representation of the model indicat-ing the main macrostrategies associated with each dimension Doumlrnyei(2001) broke these macrostrategies down further into more than 100specific motivational techniques This motivational strategies frameworkserved as background to our investigation when we designed the class-room observation instruments

RESEARCH DESIGN AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In the current study we set out to examine empirically how a teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice affects his or her studentsrsquo motivatedlearning behavior as manifested by the amount of attention the studentspay in class and the extent of their participation and volunteering intasks When we designed the study we realized that the standard datagathering technique of L2 motivation researchmdashnamely the adminis-tration of questionnairesmdashwould not be sufficient to assess this processWe therefore decided to carry out a large-scale classroom observationstudy with a motivational focus with the intention of producing gener-alizable results and of obtaining varied and rich quantitative data con-cerning both the teacher and the students To this effect we designed ahighly structured observation scheme following the model of Spada andFroumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT We supplemented this instrument with a stu-dent questionnaire and a teacher appraisal form

58 TESOL QUARTERLY

At the beginning of the study we faced an important decision Shouldwe visit each site more than once or should we increase the sample sizeto the level that is appropriate to produce statistically significant resultsThe former option would have enhanced the picture we obtained ofeach class but would have reduced the number of L2 classes that wecould include in our sample Therefore partly because we wanted tocombine the observational data with a student survey we chose the

FIGURE 1The Components of a Motivational L2 Teaching Practice

(Doumlrnyei 2001 p 29 used with permission)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 59

second option and included 40 learner groups in our study with a stu-dent population of more than 1300 It followed from such a design thatinstead of focusing on the impact of specific strategies used by specificteachers which would have required a more intensive and preferablylongitudinal investigation we focused on examining the quality of theteachersrsquo overall motivational teaching practice by generating a compos-ite index of the rich observational data In other words although we didnot intend to claim that the particular motivational techniques we docu-mented in an observed class were all typical of the particular teacherrsquosgeneral practice we felt it was fair to assume that the sum of all themotivational techniques a teacher applied in his or her class would offera representative index of that teacherrsquos overall motivational awarenessand skills Having created this composite index we followed a correla-tional design whereby we computed correlations between the measuresrelated to the teacher and the students in order to establish links be-tween the teacherrsquos practice and the studentsrsquo behavior Our researchquestions were as follows

1 How does the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice affect thestudentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level of their atten-tion participation and volunteering

2 What is the relationship between the studentsrsquo self-reported motiva-tion (assessed by questionnaire) their actual classroom behaviorand the teacherrsquos classroom practice

METHOD

Participating Schools Teachers and Students

In South Korea the site of our research project there is a consciouseffort to provide equal educational opportunities for secondary schoolchildren (Seth 2002) Students who reside in a specific local educationdistrict are allocated to a school within the district through a lotterysystem and teachers vice-principals and principals in state schools arerotated within their provincial or metropolitan (not just local) educationdistrict usually every four years This was good news from our samplingperspective because it guaranteed a certain degree of school compara-bility and thus helped to avoid ending up with a biased sample The maincriterion for our specific sampling was to generate as much diversity aspossible in terms of school location and the teachersrsquo age qualificationsexperience and level of English proficiency To ensure a large enoughsample size we approached a wide network of regional contacts and also

60 TESOL QUARTERLY

applied snowball sampling that is participating teachers introduced us toother willing participants who met our criteria In the end 20 juniorhigh school principals granted permission to carry out research in theirschools which were located in a variety of mainland island rural urbanand metropolitan sites within one large region of South Korea Oursample of schools included 8 boysrsquo schools 5 girlsrsquo schools 5 coedschools with coed learner groups and 2 coed schools with single-sexlearner groups

After receiving their principalsrsquo permission 27 language teachers (4male and 23 female) agreed to take part in the main study They pre-sented a suitable variety Their ages ranged from 23ndash44 (M = 3165) andtheir teaching experience ranged from 1ndash20 years (M = 832) Allteacher-participants were asked to evaluate their own level of proficiencyin English None of them rated themselves as fluent 30 judged them-selves to be advanced 40 higher intermediate and 30 lower intermediate

Because of the considerable washback effect of the university entranceexamination (ie teaching to the test) in Korea we excluded highschool classes from our sample in favor of junior high classes and amongthe junior high students we preferred Year 1 and Year 2 learner groups(12ndash13 and 13ndash14 year olds) to Year 3 students (14ndash15 year olds) when-ever possible The final student sample involved 1381 students in 40classes 46 of the sample was from Year 1 46 from Year 2 and 8from Year 3 The participating students were 60 boys and 40 girls1

All of them were South Koreans and spoke Korean as their first language

Instruments

To obtain a valid and reliable picture of the motivational character-istics of the sample we used three different types of instrument (a) aclassroom observation scheme (b) a student questionnaire and (c) apostlesson teacher evaluation scale All three instruments were devel-oped for this study Each instrument underwent extensive pilotingwhich is described in the Procedures section

The MOLT Classroom Observation Scheme

The MOLT classroom observation scheme (see Appendix A) com-bines two established schemes or frameworks Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) system ofmotivational teaching practice and Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) class-

1 We must note that the final sample does not fully reflect the characteristics of the popu-lation in terms of its gender and age distribution however because of the large samplesize we believe the results are still generalizable

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 61

room observation scheme the COLT To replicate the real-time natureof Part A of the COLT the MOLT follows a time-sampling formatwhereby relevant classroom events are recorded every minute in an on-going manner

The content categories included in the MOLT concerned features ofthe learnersrsquo motivated behavior and the teacherrsquos motivational teaching prac-tice The learnersrsquo motivated behavior was operationalized as the stu-dentsrsquo levels of behavioral engagement in instructional events Moreprecisely it involved the observerrsquos assessment of the learnersrsquo level ofmotivated behavior in terms of the proportion of students who paidattention or actively participated during the class and who eagerly vol-unteered during teacher-fronted oral activities Table 1 presents a de-scription of the three variables belonging to the learnersrsquo motivated behav-ior cluster The attention and participation variables were encoded simi-larly to Emmer (1971 cited in Good amp Brophy 2003) but in this case athree level-scale was used very low = a few students low = one third to twothirds of the students and high = more than two thirds of the studentsFor the purpose of the analyses a conservative stance was taken andlearnersrsquo motivated behavior was equated with only the high level ofengagement

The aspects of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice included in theMOLT were based on Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) model of motivational teachingpractice described earlier We selected 25 motivational variables thatwere clearly definable and observable using our real-time observationscheme these are presented in Table 2 These variables were grouped inthe observation sheet into four categories teacher discourse participationstructure encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation and activity designIn accordance with Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) concept of the primaryfocus coding convention whenever two different events belonging to thesame category took place within a one-minute time segment only theevent that had taken up the greater portion of the one-minute segment

TABLE 1Observational Variables Measuring Learnersrsquo Motivated Behavior

Variables Description

Attention Students appear to be paying attention They are not displaying anyinattentive or disruptive behavior they are looking at the teacher andfollowing his or her movements looking at visual stimuli turning towatch another student who is contributing to the task following thetext being read or making appropriate nonverbal responses

Participation Students are actively taking part in classroom interaction or working onassigned activity

Volunteering forteacher-frontedactivity

At least one third of the students are volunteering without the teacherhaving to coax them in any way

62 TESOL QUARTERLY

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued on p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Social chat Having an informal (often humorous) chat withthe students on matters unrelated to the lesson

0ndash711 108

Signposting Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or givingretrospective summaries of progress alreadymade toward realizing the objectives

0ndash439 055

Stating thecommunicativepurpose or utilityof the activity

While presenting an activity mentioning itscommunicative purpose its usefulness outsidethe classroom its cross-curricular utility or theway it fits into the sequence of activities plannedfor the lesson

0ndash338 044

Establishingrelevance

Connecting what has to be learned to the studentsrsquoeveryday lives (eg giving grammatical exampleswith references to pop stars)

0ndash1238 395

Promotingintegrativevalues

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and culturalproducts and encouraging students to explorethe L2 culture and community

0ndash100 003

Promotinginstrumentalvalues

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in theworld and how knowing the L2 can bepotentially useful for the students themselves aswell as their community

0ndash102 005

Arousingcuriosity orattention

During the presentation of an activity raising thestudentsrsquo expectations that the upcoming activityis going to be interesting andor important(eg by asking them to guess what they aregoing to do next or by pointing out funchallenging or important aspects of the activityor contents to be learned)

0ndash900 149

Scaffolding Providing appropriate strategies andor models tohelp students complete an activity successfully(eg the teacher thinks aloud whiledemonstrating reminds students of previouslylearned knowledge or skills that will help themcomplete the activity or has the class brainstorma list of strategies to carry out the activity)

0ndash900 110

Promotingcooperation

Setting up a cooperative learning activity orexplicitly encouraging students to help oneanother offering suggestions on how best to dothis

0ndash307 043

Promotingautonomy

Offering students a choice of activities involvingthem in making decisions regarding the timingof an activity having them use the Internet ordo research (eg for oral presentationsprojects and displays)

0ndash787 066

Referentialquestions

Asking the class questions to which the teacherdoes not already know the answer includingquestions about the studentsrsquo lives

0ndash700 247

Group work The students are mingling working in fluid pairsor working in groups (simultaneously orpresenting to the whole class)

0ndash2500 273

Pair work The students are working in fixed pairs(simultaneously or presenting to the wholeclass)

0ndash1465 324

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 63

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing teachersrsquo motivational practicemdashwhich would have been more ob-jectivemdashnor on any classroom student behavior to which such practicemight have been linked

The current research aims to fill this gap by providing empirical dataobtained in a large-scale investigation of 40 ESOL classrooms in SouthKorea which involved more than 1300 learners and examined the linkbetween the teachersrsquo motivational teaching practice and their studentsrsquolanguage learning motivation A novel feature of our study is that incontrast to the usual practice of L2 motivation research which relies onself-report questionnaires our research paradigm includes a salient class-room observation component For this purpose we developed a newclassroom observation instrument the motivation orientation of lan-guage teaching (MOLT) which we used to assess the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational teaching practice as well as the level of the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior The MOLT follows the real-time coding prin-ciple of Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) communication orientation of lan-guage teaching (COLT) scheme but uses categories of observableteacher behaviors derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motivational strategiesframework for foreign language classrooms

A FRAMEWORK FOR MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES

Motivational strategies refer to (a) instructional interventions applied bythe teacher to elicit and stimulate student motivation and (b) self-regulating strategies that are used purposefully by individual students tomanage the level of their own motivation the motivational strategiesdiscussed in this article belong to type (a) Motivational strategies firstreceived substantial attention in the L2 literature in the 1990s when amajor paradigm shift in L2 motivation research highlighted the impor-tance of the learning environment in shaping situated aspects of thelearnersrsquo motivational disposition Various scholars published slightlydifferent lists of recommended motivational techniques (eg Alison1993 Doumlrnyei 1994 Oxford amp Shearin 1994 Williams amp Burden 1997)that classroom practitioners could apply to improve their teaching prac-tice by creating a more motivating classroom environment It soon be-came clear that the spectrum of available techniques was much widerthan the carrot-and-stick approach (ie offering rewards and punishment)that most language teachers associated with motivational teaching prac-tice However the diverse techniques lacked a theory-based frameworkthat could accommodate them The most systematic attempt to date toproduce such a taxonomy was made by Doumlrnyei (2001) who proposed aparsimonious system of four main dimensions

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 57

bull Creating basic motivational conditions by establishing a good teacher-student rapport creating a pleasant and supportive classroom atmo-sphere and generating a cohesive learner group with appropriategroup norms

bull Generating initial motivation that is ldquowhetting the studentsrsquo appetiterdquoby using strategies designed to (a) increase the learnersrsquo expectancyof success and (b) develop positive attitudes toward the languagecourse and language learning in general

bull Maintaining and protecting motivation by promoting situation-specifictask motivation (eg through the use of stimulating enjoyable andrelevant tasks) providing learners with experiences of success allow-ing them to maintain a positive social image even during the oftenface-threatening task of having to communicate with a severely lim-ited language code and promoting learner autonomy

bull Encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation by promoting adaptiveattributions providing effective and encouraging feedback increas-ing learner satisfaction and offering grades in a motivational man-ner

Figure 1 presents the schematic representation of the model indicat-ing the main macrostrategies associated with each dimension Doumlrnyei(2001) broke these macrostrategies down further into more than 100specific motivational techniques This motivational strategies frameworkserved as background to our investigation when we designed the class-room observation instruments

RESEARCH DESIGN AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In the current study we set out to examine empirically how a teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice affects his or her studentsrsquo motivatedlearning behavior as manifested by the amount of attention the studentspay in class and the extent of their participation and volunteering intasks When we designed the study we realized that the standard datagathering technique of L2 motivation researchmdashnamely the adminis-tration of questionnairesmdashwould not be sufficient to assess this processWe therefore decided to carry out a large-scale classroom observationstudy with a motivational focus with the intention of producing gener-alizable results and of obtaining varied and rich quantitative data con-cerning both the teacher and the students To this effect we designed ahighly structured observation scheme following the model of Spada andFroumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT We supplemented this instrument with a stu-dent questionnaire and a teacher appraisal form

58 TESOL QUARTERLY

At the beginning of the study we faced an important decision Shouldwe visit each site more than once or should we increase the sample sizeto the level that is appropriate to produce statistically significant resultsThe former option would have enhanced the picture we obtained ofeach class but would have reduced the number of L2 classes that wecould include in our sample Therefore partly because we wanted tocombine the observational data with a student survey we chose the

FIGURE 1The Components of a Motivational L2 Teaching Practice

(Doumlrnyei 2001 p 29 used with permission)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 59

second option and included 40 learner groups in our study with a stu-dent population of more than 1300 It followed from such a design thatinstead of focusing on the impact of specific strategies used by specificteachers which would have required a more intensive and preferablylongitudinal investigation we focused on examining the quality of theteachersrsquo overall motivational teaching practice by generating a compos-ite index of the rich observational data In other words although we didnot intend to claim that the particular motivational techniques we docu-mented in an observed class were all typical of the particular teacherrsquosgeneral practice we felt it was fair to assume that the sum of all themotivational techniques a teacher applied in his or her class would offera representative index of that teacherrsquos overall motivational awarenessand skills Having created this composite index we followed a correla-tional design whereby we computed correlations between the measuresrelated to the teacher and the students in order to establish links be-tween the teacherrsquos practice and the studentsrsquo behavior Our researchquestions were as follows

1 How does the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice affect thestudentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level of their atten-tion participation and volunteering

2 What is the relationship between the studentsrsquo self-reported motiva-tion (assessed by questionnaire) their actual classroom behaviorand the teacherrsquos classroom practice

METHOD

Participating Schools Teachers and Students

In South Korea the site of our research project there is a consciouseffort to provide equal educational opportunities for secondary schoolchildren (Seth 2002) Students who reside in a specific local educationdistrict are allocated to a school within the district through a lotterysystem and teachers vice-principals and principals in state schools arerotated within their provincial or metropolitan (not just local) educationdistrict usually every four years This was good news from our samplingperspective because it guaranteed a certain degree of school compara-bility and thus helped to avoid ending up with a biased sample The maincriterion for our specific sampling was to generate as much diversity aspossible in terms of school location and the teachersrsquo age qualificationsexperience and level of English proficiency To ensure a large enoughsample size we approached a wide network of regional contacts and also

60 TESOL QUARTERLY

applied snowball sampling that is participating teachers introduced us toother willing participants who met our criteria In the end 20 juniorhigh school principals granted permission to carry out research in theirschools which were located in a variety of mainland island rural urbanand metropolitan sites within one large region of South Korea Oursample of schools included 8 boysrsquo schools 5 girlsrsquo schools 5 coedschools with coed learner groups and 2 coed schools with single-sexlearner groups

After receiving their principalsrsquo permission 27 language teachers (4male and 23 female) agreed to take part in the main study They pre-sented a suitable variety Their ages ranged from 23ndash44 (M = 3165) andtheir teaching experience ranged from 1ndash20 years (M = 832) Allteacher-participants were asked to evaluate their own level of proficiencyin English None of them rated themselves as fluent 30 judged them-selves to be advanced 40 higher intermediate and 30 lower intermediate

Because of the considerable washback effect of the university entranceexamination (ie teaching to the test) in Korea we excluded highschool classes from our sample in favor of junior high classes and amongthe junior high students we preferred Year 1 and Year 2 learner groups(12ndash13 and 13ndash14 year olds) to Year 3 students (14ndash15 year olds) when-ever possible The final student sample involved 1381 students in 40classes 46 of the sample was from Year 1 46 from Year 2 and 8from Year 3 The participating students were 60 boys and 40 girls1

All of them were South Koreans and spoke Korean as their first language

Instruments

To obtain a valid and reliable picture of the motivational character-istics of the sample we used three different types of instrument (a) aclassroom observation scheme (b) a student questionnaire and (c) apostlesson teacher evaluation scale All three instruments were devel-oped for this study Each instrument underwent extensive pilotingwhich is described in the Procedures section

The MOLT Classroom Observation Scheme

The MOLT classroom observation scheme (see Appendix A) com-bines two established schemes or frameworks Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) system ofmotivational teaching practice and Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) class-

1 We must note that the final sample does not fully reflect the characteristics of the popu-lation in terms of its gender and age distribution however because of the large samplesize we believe the results are still generalizable

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 61

room observation scheme the COLT To replicate the real-time natureof Part A of the COLT the MOLT follows a time-sampling formatwhereby relevant classroom events are recorded every minute in an on-going manner

The content categories included in the MOLT concerned features ofthe learnersrsquo motivated behavior and the teacherrsquos motivational teaching prac-tice The learnersrsquo motivated behavior was operationalized as the stu-dentsrsquo levels of behavioral engagement in instructional events Moreprecisely it involved the observerrsquos assessment of the learnersrsquo level ofmotivated behavior in terms of the proportion of students who paidattention or actively participated during the class and who eagerly vol-unteered during teacher-fronted oral activities Table 1 presents a de-scription of the three variables belonging to the learnersrsquo motivated behav-ior cluster The attention and participation variables were encoded simi-larly to Emmer (1971 cited in Good amp Brophy 2003) but in this case athree level-scale was used very low = a few students low = one third to twothirds of the students and high = more than two thirds of the studentsFor the purpose of the analyses a conservative stance was taken andlearnersrsquo motivated behavior was equated with only the high level ofengagement

The aspects of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice included in theMOLT were based on Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) model of motivational teachingpractice described earlier We selected 25 motivational variables thatwere clearly definable and observable using our real-time observationscheme these are presented in Table 2 These variables were grouped inthe observation sheet into four categories teacher discourse participationstructure encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation and activity designIn accordance with Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) concept of the primaryfocus coding convention whenever two different events belonging to thesame category took place within a one-minute time segment only theevent that had taken up the greater portion of the one-minute segment

TABLE 1Observational Variables Measuring Learnersrsquo Motivated Behavior

Variables Description

Attention Students appear to be paying attention They are not displaying anyinattentive or disruptive behavior they are looking at the teacher andfollowing his or her movements looking at visual stimuli turning towatch another student who is contributing to the task following thetext being read or making appropriate nonverbal responses

Participation Students are actively taking part in classroom interaction or working onassigned activity

Volunteering forteacher-frontedactivity

At least one third of the students are volunteering without the teacherhaving to coax them in any way

62 TESOL QUARTERLY

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued on p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Social chat Having an informal (often humorous) chat withthe students on matters unrelated to the lesson

0ndash711 108

Signposting Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or givingretrospective summaries of progress alreadymade toward realizing the objectives

0ndash439 055

Stating thecommunicativepurpose or utilityof the activity

While presenting an activity mentioning itscommunicative purpose its usefulness outsidethe classroom its cross-curricular utility or theway it fits into the sequence of activities plannedfor the lesson

0ndash338 044

Establishingrelevance

Connecting what has to be learned to the studentsrsquoeveryday lives (eg giving grammatical exampleswith references to pop stars)

0ndash1238 395

Promotingintegrativevalues

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and culturalproducts and encouraging students to explorethe L2 culture and community

0ndash100 003

Promotinginstrumentalvalues

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in theworld and how knowing the L2 can bepotentially useful for the students themselves aswell as their community

0ndash102 005

Arousingcuriosity orattention

During the presentation of an activity raising thestudentsrsquo expectations that the upcoming activityis going to be interesting andor important(eg by asking them to guess what they aregoing to do next or by pointing out funchallenging or important aspects of the activityor contents to be learned)

0ndash900 149

Scaffolding Providing appropriate strategies andor models tohelp students complete an activity successfully(eg the teacher thinks aloud whiledemonstrating reminds students of previouslylearned knowledge or skills that will help themcomplete the activity or has the class brainstorma list of strategies to carry out the activity)

0ndash900 110

Promotingcooperation

Setting up a cooperative learning activity orexplicitly encouraging students to help oneanother offering suggestions on how best to dothis

0ndash307 043

Promotingautonomy

Offering students a choice of activities involvingthem in making decisions regarding the timingof an activity having them use the Internet ordo research (eg for oral presentationsprojects and displays)

0ndash787 066

Referentialquestions

Asking the class questions to which the teacherdoes not already know the answer includingquestions about the studentsrsquo lives

0ndash700 247

Group work The students are mingling working in fluid pairsor working in groups (simultaneously orpresenting to the whole class)

0ndash2500 273

Pair work The students are working in fixed pairs(simultaneously or presenting to the wholeclass)

0ndash1465 324

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 63

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

bull Creating basic motivational conditions by establishing a good teacher-student rapport creating a pleasant and supportive classroom atmo-sphere and generating a cohesive learner group with appropriategroup norms

bull Generating initial motivation that is ldquowhetting the studentsrsquo appetiterdquoby using strategies designed to (a) increase the learnersrsquo expectancyof success and (b) develop positive attitudes toward the languagecourse and language learning in general

bull Maintaining and protecting motivation by promoting situation-specifictask motivation (eg through the use of stimulating enjoyable andrelevant tasks) providing learners with experiences of success allow-ing them to maintain a positive social image even during the oftenface-threatening task of having to communicate with a severely lim-ited language code and promoting learner autonomy

bull Encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation by promoting adaptiveattributions providing effective and encouraging feedback increas-ing learner satisfaction and offering grades in a motivational man-ner

Figure 1 presents the schematic representation of the model indicat-ing the main macrostrategies associated with each dimension Doumlrnyei(2001) broke these macrostrategies down further into more than 100specific motivational techniques This motivational strategies frameworkserved as background to our investigation when we designed the class-room observation instruments

RESEARCH DESIGN AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS

In the current study we set out to examine empirically how a teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice affects his or her studentsrsquo motivatedlearning behavior as manifested by the amount of attention the studentspay in class and the extent of their participation and volunteering intasks When we designed the study we realized that the standard datagathering technique of L2 motivation researchmdashnamely the adminis-tration of questionnairesmdashwould not be sufficient to assess this processWe therefore decided to carry out a large-scale classroom observationstudy with a motivational focus with the intention of producing gener-alizable results and of obtaining varied and rich quantitative data con-cerning both the teacher and the students To this effect we designed ahighly structured observation scheme following the model of Spada andFroumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT We supplemented this instrument with a stu-dent questionnaire and a teacher appraisal form

58 TESOL QUARTERLY

At the beginning of the study we faced an important decision Shouldwe visit each site more than once or should we increase the sample sizeto the level that is appropriate to produce statistically significant resultsThe former option would have enhanced the picture we obtained ofeach class but would have reduced the number of L2 classes that wecould include in our sample Therefore partly because we wanted tocombine the observational data with a student survey we chose the

FIGURE 1The Components of a Motivational L2 Teaching Practice

(Doumlrnyei 2001 p 29 used with permission)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 59

second option and included 40 learner groups in our study with a stu-dent population of more than 1300 It followed from such a design thatinstead of focusing on the impact of specific strategies used by specificteachers which would have required a more intensive and preferablylongitudinal investigation we focused on examining the quality of theteachersrsquo overall motivational teaching practice by generating a compos-ite index of the rich observational data In other words although we didnot intend to claim that the particular motivational techniques we docu-mented in an observed class were all typical of the particular teacherrsquosgeneral practice we felt it was fair to assume that the sum of all themotivational techniques a teacher applied in his or her class would offera representative index of that teacherrsquos overall motivational awarenessand skills Having created this composite index we followed a correla-tional design whereby we computed correlations between the measuresrelated to the teacher and the students in order to establish links be-tween the teacherrsquos practice and the studentsrsquo behavior Our researchquestions were as follows

1 How does the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice affect thestudentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level of their atten-tion participation and volunteering

2 What is the relationship between the studentsrsquo self-reported motiva-tion (assessed by questionnaire) their actual classroom behaviorand the teacherrsquos classroom practice

METHOD

Participating Schools Teachers and Students

In South Korea the site of our research project there is a consciouseffort to provide equal educational opportunities for secondary schoolchildren (Seth 2002) Students who reside in a specific local educationdistrict are allocated to a school within the district through a lotterysystem and teachers vice-principals and principals in state schools arerotated within their provincial or metropolitan (not just local) educationdistrict usually every four years This was good news from our samplingperspective because it guaranteed a certain degree of school compara-bility and thus helped to avoid ending up with a biased sample The maincriterion for our specific sampling was to generate as much diversity aspossible in terms of school location and the teachersrsquo age qualificationsexperience and level of English proficiency To ensure a large enoughsample size we approached a wide network of regional contacts and also

60 TESOL QUARTERLY

applied snowball sampling that is participating teachers introduced us toother willing participants who met our criteria In the end 20 juniorhigh school principals granted permission to carry out research in theirschools which were located in a variety of mainland island rural urbanand metropolitan sites within one large region of South Korea Oursample of schools included 8 boysrsquo schools 5 girlsrsquo schools 5 coedschools with coed learner groups and 2 coed schools with single-sexlearner groups

After receiving their principalsrsquo permission 27 language teachers (4male and 23 female) agreed to take part in the main study They pre-sented a suitable variety Their ages ranged from 23ndash44 (M = 3165) andtheir teaching experience ranged from 1ndash20 years (M = 832) Allteacher-participants were asked to evaluate their own level of proficiencyin English None of them rated themselves as fluent 30 judged them-selves to be advanced 40 higher intermediate and 30 lower intermediate

Because of the considerable washback effect of the university entranceexamination (ie teaching to the test) in Korea we excluded highschool classes from our sample in favor of junior high classes and amongthe junior high students we preferred Year 1 and Year 2 learner groups(12ndash13 and 13ndash14 year olds) to Year 3 students (14ndash15 year olds) when-ever possible The final student sample involved 1381 students in 40classes 46 of the sample was from Year 1 46 from Year 2 and 8from Year 3 The participating students were 60 boys and 40 girls1

All of them were South Koreans and spoke Korean as their first language

Instruments

To obtain a valid and reliable picture of the motivational character-istics of the sample we used three different types of instrument (a) aclassroom observation scheme (b) a student questionnaire and (c) apostlesson teacher evaluation scale All three instruments were devel-oped for this study Each instrument underwent extensive pilotingwhich is described in the Procedures section

The MOLT Classroom Observation Scheme

The MOLT classroom observation scheme (see Appendix A) com-bines two established schemes or frameworks Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) system ofmotivational teaching practice and Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) class-

1 We must note that the final sample does not fully reflect the characteristics of the popu-lation in terms of its gender and age distribution however because of the large samplesize we believe the results are still generalizable

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 61

room observation scheme the COLT To replicate the real-time natureof Part A of the COLT the MOLT follows a time-sampling formatwhereby relevant classroom events are recorded every minute in an on-going manner

The content categories included in the MOLT concerned features ofthe learnersrsquo motivated behavior and the teacherrsquos motivational teaching prac-tice The learnersrsquo motivated behavior was operationalized as the stu-dentsrsquo levels of behavioral engagement in instructional events Moreprecisely it involved the observerrsquos assessment of the learnersrsquo level ofmotivated behavior in terms of the proportion of students who paidattention or actively participated during the class and who eagerly vol-unteered during teacher-fronted oral activities Table 1 presents a de-scription of the three variables belonging to the learnersrsquo motivated behav-ior cluster The attention and participation variables were encoded simi-larly to Emmer (1971 cited in Good amp Brophy 2003) but in this case athree level-scale was used very low = a few students low = one third to twothirds of the students and high = more than two thirds of the studentsFor the purpose of the analyses a conservative stance was taken andlearnersrsquo motivated behavior was equated with only the high level ofengagement

The aspects of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice included in theMOLT were based on Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) model of motivational teachingpractice described earlier We selected 25 motivational variables thatwere clearly definable and observable using our real-time observationscheme these are presented in Table 2 These variables were grouped inthe observation sheet into four categories teacher discourse participationstructure encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation and activity designIn accordance with Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) concept of the primaryfocus coding convention whenever two different events belonging to thesame category took place within a one-minute time segment only theevent that had taken up the greater portion of the one-minute segment

TABLE 1Observational Variables Measuring Learnersrsquo Motivated Behavior

Variables Description

Attention Students appear to be paying attention They are not displaying anyinattentive or disruptive behavior they are looking at the teacher andfollowing his or her movements looking at visual stimuli turning towatch another student who is contributing to the task following thetext being read or making appropriate nonverbal responses

Participation Students are actively taking part in classroom interaction or working onassigned activity

Volunteering forteacher-frontedactivity

At least one third of the students are volunteering without the teacherhaving to coax them in any way

62 TESOL QUARTERLY

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued on p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Social chat Having an informal (often humorous) chat withthe students on matters unrelated to the lesson

0ndash711 108

Signposting Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or givingretrospective summaries of progress alreadymade toward realizing the objectives

0ndash439 055

Stating thecommunicativepurpose or utilityof the activity

While presenting an activity mentioning itscommunicative purpose its usefulness outsidethe classroom its cross-curricular utility or theway it fits into the sequence of activities plannedfor the lesson

0ndash338 044

Establishingrelevance

Connecting what has to be learned to the studentsrsquoeveryday lives (eg giving grammatical exampleswith references to pop stars)

0ndash1238 395

Promotingintegrativevalues

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and culturalproducts and encouraging students to explorethe L2 culture and community

0ndash100 003

Promotinginstrumentalvalues

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in theworld and how knowing the L2 can bepotentially useful for the students themselves aswell as their community

0ndash102 005

Arousingcuriosity orattention

During the presentation of an activity raising thestudentsrsquo expectations that the upcoming activityis going to be interesting andor important(eg by asking them to guess what they aregoing to do next or by pointing out funchallenging or important aspects of the activityor contents to be learned)

0ndash900 149

Scaffolding Providing appropriate strategies andor models tohelp students complete an activity successfully(eg the teacher thinks aloud whiledemonstrating reminds students of previouslylearned knowledge or skills that will help themcomplete the activity or has the class brainstorma list of strategies to carry out the activity)

0ndash900 110

Promotingcooperation

Setting up a cooperative learning activity orexplicitly encouraging students to help oneanother offering suggestions on how best to dothis

0ndash307 043

Promotingautonomy

Offering students a choice of activities involvingthem in making decisions regarding the timingof an activity having them use the Internet ordo research (eg for oral presentationsprojects and displays)

0ndash787 066

Referentialquestions

Asking the class questions to which the teacherdoes not already know the answer includingquestions about the studentsrsquo lives

0ndash700 247

Group work The students are mingling working in fluid pairsor working in groups (simultaneously orpresenting to the whole class)

0ndash2500 273

Pair work The students are working in fixed pairs(simultaneously or presenting to the wholeclass)

0ndash1465 324

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 63

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

At the beginning of the study we faced an important decision Shouldwe visit each site more than once or should we increase the sample sizeto the level that is appropriate to produce statistically significant resultsThe former option would have enhanced the picture we obtained ofeach class but would have reduced the number of L2 classes that wecould include in our sample Therefore partly because we wanted tocombine the observational data with a student survey we chose the

FIGURE 1The Components of a Motivational L2 Teaching Practice

(Doumlrnyei 2001 p 29 used with permission)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 59

second option and included 40 learner groups in our study with a stu-dent population of more than 1300 It followed from such a design thatinstead of focusing on the impact of specific strategies used by specificteachers which would have required a more intensive and preferablylongitudinal investigation we focused on examining the quality of theteachersrsquo overall motivational teaching practice by generating a compos-ite index of the rich observational data In other words although we didnot intend to claim that the particular motivational techniques we docu-mented in an observed class were all typical of the particular teacherrsquosgeneral practice we felt it was fair to assume that the sum of all themotivational techniques a teacher applied in his or her class would offera representative index of that teacherrsquos overall motivational awarenessand skills Having created this composite index we followed a correla-tional design whereby we computed correlations between the measuresrelated to the teacher and the students in order to establish links be-tween the teacherrsquos practice and the studentsrsquo behavior Our researchquestions were as follows

1 How does the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice affect thestudentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level of their atten-tion participation and volunteering

2 What is the relationship between the studentsrsquo self-reported motiva-tion (assessed by questionnaire) their actual classroom behaviorand the teacherrsquos classroom practice

METHOD

Participating Schools Teachers and Students

In South Korea the site of our research project there is a consciouseffort to provide equal educational opportunities for secondary schoolchildren (Seth 2002) Students who reside in a specific local educationdistrict are allocated to a school within the district through a lotterysystem and teachers vice-principals and principals in state schools arerotated within their provincial or metropolitan (not just local) educationdistrict usually every four years This was good news from our samplingperspective because it guaranteed a certain degree of school compara-bility and thus helped to avoid ending up with a biased sample The maincriterion for our specific sampling was to generate as much diversity aspossible in terms of school location and the teachersrsquo age qualificationsexperience and level of English proficiency To ensure a large enoughsample size we approached a wide network of regional contacts and also

60 TESOL QUARTERLY

applied snowball sampling that is participating teachers introduced us toother willing participants who met our criteria In the end 20 juniorhigh school principals granted permission to carry out research in theirschools which were located in a variety of mainland island rural urbanand metropolitan sites within one large region of South Korea Oursample of schools included 8 boysrsquo schools 5 girlsrsquo schools 5 coedschools with coed learner groups and 2 coed schools with single-sexlearner groups

After receiving their principalsrsquo permission 27 language teachers (4male and 23 female) agreed to take part in the main study They pre-sented a suitable variety Their ages ranged from 23ndash44 (M = 3165) andtheir teaching experience ranged from 1ndash20 years (M = 832) Allteacher-participants were asked to evaluate their own level of proficiencyin English None of them rated themselves as fluent 30 judged them-selves to be advanced 40 higher intermediate and 30 lower intermediate

Because of the considerable washback effect of the university entranceexamination (ie teaching to the test) in Korea we excluded highschool classes from our sample in favor of junior high classes and amongthe junior high students we preferred Year 1 and Year 2 learner groups(12ndash13 and 13ndash14 year olds) to Year 3 students (14ndash15 year olds) when-ever possible The final student sample involved 1381 students in 40classes 46 of the sample was from Year 1 46 from Year 2 and 8from Year 3 The participating students were 60 boys and 40 girls1

All of them were South Koreans and spoke Korean as their first language

Instruments

To obtain a valid and reliable picture of the motivational character-istics of the sample we used three different types of instrument (a) aclassroom observation scheme (b) a student questionnaire and (c) apostlesson teacher evaluation scale All three instruments were devel-oped for this study Each instrument underwent extensive pilotingwhich is described in the Procedures section

The MOLT Classroom Observation Scheme

The MOLT classroom observation scheme (see Appendix A) com-bines two established schemes or frameworks Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) system ofmotivational teaching practice and Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) class-

1 We must note that the final sample does not fully reflect the characteristics of the popu-lation in terms of its gender and age distribution however because of the large samplesize we believe the results are still generalizable

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 61

room observation scheme the COLT To replicate the real-time natureof Part A of the COLT the MOLT follows a time-sampling formatwhereby relevant classroom events are recorded every minute in an on-going manner

The content categories included in the MOLT concerned features ofthe learnersrsquo motivated behavior and the teacherrsquos motivational teaching prac-tice The learnersrsquo motivated behavior was operationalized as the stu-dentsrsquo levels of behavioral engagement in instructional events Moreprecisely it involved the observerrsquos assessment of the learnersrsquo level ofmotivated behavior in terms of the proportion of students who paidattention or actively participated during the class and who eagerly vol-unteered during teacher-fronted oral activities Table 1 presents a de-scription of the three variables belonging to the learnersrsquo motivated behav-ior cluster The attention and participation variables were encoded simi-larly to Emmer (1971 cited in Good amp Brophy 2003) but in this case athree level-scale was used very low = a few students low = one third to twothirds of the students and high = more than two thirds of the studentsFor the purpose of the analyses a conservative stance was taken andlearnersrsquo motivated behavior was equated with only the high level ofengagement

The aspects of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice included in theMOLT were based on Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) model of motivational teachingpractice described earlier We selected 25 motivational variables thatwere clearly definable and observable using our real-time observationscheme these are presented in Table 2 These variables were grouped inthe observation sheet into four categories teacher discourse participationstructure encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation and activity designIn accordance with Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) concept of the primaryfocus coding convention whenever two different events belonging to thesame category took place within a one-minute time segment only theevent that had taken up the greater portion of the one-minute segment

TABLE 1Observational Variables Measuring Learnersrsquo Motivated Behavior

Variables Description

Attention Students appear to be paying attention They are not displaying anyinattentive or disruptive behavior they are looking at the teacher andfollowing his or her movements looking at visual stimuli turning towatch another student who is contributing to the task following thetext being read or making appropriate nonverbal responses

Participation Students are actively taking part in classroom interaction or working onassigned activity

Volunteering forteacher-frontedactivity

At least one third of the students are volunteering without the teacherhaving to coax them in any way

62 TESOL QUARTERLY

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued on p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Social chat Having an informal (often humorous) chat withthe students on matters unrelated to the lesson

0ndash711 108

Signposting Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or givingretrospective summaries of progress alreadymade toward realizing the objectives

0ndash439 055

Stating thecommunicativepurpose or utilityof the activity

While presenting an activity mentioning itscommunicative purpose its usefulness outsidethe classroom its cross-curricular utility or theway it fits into the sequence of activities plannedfor the lesson

0ndash338 044

Establishingrelevance

Connecting what has to be learned to the studentsrsquoeveryday lives (eg giving grammatical exampleswith references to pop stars)

0ndash1238 395

Promotingintegrativevalues

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and culturalproducts and encouraging students to explorethe L2 culture and community

0ndash100 003

Promotinginstrumentalvalues

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in theworld and how knowing the L2 can bepotentially useful for the students themselves aswell as their community

0ndash102 005

Arousingcuriosity orattention

During the presentation of an activity raising thestudentsrsquo expectations that the upcoming activityis going to be interesting andor important(eg by asking them to guess what they aregoing to do next or by pointing out funchallenging or important aspects of the activityor contents to be learned)

0ndash900 149

Scaffolding Providing appropriate strategies andor models tohelp students complete an activity successfully(eg the teacher thinks aloud whiledemonstrating reminds students of previouslylearned knowledge or skills that will help themcomplete the activity or has the class brainstorma list of strategies to carry out the activity)

0ndash900 110

Promotingcooperation

Setting up a cooperative learning activity orexplicitly encouraging students to help oneanother offering suggestions on how best to dothis

0ndash307 043

Promotingautonomy

Offering students a choice of activities involvingthem in making decisions regarding the timingof an activity having them use the Internet ordo research (eg for oral presentationsprojects and displays)

0ndash787 066

Referentialquestions

Asking the class questions to which the teacherdoes not already know the answer includingquestions about the studentsrsquo lives

0ndash700 247

Group work The students are mingling working in fluid pairsor working in groups (simultaneously orpresenting to the whole class)

0ndash2500 273

Pair work The students are working in fixed pairs(simultaneously or presenting to the wholeclass)

0ndash1465 324

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 63

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

second option and included 40 learner groups in our study with a stu-dent population of more than 1300 It followed from such a design thatinstead of focusing on the impact of specific strategies used by specificteachers which would have required a more intensive and preferablylongitudinal investigation we focused on examining the quality of theteachersrsquo overall motivational teaching practice by generating a compos-ite index of the rich observational data In other words although we didnot intend to claim that the particular motivational techniques we docu-mented in an observed class were all typical of the particular teacherrsquosgeneral practice we felt it was fair to assume that the sum of all themotivational techniques a teacher applied in his or her class would offera representative index of that teacherrsquos overall motivational awarenessand skills Having created this composite index we followed a correla-tional design whereby we computed correlations between the measuresrelated to the teacher and the students in order to establish links be-tween the teacherrsquos practice and the studentsrsquo behavior Our researchquestions were as follows

1 How does the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice affect thestudentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level of their atten-tion participation and volunteering

2 What is the relationship between the studentsrsquo self-reported motiva-tion (assessed by questionnaire) their actual classroom behaviorand the teacherrsquos classroom practice

METHOD

Participating Schools Teachers and Students

In South Korea the site of our research project there is a consciouseffort to provide equal educational opportunities for secondary schoolchildren (Seth 2002) Students who reside in a specific local educationdistrict are allocated to a school within the district through a lotterysystem and teachers vice-principals and principals in state schools arerotated within their provincial or metropolitan (not just local) educationdistrict usually every four years This was good news from our samplingperspective because it guaranteed a certain degree of school compara-bility and thus helped to avoid ending up with a biased sample The maincriterion for our specific sampling was to generate as much diversity aspossible in terms of school location and the teachersrsquo age qualificationsexperience and level of English proficiency To ensure a large enoughsample size we approached a wide network of regional contacts and also

60 TESOL QUARTERLY

applied snowball sampling that is participating teachers introduced us toother willing participants who met our criteria In the end 20 juniorhigh school principals granted permission to carry out research in theirschools which were located in a variety of mainland island rural urbanand metropolitan sites within one large region of South Korea Oursample of schools included 8 boysrsquo schools 5 girlsrsquo schools 5 coedschools with coed learner groups and 2 coed schools with single-sexlearner groups

After receiving their principalsrsquo permission 27 language teachers (4male and 23 female) agreed to take part in the main study They pre-sented a suitable variety Their ages ranged from 23ndash44 (M = 3165) andtheir teaching experience ranged from 1ndash20 years (M = 832) Allteacher-participants were asked to evaluate their own level of proficiencyin English None of them rated themselves as fluent 30 judged them-selves to be advanced 40 higher intermediate and 30 lower intermediate

Because of the considerable washback effect of the university entranceexamination (ie teaching to the test) in Korea we excluded highschool classes from our sample in favor of junior high classes and amongthe junior high students we preferred Year 1 and Year 2 learner groups(12ndash13 and 13ndash14 year olds) to Year 3 students (14ndash15 year olds) when-ever possible The final student sample involved 1381 students in 40classes 46 of the sample was from Year 1 46 from Year 2 and 8from Year 3 The participating students were 60 boys and 40 girls1

All of them were South Koreans and spoke Korean as their first language

Instruments

To obtain a valid and reliable picture of the motivational character-istics of the sample we used three different types of instrument (a) aclassroom observation scheme (b) a student questionnaire and (c) apostlesson teacher evaluation scale All three instruments were devel-oped for this study Each instrument underwent extensive pilotingwhich is described in the Procedures section

The MOLT Classroom Observation Scheme

The MOLT classroom observation scheme (see Appendix A) com-bines two established schemes or frameworks Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) system ofmotivational teaching practice and Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) class-

1 We must note that the final sample does not fully reflect the characteristics of the popu-lation in terms of its gender and age distribution however because of the large samplesize we believe the results are still generalizable

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 61

room observation scheme the COLT To replicate the real-time natureof Part A of the COLT the MOLT follows a time-sampling formatwhereby relevant classroom events are recorded every minute in an on-going manner

The content categories included in the MOLT concerned features ofthe learnersrsquo motivated behavior and the teacherrsquos motivational teaching prac-tice The learnersrsquo motivated behavior was operationalized as the stu-dentsrsquo levels of behavioral engagement in instructional events Moreprecisely it involved the observerrsquos assessment of the learnersrsquo level ofmotivated behavior in terms of the proportion of students who paidattention or actively participated during the class and who eagerly vol-unteered during teacher-fronted oral activities Table 1 presents a de-scription of the three variables belonging to the learnersrsquo motivated behav-ior cluster The attention and participation variables were encoded simi-larly to Emmer (1971 cited in Good amp Brophy 2003) but in this case athree level-scale was used very low = a few students low = one third to twothirds of the students and high = more than two thirds of the studentsFor the purpose of the analyses a conservative stance was taken andlearnersrsquo motivated behavior was equated with only the high level ofengagement

The aspects of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice included in theMOLT were based on Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) model of motivational teachingpractice described earlier We selected 25 motivational variables thatwere clearly definable and observable using our real-time observationscheme these are presented in Table 2 These variables were grouped inthe observation sheet into four categories teacher discourse participationstructure encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation and activity designIn accordance with Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) concept of the primaryfocus coding convention whenever two different events belonging to thesame category took place within a one-minute time segment only theevent that had taken up the greater portion of the one-minute segment

TABLE 1Observational Variables Measuring Learnersrsquo Motivated Behavior

Variables Description

Attention Students appear to be paying attention They are not displaying anyinattentive or disruptive behavior they are looking at the teacher andfollowing his or her movements looking at visual stimuli turning towatch another student who is contributing to the task following thetext being read or making appropriate nonverbal responses

Participation Students are actively taking part in classroom interaction or working onassigned activity

Volunteering forteacher-frontedactivity

At least one third of the students are volunteering without the teacherhaving to coax them in any way

62 TESOL QUARTERLY

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued on p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Social chat Having an informal (often humorous) chat withthe students on matters unrelated to the lesson

0ndash711 108

Signposting Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or givingretrospective summaries of progress alreadymade toward realizing the objectives

0ndash439 055

Stating thecommunicativepurpose or utilityof the activity

While presenting an activity mentioning itscommunicative purpose its usefulness outsidethe classroom its cross-curricular utility or theway it fits into the sequence of activities plannedfor the lesson

0ndash338 044

Establishingrelevance

Connecting what has to be learned to the studentsrsquoeveryday lives (eg giving grammatical exampleswith references to pop stars)

0ndash1238 395

Promotingintegrativevalues

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and culturalproducts and encouraging students to explorethe L2 culture and community

0ndash100 003

Promotinginstrumentalvalues

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in theworld and how knowing the L2 can bepotentially useful for the students themselves aswell as their community

0ndash102 005

Arousingcuriosity orattention

During the presentation of an activity raising thestudentsrsquo expectations that the upcoming activityis going to be interesting andor important(eg by asking them to guess what they aregoing to do next or by pointing out funchallenging or important aspects of the activityor contents to be learned)

0ndash900 149

Scaffolding Providing appropriate strategies andor models tohelp students complete an activity successfully(eg the teacher thinks aloud whiledemonstrating reminds students of previouslylearned knowledge or skills that will help themcomplete the activity or has the class brainstorma list of strategies to carry out the activity)

0ndash900 110

Promotingcooperation

Setting up a cooperative learning activity orexplicitly encouraging students to help oneanother offering suggestions on how best to dothis

0ndash307 043

Promotingautonomy

Offering students a choice of activities involvingthem in making decisions regarding the timingof an activity having them use the Internet ordo research (eg for oral presentationsprojects and displays)

0ndash787 066

Referentialquestions

Asking the class questions to which the teacherdoes not already know the answer includingquestions about the studentsrsquo lives

0ndash700 247

Group work The students are mingling working in fluid pairsor working in groups (simultaneously orpresenting to the whole class)

0ndash2500 273

Pair work The students are working in fixed pairs(simultaneously or presenting to the wholeclass)

0ndash1465 324

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 63

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

applied snowball sampling that is participating teachers introduced us toother willing participants who met our criteria In the end 20 juniorhigh school principals granted permission to carry out research in theirschools which were located in a variety of mainland island rural urbanand metropolitan sites within one large region of South Korea Oursample of schools included 8 boysrsquo schools 5 girlsrsquo schools 5 coedschools with coed learner groups and 2 coed schools with single-sexlearner groups

After receiving their principalsrsquo permission 27 language teachers (4male and 23 female) agreed to take part in the main study They pre-sented a suitable variety Their ages ranged from 23ndash44 (M = 3165) andtheir teaching experience ranged from 1ndash20 years (M = 832) Allteacher-participants were asked to evaluate their own level of proficiencyin English None of them rated themselves as fluent 30 judged them-selves to be advanced 40 higher intermediate and 30 lower intermediate

Because of the considerable washback effect of the university entranceexamination (ie teaching to the test) in Korea we excluded highschool classes from our sample in favor of junior high classes and amongthe junior high students we preferred Year 1 and Year 2 learner groups(12ndash13 and 13ndash14 year olds) to Year 3 students (14ndash15 year olds) when-ever possible The final student sample involved 1381 students in 40classes 46 of the sample was from Year 1 46 from Year 2 and 8from Year 3 The participating students were 60 boys and 40 girls1

All of them were South Koreans and spoke Korean as their first language

Instruments

To obtain a valid and reliable picture of the motivational character-istics of the sample we used three different types of instrument (a) aclassroom observation scheme (b) a student questionnaire and (c) apostlesson teacher evaluation scale All three instruments were devel-oped for this study Each instrument underwent extensive pilotingwhich is described in the Procedures section

The MOLT Classroom Observation Scheme

The MOLT classroom observation scheme (see Appendix A) com-bines two established schemes or frameworks Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) system ofmotivational teaching practice and Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) class-

1 We must note that the final sample does not fully reflect the characteristics of the popu-lation in terms of its gender and age distribution however because of the large samplesize we believe the results are still generalizable

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 61

room observation scheme the COLT To replicate the real-time natureof Part A of the COLT the MOLT follows a time-sampling formatwhereby relevant classroom events are recorded every minute in an on-going manner

The content categories included in the MOLT concerned features ofthe learnersrsquo motivated behavior and the teacherrsquos motivational teaching prac-tice The learnersrsquo motivated behavior was operationalized as the stu-dentsrsquo levels of behavioral engagement in instructional events Moreprecisely it involved the observerrsquos assessment of the learnersrsquo level ofmotivated behavior in terms of the proportion of students who paidattention or actively participated during the class and who eagerly vol-unteered during teacher-fronted oral activities Table 1 presents a de-scription of the three variables belonging to the learnersrsquo motivated behav-ior cluster The attention and participation variables were encoded simi-larly to Emmer (1971 cited in Good amp Brophy 2003) but in this case athree level-scale was used very low = a few students low = one third to twothirds of the students and high = more than two thirds of the studentsFor the purpose of the analyses a conservative stance was taken andlearnersrsquo motivated behavior was equated with only the high level ofengagement

The aspects of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice included in theMOLT were based on Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) model of motivational teachingpractice described earlier We selected 25 motivational variables thatwere clearly definable and observable using our real-time observationscheme these are presented in Table 2 These variables were grouped inthe observation sheet into four categories teacher discourse participationstructure encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation and activity designIn accordance with Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) concept of the primaryfocus coding convention whenever two different events belonging to thesame category took place within a one-minute time segment only theevent that had taken up the greater portion of the one-minute segment

TABLE 1Observational Variables Measuring Learnersrsquo Motivated Behavior

Variables Description

Attention Students appear to be paying attention They are not displaying anyinattentive or disruptive behavior they are looking at the teacher andfollowing his or her movements looking at visual stimuli turning towatch another student who is contributing to the task following thetext being read or making appropriate nonverbal responses

Participation Students are actively taking part in classroom interaction or working onassigned activity

Volunteering forteacher-frontedactivity

At least one third of the students are volunteering without the teacherhaving to coax them in any way

62 TESOL QUARTERLY

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued on p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Social chat Having an informal (often humorous) chat withthe students on matters unrelated to the lesson

0ndash711 108

Signposting Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or givingretrospective summaries of progress alreadymade toward realizing the objectives

0ndash439 055

Stating thecommunicativepurpose or utilityof the activity

While presenting an activity mentioning itscommunicative purpose its usefulness outsidethe classroom its cross-curricular utility or theway it fits into the sequence of activities plannedfor the lesson

0ndash338 044

Establishingrelevance

Connecting what has to be learned to the studentsrsquoeveryday lives (eg giving grammatical exampleswith references to pop stars)

0ndash1238 395

Promotingintegrativevalues

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and culturalproducts and encouraging students to explorethe L2 culture and community

0ndash100 003

Promotinginstrumentalvalues

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in theworld and how knowing the L2 can bepotentially useful for the students themselves aswell as their community

0ndash102 005

Arousingcuriosity orattention

During the presentation of an activity raising thestudentsrsquo expectations that the upcoming activityis going to be interesting andor important(eg by asking them to guess what they aregoing to do next or by pointing out funchallenging or important aspects of the activityor contents to be learned)

0ndash900 149

Scaffolding Providing appropriate strategies andor models tohelp students complete an activity successfully(eg the teacher thinks aloud whiledemonstrating reminds students of previouslylearned knowledge or skills that will help themcomplete the activity or has the class brainstorma list of strategies to carry out the activity)

0ndash900 110

Promotingcooperation

Setting up a cooperative learning activity orexplicitly encouraging students to help oneanother offering suggestions on how best to dothis

0ndash307 043

Promotingautonomy

Offering students a choice of activities involvingthem in making decisions regarding the timingof an activity having them use the Internet ordo research (eg for oral presentationsprojects and displays)

0ndash787 066

Referentialquestions

Asking the class questions to which the teacherdoes not already know the answer includingquestions about the studentsrsquo lives

0ndash700 247

Group work The students are mingling working in fluid pairsor working in groups (simultaneously orpresenting to the whole class)

0ndash2500 273

Pair work The students are working in fixed pairs(simultaneously or presenting to the wholeclass)

0ndash1465 324

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 63

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

room observation scheme the COLT To replicate the real-time natureof Part A of the COLT the MOLT follows a time-sampling formatwhereby relevant classroom events are recorded every minute in an on-going manner

The content categories included in the MOLT concerned features ofthe learnersrsquo motivated behavior and the teacherrsquos motivational teaching prac-tice The learnersrsquo motivated behavior was operationalized as the stu-dentsrsquo levels of behavioral engagement in instructional events Moreprecisely it involved the observerrsquos assessment of the learnersrsquo level ofmotivated behavior in terms of the proportion of students who paidattention or actively participated during the class and who eagerly vol-unteered during teacher-fronted oral activities Table 1 presents a de-scription of the three variables belonging to the learnersrsquo motivated behav-ior cluster The attention and participation variables were encoded simi-larly to Emmer (1971 cited in Good amp Brophy 2003) but in this case athree level-scale was used very low = a few students low = one third to twothirds of the students and high = more than two thirds of the studentsFor the purpose of the analyses a conservative stance was taken andlearnersrsquo motivated behavior was equated with only the high level ofengagement

The aspects of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice included in theMOLT were based on Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) model of motivational teachingpractice described earlier We selected 25 motivational variables thatwere clearly definable and observable using our real-time observationscheme these are presented in Table 2 These variables were grouped inthe observation sheet into four categories teacher discourse participationstructure encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation and activity designIn accordance with Spada and Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) concept of the primaryfocus coding convention whenever two different events belonging to thesame category took place within a one-minute time segment only theevent that had taken up the greater portion of the one-minute segment

TABLE 1Observational Variables Measuring Learnersrsquo Motivated Behavior

Variables Description

Attention Students appear to be paying attention They are not displaying anyinattentive or disruptive behavior they are looking at the teacher andfollowing his or her movements looking at visual stimuli turning towatch another student who is contributing to the task following thetext being read or making appropriate nonverbal responses

Participation Students are actively taking part in classroom interaction or working onassigned activity

Volunteering forteacher-frontedactivity

At least one third of the students are volunteering without the teacherhaving to coax them in any way

62 TESOL QUARTERLY

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued on p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Social chat Having an informal (often humorous) chat withthe students on matters unrelated to the lesson

0ndash711 108

Signposting Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or givingretrospective summaries of progress alreadymade toward realizing the objectives

0ndash439 055

Stating thecommunicativepurpose or utilityof the activity

While presenting an activity mentioning itscommunicative purpose its usefulness outsidethe classroom its cross-curricular utility or theway it fits into the sequence of activities plannedfor the lesson

0ndash338 044

Establishingrelevance

Connecting what has to be learned to the studentsrsquoeveryday lives (eg giving grammatical exampleswith references to pop stars)

0ndash1238 395

Promotingintegrativevalues

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and culturalproducts and encouraging students to explorethe L2 culture and community

0ndash100 003

Promotinginstrumentalvalues

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in theworld and how knowing the L2 can bepotentially useful for the students themselves aswell as their community

0ndash102 005

Arousingcuriosity orattention

During the presentation of an activity raising thestudentsrsquo expectations that the upcoming activityis going to be interesting andor important(eg by asking them to guess what they aregoing to do next or by pointing out funchallenging or important aspects of the activityor contents to be learned)

0ndash900 149

Scaffolding Providing appropriate strategies andor models tohelp students complete an activity successfully(eg the teacher thinks aloud whiledemonstrating reminds students of previouslylearned knowledge or skills that will help themcomplete the activity or has the class brainstorma list of strategies to carry out the activity)

0ndash900 110

Promotingcooperation

Setting up a cooperative learning activity orexplicitly encouraging students to help oneanother offering suggestions on how best to dothis

0ndash307 043

Promotingautonomy

Offering students a choice of activities involvingthem in making decisions regarding the timingof an activity having them use the Internet ordo research (eg for oral presentationsprojects and displays)

0ndash787 066

Referentialquestions

Asking the class questions to which the teacherdoes not already know the answer includingquestions about the studentsrsquo lives

0ndash700 247

Group work The students are mingling working in fluid pairsor working in groups (simultaneously orpresenting to the whole class)

0ndash2500 273

Pair work The students are working in fixed pairs(simultaneously or presenting to the wholeclass)

0ndash1465 324

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 63

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued on p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Social chat Having an informal (often humorous) chat withthe students on matters unrelated to the lesson

0ndash711 108

Signposting Stating the lesson objectives explicitly or givingretrospective summaries of progress alreadymade toward realizing the objectives

0ndash439 055

Stating thecommunicativepurpose or utilityof the activity

While presenting an activity mentioning itscommunicative purpose its usefulness outsidethe classroom its cross-curricular utility or theway it fits into the sequence of activities plannedfor the lesson

0ndash338 044

Establishingrelevance

Connecting what has to be learned to the studentsrsquoeveryday lives (eg giving grammatical exampleswith references to pop stars)

0ndash1238 395

Promotingintegrativevalues

Promoting contact with L2 speakers and culturalproducts and encouraging students to explorethe L2 culture and community

0ndash100 003

Promotinginstrumentalvalues

Highlighting the role that the L2 plays in theworld and how knowing the L2 can bepotentially useful for the students themselves aswell as their community

0ndash102 005

Arousingcuriosity orattention

During the presentation of an activity raising thestudentsrsquo expectations that the upcoming activityis going to be interesting andor important(eg by asking them to guess what they aregoing to do next or by pointing out funchallenging or important aspects of the activityor contents to be learned)

0ndash900 149

Scaffolding Providing appropriate strategies andor models tohelp students complete an activity successfully(eg the teacher thinks aloud whiledemonstrating reminds students of previouslylearned knowledge or skills that will help themcomplete the activity or has the class brainstorma list of strategies to carry out the activity)

0ndash900 110

Promotingcooperation

Setting up a cooperative learning activity orexplicitly encouraging students to help oneanother offering suggestions on how best to dothis

0ndash307 043

Promotingautonomy

Offering students a choice of activities involvingthem in making decisions regarding the timingof an activity having them use the Internet ordo research (eg for oral presentationsprojects and displays)

0ndash787 066

Referentialquestions

Asking the class questions to which the teacherdoes not already know the answer includingquestions about the studentsrsquo lives

0ndash700 247

Group work The students are mingling working in fluid pairsor working in groups (simultaneously orpresenting to the whole class)

0ndash2500 273

Pair work The students are working in fixed pairs(simultaneously or presenting to the wholeclass)

0ndash1465 324

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 63

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

was recorded However events that were coded under the activity designcategory and thus concerned students working on tasks did not fallunder the primary focus coding convention This category fell outsidethe coding convention because these variables represent motivational

TABLE 2The 25 Observational Variables Measuring the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice

(Continued from p 00)

DescriptionRange

(minutes) Mean

Tangible reward Offering students tangible rewards (eg candystickers) for successfully taking part in an activity

0ndash1047 171

Personalization Creating opportunities for students to expresspersonal meanings (eg experiences feelingsopinions)

0ndash1800 241

Element of interestcreativityfantasy

The activity contains ambiguous paradoxicalproblematic controversial contradictoryincongruous or exotic material connects withstudentsrsquo interests values creativity fantasy orarouses their curiosity (eg predict-and-confirmactivity)

0ndash1988 351

Intellectualchallenge

The activity presents an intellectual challenge (egit involves a memory challenge problem orpuzzle solving discovering somethingovercoming obstacles avoiding traps or findinghidden information)

0ndash1098 174

Tangible taskproduct

The students are working on the production of atangible outcome (eg a poster a brochure)

0ndash1800 216

Individualcompetition

The activity involves an element of individualcompetition

0ndash2100 125

Team competition The activity involves an element of teamcompetition

0ndash1866 145

Neutral feedback Going over the answers of an exercise with theclass without communicating any expression ofirritation or personal criticism

0ndash2455 642

Process feedback Focusing on what can be learned from themistakes that have been made and from theprocess of producing the correct answer

0ndash700 174

Elicitation of selfor peer correction

Encouraging students to correct their ownmistakes revise their own work orreviewcorrect their peersrsquo work

0ndash511 044

Effective praise Offering praise for effort or achievement that issincere specific (ie more than merely sayingldquoGood jobrdquo) and commensurate with thestudentrsquos achievement NB Ability feedback(ldquoYou are very good at Englishrdquo) or praiseinvolving social comparison (ldquoYou did betterthan anyone else in the classrdquo) is not recorded aseffective praise

0ndash500 030

Class applause Celebrating a studentrsquos or grouprsquos successrisk-taking or effort by applauding (eitherspontaneously or following the teacherrsquos lead)

0ndash1000 109

Late starts caused slight variations in lesson length scores were therefore adjusted for astandard length of 45 minutes resulting in maximum values that are not always round numbers

64 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

elements that can be added to the basic task design alone or in combi-nation with one or more others all relevant additional elements aretherefore recorded for each one-minute segment

The Student Motivational State Questionnaire

The student motivational state questionnaire (see Appendix B) wasdesigned to target the studentsrsquo situation-specific motivational disposi-tion related to their current L2 course Consequently the questionnairedid not include items seeking to tap into more general attitudinal ormotivational factors such as the incentive values of English proficiencyor integrativeness The final version of the questionnaire included 20items rated on a 6-point scale anchored at 1 (definitely not) and 6 (totallytrue) Some items were adapted from existing scales (eg CleacutementDoumlrnyei amp Noels 1994 Gardner 1985) and some were newly written toassess the studentsrsquo (a) attitudes toward their current L2 course (b)linguistic self-confidence and (c) L2 classroom anxiety The question-naire was translated from English into Korean by an expert and back intoEnglish by several graduate students During this process minor modi-fications were made until we were satisfied that the Korean translationwas accurate

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale

To increase the reliability of our appraisal of the teachersrsquo motiva-tional practice we also developed a short rating scale consisting of nine6-point semantic differential scale items (see Appendix C) This was to befilled in after each lesson to provide a posthoc evaluation of the teacherrsquosbehavior Drawing partly on Gardnerrsquos attitudes toward the L2 teacher scale(Gardner 1985) the 9 bipolar adjectives focused on various motivation-specific features of the teacherrsquos instructional behavior

Procedures

Piloting

The main study was preceded by a thorough piloting phase wherebyall the instruments were tested in a sample of eight English as a foreignlanguage (EFL) classes (N = 293) taught by four teachers (two classes perteacher) The students represented a population similar to that of themain study sample but were not included in the main study They filledin the first version of the student questionnaire and based on the itemanalysis the wording of some items was modified The observation of the

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 65

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

eight classes was followed by an interview with each teacher to verify thecoding of the instructional events thereby helping the observer (Guil-loteaux) to check the consistency and accuracy of her recording Ingeneral the teachers agreed with the initial coding and added insightsthat prompted some modifications of the classroom observation schemein order to create more exhaustive discrete and unambiguous catego-ries

Main Study

The 40 observations of the main study took place in the last 2 monthsof the first semester of the 2003ndash2004 academic year (ie in June andJuly 2003) during regularly scheduled 45-minute English lessons Onthe day of the observations the first author administered the studentquestionnaire to every participating learner group before the first periodof the morning or afternoon To increase the reliability of the MOLTshe collected all the subsequent observational and teacher evaluationdata During the lesson observations as each minute elapsed on thetimer she completed the coding of what had taken place during thatprevious minute She filled in the teacher evaluation scale immediatelyafter each class Several teachers asked to see and discuss the observationsheet after the lesson was over this practice provided a good opportunityto check on the reliability of the coding particularly of the episodes thathad taken place in Korean

Data Analysis

To process the observational data for each variable on the observa-tion sheets (ie each column) we first added up the tally marks indicat-ing the number of minutes during which a specific behavior or activityhad taken place We then entered these sums which ranged from 0ndash45into an SPSS data file Because occasional late starts produced a slightvariation in the actual length of the classes observed we standardized thevariable scores for time To do this we divided the tally mark totals by theactual lesson length in minutes and multiplied them by 100 to obtainproportionate rates that could be compared (Hatch amp Lazaraton 1991)Following this we computed composite scores to give us measures of theteacherrsquos motivational practice and the studentsrsquo motivated behaviorThis process along with the computation of other composite measureswill be explained in a later section

The postlesson teacher evaluation scale items were all related to one un-derlying construct the teacherrsquos personal qualities as a language teacherand were therefore summed up into one composite variable by comput-

66 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing the mean of the nine item scores The items in the student question-naire formed three multiscale variables which were submitted to factoranalysis A one-factor solution emerged which was subsequently used asa single index for the purpose of further analysis Because both theobservational and teacher evaluation data were organized at the classlevel we aggregated the student scores according to the classes therebyobtaining class-level means This procedure enabled us to merge thestudent motivation questionnaire data with the observational and theteacher evaluation data Finally we submitted the obtained compositescores to correlation analysis and computed multiple correlations

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Computing Composite Variables

As discussed earlier the evaluation of the motivational aspect of theteachersrsquo classroom conduct was carried out by the first author in twocomplementary ways (a) by taking a minute-by-minute microperspectiveof how the teachers conducted their lessons and (b) by providing apostlesson overall appraisal of various aspects of the teachersrsquo profes-sional qualities The first index was formed by calculating the means ofthe variables described in Table 2 In view of the fact that the 25 con-stituents of this composite score were behavioral items we did not expecttoo high an internal consistency among them so it was reassuring thatthe Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of this measure was as high as0702 The second measure was formed from the nine semantic differ-ential scale items of the postlesson teacher evaluation scale As expectedall nine items measured the same construct with a Cronbach alphainternal consistency reliability coefficient of 091 We expected a signif-icant positive correlation between these two measures because they ad-dressed the same target namely the teacherrsquos conduct This correlation

2 Internal consistency reliability is measured by the Cronbach alpha coefficient This is afigure typically ranging between 0 and +1 (although in extreme casesmdasheg with very smallsamples and with items that measure different thingsmdashit can also be negative) and if itproves to be very low either the particular scale is too short or the items have very little incommon Internal consistency estimates for well-developed scales containing as few as 10items ought to approach 080 In view of the complexity of the second language acquisitionprocess L2 researchers typically want to measure many different areas in one question-naire and therefore they cannot use very long scales because completing the question-naire would take several hours As a result somewhat lower Cronbach alpha coefficientsare to be expected but even with short scales of three or four items we should aim atreliability coefficients in excess of 070 a scale with a Cronbach alpha that does not reach060 should sound warning bells (Doumlrnyei 2007)

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 67

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

did indeed emerge (r = 046 p lt 001) and it also served as someconfirmation of the validity of the measurement3 To form a compositemeasure of the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practice we merged thetwo measures by summing up their standardized scores (z scores)4 andlabeled the combined variable the teacherrsquos motivational practice

The observational data were also used to create another compositemeasure of the studentsrsquo classroom motivation in terms of the level ofattention they paid the extent of their participation in tasks and thedegree of their volunteering in teacher-fronted activities This index wasformed by calculating the means of the three variables described inTable 1 and was labeled learnersrsquo motivated behavior The three factorsmaking up this variable complement each other because they describethe learnersrsquo reactions to different types of activities within the class ahigh score indicates that the majority of the learners (at least two thirdsof them) were actively engaged in a significant proportion of the class Inthe classes that were observed students who displayed motivated behav-ior were alert and depending on the type of instructional event takingplace appeared to be either on-task or attentive For instance they fo-cused on the teacher while he or she was talking they responded ap-propriately participated in choral repetition worked on assigned tasksor were engaged in noncognitive goal-directed behaviors such as col-lecting equipment Observed off-task behaviors included chatting day-dreaming instead of completing assigned tasks sleeping studying an-other subject playing cards or reading comic books Studentsrsquo eagernessto volunteer during teacher-fronted oral activities manifested itself inraising their hands andor shouting ldquoMerdquo or ldquoSeon-saeng-nimrdquo (ie MrMs [teacherrsquos name]) or in standing up and walking up to the front ofthe class

The final composite variable was derived from the student question-naire As described earlier this instrument measured three multiscale

3 The observational data and the posthoc teacher evaluation were both produced by thesame personmdashGuilloteauxmdashwhich raises the question as to whether the correlation be-tween the results can be seen as a reliability check On the one hand the process of fillingin the observation scheme undoubtedly affected the posthoc evaluation and in this sensethe posthoc evaluation can be seen as a mere summary of filling in the observation schemeOn the other hand completing the observation scheme was a complex microanalyticalexercise with the researcher having to consider dozens of categories every minute Thisprocess required a different sort of attendance on the part of the observer than the holisticretrospective evaluation Thus although the obtained correlation is partly the function ofthe common observer factor the corroboration of the two types of data provides someconfirmation that the two methods of tapping into the same classroom reality producedvalid results

4 The standardization of raw scores involves converting the distribution within a sample suchthat the mean will be 0 and the standard deviation 1 The resulting z-scores express howmuch each raw value is different from the group mean and by equalizing the meansscores obtained from different sources are readily comparable (Doumlrnyei 2007)

68 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

variables attitudes toward the L2 course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 085)linguistic self-confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 080) and anxiety (3items Cronbach alpha = 063) Because the three variables were highlyintercorrelated we expected them to form a single second-order factorA principal component analysis confirmed our prediction because ityielded a one-factor solution (with the first factor having an eigenvalueof 18 that was twice as large as the eigenvalue of a possible secondfactor) which explained 60 of the total variance Consequently weused this factor score as the self-reported student motivation index

Correlations Between the Teacherrsquos Motivational Practice andStudent Motivation

Classroom motivation research is ultimately about one key issue ana-lyzing the determinants of the learnersrsquo motivated behavior which thenleads to learning outcomes In our study we addressed two factors thatwere theoretically expected to have a bearing on the studentrsquos motivatedclassroom behavior (a) the self-report index of their course-related mo-tivation which was measured by the questionnaire and (b) the teacherrsquosmotivational influence which was measured by the composite teacherinstructional behavior factor In analyzing student motivation in specificlanguage tasks Doumlrnyei (2002) argued that both situation-specific andmore general motives contribute to task motivation but that the moresituated a measure is the more directly it will be linked to a particularmotivated behavior Therefore within our research paradigm we ex-pected the teacherrsquos motivational practice to have the stronger associa-tion with the studentsrsquo motivated behavior The correlation coefficientsconfirmed this prediction As Table 3 shows the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice has a highly significant positive correlation with the learnersrsquomotivated behavior with a coefficient exceeding 06 and explaining 37of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated learning behavior measure L2motivation studies typically detect meaningful correlations within the03ndash05 range Therefore the coefficient found in our study attests to aparticularly strong link indicating that the teachersrsquo motivational teach-

TABLE 3Correlations Among the Three Composite Motivational Measures

Learnersrsquo motivatedbehavior

Self-reported studentmotivation

Teacherrsquos motivational practice 061 031Self-reported student motivation 035 mdash

p lt 05 p lt 01 p lt 001

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 69

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

ing practice is directly related to how the students approach classroomlearning Another lower but still significant positive relationship (r =035 p lt 005) between the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation and theirmotivated classroom behavior suggests that the studentsrsquo appraisal of thelanguage course in general has a bearing on how they approach thespecific learning tasks in the course regardless of their attitudes towardthe actual task

Given that we found multiple influences on studentsrsquo motivated be-havior it made sense to compute a multiple correlation to investigate thestrength of the relationship between the antecedents (teacherrsquos motiva-tional practice and self-reported student motivation) and the motiva-tional outcome (learnersrsquo motivated behavior) Multiple correlations referto a statistical procedure whereby a correlation is calculated between onedependent variable and a group of independent variables taking intoaccount the interrelationship of the independent variables The analysisproduced a multiple correlation coefficient of 063 (p lt 0001) Takentogether the teacherrsquos motivational practice and self-reported studentmotivation explain 40 of the variance in the studentsrsquo motivated be-havior measure This result is remarkably high in view of the many otherelements that can affect studentsrsquo behavioral engagement in class (egphysical and social environments individual psychological factors etc)

We also computed the correlation between the teacherrsquos motivationalpractice and the studentsrsquo self-reported motivation This is obviously anindirect measure because it compares the way the teacher behaved inone specific class with the studentsrsquo overall course-related motivationaldisposition However we still expected a significant relationship becausewe assumed that the teacherrsquos behavior in the observed class was repre-sentative of his or her overall conduct The correlation between the twomeasures is indeed significant (r = 031 p lt 005) which serves as furtherevidence of the validity of our results it also confirms that the teacherrsquosmotivational teaching practice not only affects the studentsrsquo immediateresponse in the classroom but is also associated with a more generalappreciation of the whole course

Considering the CausendashEffect Relationship

It is a well-known statistical principle that correlations do not indicatecausal relationships (ie only experimental studies can produce unam-biguous causal links) and therefore we cannot simply claim that theteachersrsquo motivational practice increased student motivation An alter-native explanation would be that the results reflect some sort of schooleffect For example the general lethargy of a demotivated student bodyin a school in a deprived area can demotivate a teacher causing him or

70 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

her to teach in an uninspired and uninspiring way Similarly studentsrsquohighly motivated behavior and involvement in class is likely to enhancea teacherrsquos performance and thus account for high correlations foundbetween the studentsrsquo motivated behavior and their teacherrsquos practiceHowever we would argue that such scenarios do not apply in our studyfor two reasons First we described briefly in the introduction the mea-sures that the South Korean government applies to minimize the differ-ences between schools including the random distribution of studentsinto schools and classes and the regular rotation of staff includingprincipals and vice-principals Second these measures are accompaniedby a strict control over the curriculum as a result of which the variationfound among schools especially outside Seoul is relatively small

The minimal degree of school effect can also be confirmed in ourstudy by examining pairs of teachers observed in the same school (seeTable 4) Learner groups within the same school often show consider-able differences in terms of their motivational indexes particularly intheir motivated behavior which indicates that the school does not exerta unifying effect Out of the 14 pairs of student measures reported inTable 4 only three (learnersrsquo motivated behavior in Schools 6 and 7 andstudentsrsquo self-reported motivation in School 5) present differences thatare not in the direction expected on the basis of the correspondingteacherrsquos motivational practice index Thus the variation in the stu-dentsrsquo motivated behavior is more likely a function of the quality of theteacherrsquos motivational practice which explains the positive relationshipsobserved in our study between teacher practice and student engagementin class activities Accordingly the significant positive link that emerged

TABLE 4Comparisons of Motivational Indexes Between Pairs of Teachers From the Same School

School TeacherLearnersrsquo motivated

behaviorStudentsrsquo self-reported

motivationTeacherrsquos motivational

practice

1 A 034 022 366B 016 018 minus078

2 A 036 051 197B 002 minus036 minus076

3 A 007 minus015 minus179B 016 minus005 minus049

4 A 000 minus038 minus422B 018 minus026 minus051

5 A 020 007a 002B 008 010a minus341

6 A 017 031 244B 021 011 023

7 A 011 minus016 049B 015 minus027 minus196

Note When Teachers A and B are compared this value is not in the expected direction basedon the values these teachers obtained on the teacherrsquos motivational practice measure

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 71

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

in our investigation indicates that language teachers can make a realdifference in their studentsrsquo motivational disposition by applying variousmotivational techniques and strategies

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study examined how the teacherrsquos motivational teaching practiceaffected student motivation as manifested in the studentsrsquo classroombehavior The primary research approach involved gathering structuredclassroom observation data The inclusion of this type of data is a novelelement in motivational studies where past investigations have reliedalmost solely on survey research rather than objective observational dataFor the purpose of this study we developed a special instrument theMOLT scheme which follows the real-time coding principle of Spadaand Froumlhlichrsquos (1995) COLT scheme while using categories of observ-able teacher behaviors that are derived from Doumlrnyeirsquos (2001) motiva-tional strategies framework

The significant positive correlations we found between the teacherand student measures are particularly strong within the context of L2motivation research thereby providing powerful evidence that the teach-errsquos motivational practice does matter Even in Korea where relativelyrigid classroom traditions do not lend themselves readily to the use ofmotivational strategies the limited motivational practice that was appliedby the participating teachers was associated with a significant differencein student motivation This finding is important because so far the lit-erature has not reported any empirical evidence concerning the con-crete classroom-specific impact of language teachersrsquo motivational strat-egies Although our study looked at the teachersrsquo motivational teachingpractice as a whole without focusing on specific individual strategies theresults are so robust that they warrant further research in more narrowlydefined strategy domains

Pedagogical Implications

Our results have far-reaching practical implications because they con-firm the belief held by many education experts that student motivationis related to the teacherrsquos motivational practice The question to answernow is whether teachers would benefit from being specifically trained inthe use of motivational strategies as part of preservice or in-serviceteacher education programs Our study does not provide any data con-cerning the teachability of motivational strategies and it may not be a

72 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

straightforward issue to transfer knowledge of these strategies into mo-tivating practices Yet given that student demotivation is a major prob-lem in educational settings worldwide finding ways to raise teachersrsquoawareness of their motivating practices and to train them in using skillsthat can help them to motivate learners should be a prominent meth-odological concern By establishing a link between teacher behaviors andstudent motivation our study provides a first step toward putting moti-vational issues on the teacher education agenda In addition Doumlrnyeirsquos(2001) taxonomy of motivational strategies and the correspondingMOLT scheme that was tested in this study offer relevant course con-tents as well as a useable observation instrument for devising and assess-ing motivational training modules

We believe that the development of a theoretically sound and empiri-cally tested teacher education module that focuses on the teacherrsquos mo-tivational practice would be an important step forward in making lan-guage education more effective Our results show that teaching the cur-riculum in a motivating manner is a realistic possibility The teachers inthis study had received no explicit motivational training and were by nomeans motivational wizards working in a motivationally conducive envi-ronment Yet the motivational teaching practices that they managed toimplement in their classes resulted in tangible positive changes in theirstudentsrsquo overall motivational disposition and concrete classroom behav-ior We cannot help speculating that this positive effect might be furtheramplified if teachers were to apply motivational strategies systematicallyand in a context-appropriate manner

Implications for Future Research

We can identify four directions for future investigations into the fullpotential of integrating motivational and instructional practices First itwould be useful to confirm that the increase in studentsrsquo motivatedbehavior resulting from teachersrsquo motivational practices in turn trans-lates into improved learning The literature has reported ample evidencethat student motivation and learning achievement are correlated (seeeg Doumlrnyei 2005) but it would be important to specify the optimumconditions for realizing this link Second hardly any research has beendone to examine the extent to which motivational strategies are culturespecific (for a recent exception see Cheng amp Doumlrnyei 2007) It would beuseful to know which aspects of a motivational teaching practice arefreely transferable across learning situations Third in line with the con-siderations outlined in the previous section future research needs toassess the teachability of motivational strategies in general and to explorethe specific ways by which these strategies can be taught in particular

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 73

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

One key question is whether motivational teacher behaviors can bemodified through focused intervention or whether a broader awareness-raising program is needed that facilitates teachersrsquo motivational think-ing Fourth future research should examine the relationship betweenmotivational strategy use and good teaching It seems obvious that mo-tivational strategies should be accompanied by quality instruction for theoverall process to be effective yet it is not clear which aspects of instruc-tional shortcomings (eg lack of clear explanations) have the potentialto cancel the positive impact of motivational teaching and which aspectsof motivational teaching can compensate for instructional shortcomings

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We express our thanks to the administrators teachers students and parents whomade this study possible We very much appreciated their cooperation and supportWe also acknowledge the contribution of Jee-Hong Kim professor of Korean Lan-guage Education at Gyeongsang National University for translating into Korean thequestionnaire used in this study

THE AUTHORS

Marie J Guilloteaux is an assistant professor in the Department of English Educa-tion Gyeongsang National University Jinju South Korea Her research interestsinclude motivation and motivating foreign language learners language teacher edu-cation communicative and task-based language teaching and materials develop-ment

Zoltaacuten Doumlrnyei is a professor of psycholinguistics at the School of English StudiesUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham England He has published more than 60academic papers on various aspects of second language acquisition and is the authorof several books including The Psychology of the Language Learner (2005) and ResearchMethods in Applied Linguistics (2007)

REFERENCES

Alison J (1993) Not bothered Motivating reluctant language learners in Key Stage 4London Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Alison J amp Halliwell S (2002) Challenging classes Focus on pupil behavior LondonCentre for Information on Language Teaching and Research

Brophy J (2004) Motivating students to learn (2nd ed) Mahwah NJ LawrenceErlbaum

Chen J F Warden C A amp Chang H-T (2005) Motivators that do not motivateThe case of Chinese EFL learners and the influence of culture on motivationTESOL Quarterly 39 609ndash633

Cheng H-F amp Doumlrnyei Z (2007) The use of motivational strategies in language

74 TESOL QUARTERLY

instruction The case of EFL teaching in Taiwan Innovation in Language Learningand Teaching 1 153ndash174

Cleacutement R Doumlrnyei Z amp Noels K A (1994) Motivation self-confidence andgroup cohesion in the foreign language classroom Language Learning 44 417ndash448

Doumlrnyei Z (1994) Motivation and motivating in the foreign language classroomModern Language Journal 78 273ndash284

Doumlrnyei Z (2001) Motivational strategies in the foreign language classroom CambridgeCambridge University Press

Doumlrnyei Z (2002) The motivational basis of language learning tasks In P Robinson(Ed) Individual differences in second language acquisition (pp 137ndash158) Amster-dam John Benjamins

Doumlrnyei Z (2005) The psychology of the language learner Individual differences in secondlanguage acquisition Mahwah NJ Lawrence Erlbaum

Doumlrnyei Z (2006) Creating a motivating classroom environment In J Cummins ampC Davison (Eds) Handbook of English language teaching (pp 639ndash651) New YorkSpringer

Doumlrnyei Z (2007) Research methods in applied linguistics Qualitative quantitative andmixed methodologies Oxford Oxford University Press

Doumlrnyei Z amp Csizeacuter K (1998) Ten commandments for motivating language learn-ers Results of an empirical study Language Teaching Research 2 203ndash229

Emmer E (1971) Classroom observation scales Austin University of Texas Researchand Development Center for Teacher Education

Gardner R C (1985) Social psychology and second language learning The role of attitudesand motivation London Edward Arnold

Gardner R C amp Tremblay P F (1994) On motivation research agendas andtheoretical frameworks Modern Language Journal 78 359ndash368

Ginsberg M B amp Wlodkowski R J (2000) Creating a highly motivating classroom forall students A schoolwide approach to powerful teaching with diverse learners San Fran-cisco CA Jossey-Bass

Good T L amp Brophy J E (2003) Looking in classrooms (9th ed) Boston PearsonEducation

Hatch E amp Lazaraton A (1991) The research manual Design and statistics for appliedlinguistics Boston Heinle amp Heinle

Oxford R L amp Shearin J (1994) Language learning motivation Expanding thetheoretical framework Modern Language Journal 78 12ndash28

Pintrich P R amp Schunk D H (2002) Motivation in education Theory research andapplications (2nd ed) Upper Saddle River NJ Pearson Education

Seth M J (2002) Education fever Society politics and the pursuit of schooling in SouthKorea Honolulu University of Hawairsquoi Press

Spada N amp Froumlhlich M (1995) COLT Communicative Orientation of Language Teach-ing observation scheme Coding conventions and applications Sydney Australia Mac-quarie University National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research

Ushioda E (in press) Motivation and good language learners In C Griffiths (Ed)Lessons from good language learners Cambridge Cambridge University Press

Williams M amp Burden R (1997) Psychology for language teachers Cambridge Cam-bridge University Press

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 75

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cifi

cta

skm

otiv

atio

nE

nco

urag

ing

posi

tive

retr

ospe

ctiv

ese

lf-e

valu

atio

nT

each

erdi

scou

rse

PS

aA

ctiv

ityde

sign

Social chat (unrelated to the lesson)

Signposting

Stating communicative purposeutility of activity

Establishing relevance

Promoting integrative values

Promoting instrumental values

Arousing curiosity or attention

Scaffolding

Promoting cooperation

Promoting autonomy

Referential Questions

Pair work

Group work

+ tangible reward

+ personalization

+ creativeinterestingfantasy element

+ intellectual challenge

+ tangible task product

+ individual competition

+ team competition

Neutral feedback session

Process feedback session

Elicitation of selfpeer correction session

Effective praise

Class applause

Attention (gt23 of the class)

Engagement (gt23 of the class)

Eager volunteering (gt13 of the class)

1 2 3 4 5

Not

ea P

S=

Part

icip

atio

nst

ruct

ure

76 TESOL QUARTERLY

APPENDIX B

Student Motivational State Questionnaire

Attitudes Toward the Course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 85)

bull I wish we had more English lessons at school this semesterbull I like English lessons this semesterbull English is one of my favorite subjects at school this semesterbull When the English lesson ends I often wish it could continuebull I want to work hard in English lessons to make my teacher happybull I enjoy my English lessons this semester because what we do is neither too hard nor too easybull I would rather spend time on subjects other than English (REVERSED)bull Learning English at school is a burden for me this semester (REVERSED)bull In English lessons this semester we are learning things that will be useful in the future

Linguistic Self-Confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 80)

bull I feel I am making progress in English this semesterbull I believe I will receive good grades in English this semesterbull I often experience a feeling of success in my English lessons this semesterbull I am sure that 1 day I will be able to speak Englishbull In English lessons this semester I usually understand what to do and how to do itbull This semester I think I am good at learning Englishbull I am worried about my ability to do well in English this semester (REVERSED)bull I often volunteer to do speaking presentations in English lessons

L2-Classroom Anxiety (3 items Cronbach alpha = 63)

bull I get very worried if I make mistakes during English lessons this semesterbull I am afraid that my classmates will laugh at me when I have to speak in English lessonsbull I feel more nervous in English class this semester than in my other classes

APPENDIX C

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale and Descriptive Statistics

Scale Min Max Mean

Linguistically competent 6 harr 1 Linguistically incompetent 1 6 465FocusedTask-oriented 6 harr 1 UnfocusedWastes time 1 6 535Increases studentsrsquo expectancy

of success (eg makes surethat Ss receive sufficientpreparation)

6 harr 1 Increases studentsrsquoexpectancy of failure(eg missed steps inlesson)

1 6 468

Clear instructions andexplanations

6 harr 1 Confusing instructions andexplanations

1 6 465

Kind caring creates a pleasantatmosphere

6 harr 1 Unkind uncaring creates anunpleasant atmosphere

2 6 515

Radiates enthusiasm 6 harr 1 Unenthusiastic 1 6 493Humorouslight-hearted style 6 harr 1 Dry style 1 6 443Encouraging 6 harr 1 Not encouraging 1 6 435CreativeTakes risks 6 harr 1 UncreativeDoes not take

risks1 6 345

Overall teacher evaluation score 156 6 466

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 77

APPENDIX B

Student Motivational State Questionnaire

Attitudes Toward the Course (9 items Cronbach alpha = 85)

bull I wish we had more English lessons at school this semesterbull I like English lessons this semesterbull English is one of my favorite subjects at school this semesterbull When the English lesson ends I often wish it could continuebull I want to work hard in English lessons to make my teacher happybull I enjoy my English lessons this semester because what we do is neither too hard nor too easybull I would rather spend time on subjects other than English (REVERSED)bull Learning English at school is a burden for me this semester (REVERSED)bull In English lessons this semester we are learning things that will be useful in the future

Linguistic Self-Confidence (8 items Cronbach alpha = 80)

bull I feel I am making progress in English this semesterbull I believe I will receive good grades in English this semesterbull I often experience a feeling of success in my English lessons this semesterbull I am sure that 1 day I will be able to speak Englishbull In English lessons this semester I usually understand what to do and how to do itbull This semester I think I am good at learning Englishbull I am worried about my ability to do well in English this semester (REVERSED)bull I often volunteer to do speaking presentations in English lessons

L2-Classroom Anxiety (3 items Cronbach alpha = 63)

bull I get very worried if I make mistakes during English lessons this semesterbull I am afraid that my classmates will laugh at me when I have to speak in English lessonsbull I feel more nervous in English class this semester than in my other classes

APPENDIX C

Postlesson Teacher Evaluation Scale and Descriptive Statistics

Scale Min Max Mean

Linguistically competent 6 harr 1 Linguistically incompetent 1 6 465FocusedTask-oriented 6 harr 1 UnfocusedWastes time 1 6 535Increases studentsrsquo expectancy

of success (eg makes surethat Ss receive sufficientpreparation)

6 harr 1 Increases studentsrsquoexpectancy of failure(eg missed steps inlesson)

1 6 468

Clear instructions andexplanations

6 harr 1 Confusing instructions andexplanations

1 6 465

Kind caring creates a pleasantatmosphere

6 harr 1 Unkind uncaring creates anunpleasant atmosphere

2 6 515

Radiates enthusiasm 6 harr 1 Unenthusiastic 1 6 493Humorouslight-hearted style 6 harr 1 Dry style 1 6 443Encouraging 6 harr 1 Not encouraging 1 6 435CreativeTakes risks 6 harr 1 UncreativeDoes not take

risks1 6 345

Overall teacher evaluation score 156 6 466

MOTIVATING LANGUAGE LEARNERS A CLASSROOM-ORIENTED INVESTIGATION 77