Takinga‘smalllensapproach’toresearchingL2motivationEmaUshioda

FOLLMOne-DayWorkshop:‘ResearchingL2Motivation:ThreeExperiencedVoices’UniversityofWarwick,22June2017

§ Three‘problems’withL2motivationresearchØNeedforamoresharplyfocusedresearchlens

§ SomesuggestedapproachestoresearchingL2motivation‘throughasmalllens’

§ Basedon– Ushioda,E.(2016).Languagelearningmotivationthroughasmalllens:Aresearchagenda.LanguageTeaching49(4):564–77

Overviewoftalk

Three‘problems’withL2motivationresearch

1. LimitationsofmotivationresearchinSLA2. Popularityofmotivationasastudent

dissertationtopic3. Shortageofclassroom-basedpractitioner

researchonmotivation

Problem1

LimitationsofmotivationresearchinSLA

ImportanceofmotivationinSLA§ ‘givenmotivation,itisinevitablethatahumanbeingwill

learnasecondlanguageifheisexposedtothelanguagedata’(Corder 1967:164)

§ MotivationiswidelyrecognizedasasignificantindividualdifferencevariableinL2learning

§ AkeyfactorthatdistinguishesL2learningfromL1learning

§ Substantialbodyofresearchover50years,predatingthe‘birth’ofSLAfieldin1960s(seeDörnyei &Ushioda2011foroverview)

But…

§ ‘thestudyofL2motivationresearchcontinuestolieoutsidemainstreamSLA’(Ellis2008:690)

§ MotivationhasremainedsomewhatisolatedfromthecorelinguistictraditionsoftheSLAfield(Ushioda2010)

Why?

§ AnalysisofmotivationanditsroleinL2learninghasmostlybeenatthelevelofgloballearningbehavioursandachievement

§ Motivationresearchhastendednottoaddressfine-grainedprocessesoflanguageacquisitionorlinguisticdevelopment

Motivation L2achievement

MotivationresearchshedslittlelightoncoreSLAconcerns…§ Howdoesmotivationshapeparticular

psycholinguisticprocessesorstagesofL2development?

§ Howdoesmotivationrelatetotheacquisitionofspecificfeaturesofthetargetlanguage?– E.g.pronunciationoraccent(Segalowitz,Gatbonton &Trofimovich 2009)

Ø Needforasharperfocusorsmallerlens?

Problem2

Popularityofmotivationasastudentdissertationtopic

Somethoughtsfrom…

PaulMeara(speakingatEUROSLAconferenceinCork,Ireland,2009)

Protypical motivationstudyatMasterslevel…

§ Develop/adaptamotivationquestionnaire§ Collectandanalysedata§ Summarizefindings(descriptivestatistics)§ Possiblyexaminestatisticalrelationshipswith

othervariables(e.g.achievement)§ Possiblyintegratesomeinterviewdata(mixed

methods,triangulation)§ Draw(anticipated)conclusions

Suchdissertations…§ Tendtoberatherboringandpredictable§ Maybeblandandsuperficial§ Oftenlackatightfocusordeep

engagementwitharesearchissue§ MayofferfewinterestinginsightsØ Desirabilityofamoresharplyfocusedlens

tosuitthescopeofaMastersproject?

Problem3

Shortageofclassroom-basedpractitionerresearchonL2motivation

MostempiricalresearchonL2motivationinclassrooms…

§ Hasbeenconductedbyresearcherswhoareexternaltotheclassroomsettings,teachersandlearnersunderfocus

§ Hascharacterizedclassroomsettingsinrathergeneraltermsonly(e.g.culturalcontext,schooltype,proficiencylevel)

FewpublishedstudiesofL2motivation…

§ Havebeengroundedinspecificcontextsofpractice

§ Havefocusedontheneedsandexperiencesofparticularlearnersandteachersinparticularclassrooms

§ Havebeenshapedbyteachers’ownpedagogically-orientedresearchinquiry(e.g.actionresearch)

Why?§ Teachersmayfeelthatcollectingself-

reportdataonmotivationfromtheirownstudentsmaynotyieldreliabledata

§ Teachersmayworrythattheirattemptstoresearchtheirownstudents’motivationmayendupinfluencingandchangingtheirmotivationandso‘contaminate’theirdata

Addressingtheseissuesby…

§ Integrating(ratherthanseparating)teachingandresearchingobjectives(Ushioda2013)

§ Developingmotivation‘research’toolsthatfunctionalso(orprimarily)as‘pedagogical’toolstoenhancestudents’voiceandinvolvementinlearning

So,lackofclassroom-basedresearchonL2motivationmeans…Ø Needformoresharplyfocusedlenson

– Howprocessesofmotivationevolvethroughparticularinteractionsandeventsintheclassroom

– Howteacherscanworkresponsivelyandadaptivelytoshapetheseinteractionsandeventsinmotivationallyconstructiveways

Threeproblemsinsummary:

1. LimitationsofmotivationresearchinSLA2. Popularityofmotivationasastudent

dissertationtopic3. Shortageofclassroom-basedpractitioner

researchonmotivationØ Towardsamoresharplyfocusedor

contextualizedangleofinquiryØ Researchingmotivation‘throughasmalllens’

Possible‘smalllens’approachestoresearchingL2motivation

Motivation

Noticing/attentioninSLA

Metacognition

Criticaleventsinalesson

NoticingandattentioninSLA§ SchmidtandFrota (1986)§ Researchonvisualinputenhancement

techniquesfordirectingL2learners’attentiontoparticulartargetfeaturesinatext– E.g.Underlining,CAPITALISATION,boldfont

– SeeSimard(2009)forreview

Roleofmotivationinnoticing?

§ Doesmotivationplayaroleinwhetherlearnersnoticeandpayattentiontocertainlanguagefeatures,especiallywheninputenhancementisnotprovided?

§ Experimentalresearchinpsychologysuggeststhatwhatpeoplenoticemaypartlydependontheirmotivation(Newsome1986)

(Newsome1986)

Roleofmotivationinnoticing?

§ Doesmotivationplayaroleinwhetherlearnersnoticeandpayattentiontocertainlanguagefeatures,especiallywheninputenhancementisnotprovided?

§ Experimentalresearchinpsychologysuggeststhatwhatpeoplenoticemaypartlydependontheirmotivation(Newsome1986)

§ Testyourselves:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

MotivationandnoticinginSLA

§ PotentiallinkbetweenmotivationandnoticinginSLAhighlightedbyCrookes&Schmidt(1991)– Butlittleempiricalresearchtodate– IncontrastwithresearchonnoticingandattentioninSLAinrelationtootherindividualdifferencefactorssuchasaptitudeorworkingmemory(e.g.Robinson1997,2002)

Takahashi2005

§ MotivationandnoticingofpragmalinguisticfeaturesofL2input

§ Researchfocusonrequeststrategies:– complexbi-clausalrequestforms(e.g.IwaswonderingifyoucouldVP;DoyouthinkyoucouldVP?WoulditbepossibleforyoutoVP?)

Takahashi2005

§ MotivationandnoticingofpragmalinguisticfeaturesofL2input

§ Researchfocusonrequeststrategies:– complexbi-clausalrequestforms(e.g.IwaswonderingifyoucouldVP;DoyouthinkyoucouldVP?WoulditbepossibleforyoutoVP?)

– idiomaticexpressions(e.g.Thishastodowith…;Howya doing?)

– non-idiomaticexpressions(e.g.Ilivenextdoor)– discoursemarkers(e.g.well,youknow,maybe)

Researchdesign

§ Participants(JapaneseEFLuniversitystudents)– completedamotivationquestionnaireandEnglishproficiencymeasure

– readtranscriptsofrole-playsofrequestscenarios(NS-NSandNS-NNSrole-plays)

– completedanawarenessretrospectionquestionnairetoidentifyexpressionsandfeaturesoflanguageuseintherole-playsperceivedtobedistinctively‘nativeEnglish’usage

Results

§ ParticipantsclassifiedasstronglyintrinsicallymotivatedtolearnEnglishwerefoundtobeparticularlyattentivetocomplexbi-clausalrequestformsandidiomaticexpressionsintheinput,irrespectiveoftheirlevelsofEnglishproficiency

§ Intrinsicmotivationtodevelopcommunicationskillsmayhelpdirectlearners’attentiontopragmalinguisticfeaturesperceivedasimportantforeffectivecommunication

Intrinsicmotivation

Attentiontopragmalinguistic

features

Implications

§ A‘smalllensapproach’canshedlightonhowmotivationinteractswithlearners’attentionalfocusandresources

§ PossibilitiesofreplicatingTakahashi’sresearchorextendingittoothertargetL2features(e.g.phonology,prosody,lexis,syntax…)

§ Howdifferencesinmotivationmaycontributetodifferentpatternsoflinguisticandcommunicativeproficiency

Motivationandmetacognition

§ Howmotivationinteractswithattentionmayalsoconnectwithmetacognitiveprocesses– i.e.processesofdirectingandregulatingone’scognitiveresources

Example§ Aninternationalstudentistalkingabouthismotivation

todevelophisEnglishvocabularyandhowheusesthestrategyofpayingcloseattentiontowordsandphrasesinhisinterlocutor’sspeech…nicelydemonstratedduringtheactualresearchinterview:Interv: Okay,soyourmainfocusisonexpression

andvocabulary?S016: Exactly.SeenowIdidn’thavetheword

‘expression’inme.SoIlearntfromyounow.

(Harsch,Ushioda&Ladroue,inpress)

Motivationandmetacognition

Metacognitiveskillsandstrategic

thinkingandlearningprocesses

Motivation orwillingnessto

applyandcontrolthinkingprocesses

willandskill(McCombs&Marzano 1990)

‘Willandskill’researchinSLA

§ Tendstofocusonassociationsbetweenmotivationandstrategyuse(quantity,frequency,type)

§ Buthowdoesmotivation(‘will’)tocontrolstrategicthinking(‘skill’)develop?

§ Howcanateacherscaffoldandsupportthisprocessinherinteractionswithstudents?

Ø Takinga‘smalllens’approach…

Vygotskian perspectives

§ ResearchinaVygotskian socioculturalframework(Vygotsky1978;Ushioda2003)

§ Analyticalfocuson:– microgenesis ofindividualstrategicthinking– and,byextension,ofindividualmotivationtocontrolandshapethisthinking

– throughproblem-focusedinteractionsbetweenteacherandlearner(orbetweenlearners)

Possibleresearchquestions

§ Howdoteachersmotivatelanguagelearnerstothinkthroughproblemsanddifficultiesintheirlearning?

§ Howdolearnersco-constructtheirmotivationtothinkthroughproblemsandchallengesincollaborativelanguagetasks?

Possibilitiesforteacherresearch

§ Actionresearchfocusingonhowtoplanandstructurethepedagogicaldialoguewithlearnerstomotivatestrategicthinking

§ Experimentwithdifferentquestioningtechniquesandformsofencouragement(e.g.Diazetal.1990on‘relinquishingstrategies’)

§ Analysisofrecordedteacher–learnerorlearner–learnerinteractions

§ Stimulatedrecallinterviewswithlearners

Motivationand‘criticalevents’inalesson

§ Problem-focusedlearningdifficultiesrepresentonesetofeventswheremotivationmaybeimplicated

§ Possibleother‘criticalevents’duringalessonaffectingandaffectedbyindividualandsocialprocessesofmotivation

Criticalincidentanalysis

§ Importanttoolofqualitativeinquiryinteacherdevelopment(Tripp1993)andotherfieldsofprofessionalpractice(e.g.nursing,socialwork,organisationallearning)

§ SeeButterfieldetal.2005forhistoricaloverviewofcriticalincidenttechnique

§ However,identifying‘criticalincidents’isnotstraightforward

Criticaleventsintheclassroom

§ Focusingonacriticaleventprovidesatightlyboundcontextualframeworkforanalysinghowmotivationevolvesamong‘persons-in-context’(Ushioda2009)

§ Whilethecriticaleventconstitutestheimmediatefocus(‘smalllens’),theanalysiswillhavewidercontextualperspectives(sharedhistoryofpreviousinteractions,subsequentinteractionsandevents)

§ Mayyieldinsightsintohowprocessesofmotivationevolvecumulativelyamongteacherandlearnersinaparticularclassroom

Possibleresearchinquiry

§ Investigatethemotivationsofteacherandlearnersduring‘criticalevents’inalesson

§ Howtodefine‘criticalevents’?– Eventsthatcauseustowonderwhypeoplearebehavinginaparticularway?

– Involvelearnersinidentifyingcriticaleventswhereissuesofmotivationhavesurfaced?

Researchapproach

§ Multipleperspectivesonthecriticalevent(research-observer;teacher;students)

§ OrparticularlysuitedtoteacherresearchandespeciallyExploratoryPractice(EP)– Allwright 2003;Allwright &Hanks2009;Hanks2017– Researchinquirygroundedinteacher’sownpracticeand

shapedbypedagogicalprinciples– Desiretounderstandandenhancequalityofclassroomlife– Involvinglearnersasco-researchers– Congruencebetweenpedagogicalandresearchtools

Concludingremarks

§ L2motivationresearchwouldbenefitfromaricherandsharperfocusonthelocalandparticular,ratherthanthegeneral

§ Theselocallysituatedunderstandingsofmotivationcanhavewiderresonanceandcontributetoinformingtheoryandpracticemorebroadly