FACTORS, INFLUENCING MOTIVATION AND DEMOTIVATION IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING OF CHILDREN OF SECONDARY AND HIGH SCHOOL AGE

ФАКТОРЫ, ВЛИЯЮЩИЕ НА МОТИВАЦИЮ И ДЕМОТИВАЦИЮ ПРИ ИЗУЧЕНИИ ИНОСТРАННОГО ЯЗЫКА (АНГЛИЙСКОГО) ДЕТЕЙ СРЕДНЕГО И СТАРШЕГО ШКОЛЬНОГО ВОЗРАСТА

Куликова Александра Сергеевна

студент, Институт международного образования, Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение высшего образования «Московский педагогический государственный университет»,

Россия, г. Москва

Abstract. The article is devoted to the study of the main factors that have a positive or negative impact on the motivation of students of secondary and high school in the process of learning English, depending on the age of the latter. Special attention is paid to providing practical implications on maintaining and increasing the level of motivation to learn the language in terms of the actions of the student, the teacher and the content of the training course. In this regard, the work will be useful for the study of both teachers in their professional activities, and students of linguistic and secondary schools, teenagers, learning a foreign language by themselves.

Аннотация. Статья посвящена исследованию основных факторов, имеющих положительное или отрицательное влияние на мотивацию обучающихся средней и старшей школы в процессе освоения Английского языка в зависимости от возраста последних. Особое внимание уделено предоставлению практических советов по поддержанию и повышению уровня мотивации к изучению языка с точки зрения действий ученика, преподавателя и содержания курса обучения. В связи с этим, работа будет полезна к изучению как педагогам в их профессиональной деятельности, так и ученикам лингвистических и общеобразовательных школ, подросткам, самостоятельно изучающим иностранный язык.

Keywords: foreign language teaching (FLT), second language acquisition (SLA), motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, demotivation.

Ключевые слова: обучение иностранному языку, изучение иностранного языка, мотивация, внутренняя мотивация, внешняя мотивация, демотивация.

Introduction.

Nowadays motivation is viewed as the key aspect initiating human’s activity, as “in general, the driving force in any situation that leads to action” [2, pp. 377 - 378]. No matter what field of life we are speaking about, such wise, it becomes obvious, that understanding the nature of inducing factors will lead us to raise of efficacy level. From a psychological perspective, motivation can be viewed as intrinsic (caused and influenced by internal desires of a person) and extrinsic (dependent and stimulated by external factors) one. They are interconnected and can transform from one to another according to prevailing motives. In language learning, integrativeness and instrumentality as orientations of motivation are also meaningful. They help to identify the aims of learners and chose the contents of teaching.

As we know, adults have a high level of self-awareness and tend to better understand what motivates them. Nevertheless, children, especially in the field of education and particularly in foreign language learning, need external support and control to succeed. As students face a great variety of problems in the process of acquiring another language, from simple lack of vocabulary to fear of making a mistake, their motivation decreases, so we need to study the issue and propose a set of practical advice to improve their willingness to study.

Much attention has been paid to motivation in education by such scholars as R. C. Gardner and Zoltan Dornyei. The first one proposed the socio-educational model (1979) concerning L2 performance, while the latter integrated this concept into a new framework for L2 motivation (1994) and considered it at three different levels - language level, learner level, learning situation level (Dornyei, 1994). According to him, the language level consists of integrative and instrumental motivational subsystems. The author includes a need for achievement and self-confidence to the learner level. Finally, Z. Dornyei describes 3 components of the learning situation level. Russian scientist A. N. Leontiev studied the psychological aspect of this issue. Nevertheless, factors influencing motivation and demotivation of school children have not been studied carefully yet. It should be noted the relevancy of the topic lies in its applied character. I believe the question of what strategies, positively influencing motivation, to use with particular age groups has not been solved.

Materials and methods

The survey with 29 respondents totally was conducted via a questionnaire in Google Forms. The interviewees were asked to indicate their age and answer a set of questions, concerning motivation and demotivation in acquiring target language. All the information has been carefully analyzed and transformed into three tables, performing the results of the research.

Results

The survey has shown that types of motivation change due to the age of pupils, and this can simplify the motivational strategy selection process for teachers.

For example, according to Table 1, for one-fourth of children aged from 11 to 13 an inducing factor to study L2 is praise from their parents and teachers. It means they tend to have an extrinsic type of motivation and should get more external support and inspiration. Pupils from this age category always lack self-confidence and are very sensitive to failures, no wonder then that 75 % of them chose the fear of making a mistake as the main demotivating factor. To our surprise, it was found out, that three-fourths of schoolchildren from 5th to 7th classes learn the language to leave the country. This is sad news for our country, however, good for foreign language teachers. Sociability of children of this age group, their desire to communicate and make friends as reasons for integrative orientedness of their motivation can be used to practice speech-activities.

At the age of 14-16 years, personal achievements of students predominate other motivational factors in the process of learning (they make 44,45 % out of 100 %). Entering awkward age, children step on the path of self-cognition. Pupils’ self-esteem begins to form to a greater extent on the basis of their own judgments about themselves, hence teachers should make progress of any particular learner visible to himself. Children aged from 14 to 16 sometimes become self-centered and tend to criticize professors, this is why almost one-third of the respondents in this group marked the manner of teaching as a demotivating factor in English language learning (ELL). In this connection, it seems obvious, that intrinsic motivation prevails and they do not pay any attention to external support (no one chose praise from parents or teachers as a motivator). In contrast with the previous control group, this one uses language mostly as a tool to reach their goal. A desire to move abroad and get a well-paid job starts inspiring learners to study harder, and this is where instrumental motivation appears.

Analyzing answers of the last age group of the survey, we can notice, that half of students lack progress. The reason for this can be the so-called plateau in language learning – “typical problems learners often encounter when they move from the lower-intermediate to the upper-intermediate/advanced level of language proficiency” [3, p. 1]. On this stage “acquiring a usable supply of essential and high frequent vocabulary does not come true easily…” [3, p. 1]. What is more, a fear of making a mistake strengthens again and negatively influences studying 30% of teenagers. Probably, these two factors cause a rise in need of external support for students of 17-18 years old, 30% of whom consider praise from parents as a motivational factor. We should also mention, that pupils, who are entering universities, tend to pay less attention to the manner of teaching than those aged 14-16, considering it the second most discouraging aspect.

Conclusion and practical implications

All in all, the main reason for students to learn a foreign language nowadays is their desire to move abroad and make new friends (see Table 2). Students are intrinsically motivated and enjoy language learning, but fear of making mistakes and not seeing the progress (see Table 3) decreases their chances to reach success.

In order to help students and teachers, a set of practical implications, based on Zoltan Dornei’s 3-level model of motivation in ELT is provided below.

For middle-aged students (11-13) who are stronger than others in need of external support, the fear of making a mistake is more common. In this regard, you can take the following steps to inspire them:

1. On the learner level:

• “Develop students' self-confidence by trusting them and projecting the belief that they will achieve their goal; regularly providing praise, encouragement, and reinforcement...” [1, p. 281];

• Give relevant positive examples and analogies of accomplishment to remove uncertainties about their competence;

2. On the learning situation level:

• “Increase student expectancy of task fulfillment by familiarising students with the task type, sufficiently preparing them for coping with the task content...” [1, p. 282];

3. On the language level:

• Discuss the role a target language plays in modern life and how they can apply it in their leisure activity (reading books, watching cartoons and films in original, etc.) to “awake” their instrumental motivation.

Students from 14 to 16 years pay more attention to the manner of teaching and their own progress because they tend to worry about the exams. Here are some recommendations to make learning easier for them:

1. On the learner level:

• Increase students’ enthusiasm by creating a calm, supportive and accepting classroom atmosphere.

2. On the learning situation level:

• “Make the syllabus of the course relevant by basing it on needs analysis, and involving the students in the actual planning of the course programme...” [1, p. 281];

• “Promote learner autonomy by allowing real choices about alternative ways to goal attainment; minimizing external pressure and control (e.g., threats, punishments) …” [1, p. 282].

3. On the language level:

• Develop sociocultural competence of your students via mechanical teaching aids (films, modern music, and audio-podcasts).

Finally, for 17-18-year-old students who can experience the so-called plateau in language learning and therefore lose interest in its study, the following methods of raising motivation can be suitable:

1. On the learner level:

• “Promote motivation-enhancing attributions by helping students recognize links between effort and outcome; and attribute past failures to controllable factors such as insufficient effort (if this has been the case), confusion about what to do, or the use of inappropriate strategies, rather than to lack of ability, as this may lead to learned helplessness” [1, p. 281].

2. On the learning situation level:

• “Facilitate student satisfaction by allowing students to create finished products that they can perform or display, encouraging them to be proud of themselves after accomplishing a task, taking stock from time to time of their general progress, making a wall chart of what the group has learned, and celebrating success” [1, p. 282].

3. On the language level:

• “Promote student contact with L2 speakers by arranging meetings with L2 speakers in your country; or, if possible, organizing school trips or exchange programs to the L2 community; or finding pen-friends for your students” [1, p. 281].

Table 1.

Aggregate data on the results of the research

Table 2.

Aggregate data on motivating factors in ELL for students aged 11-18

Table 3.

Aggregate data on demotivating factors in ELL for students aged 11-18

References:

1. Dornyei, Zoltan Motivation and Motivating in the Foreign Language Classroom // The Modern Language Journal. - 1994. - No. 3. - pp. 273-284.
2. Richards Jack C., Schmidt Richard Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics. - 4th ed. - Harlow: Longman, 2010. - 644 p.
3. Moving Beyond the Plateau From Intermediate to Advanced Levels in Language Learning // URL: http://www.cambridge.org/elt/passages2e/images/booklet_movingbeyondtheplateau.pdf (accessed: 05.03.2019)