Motivational Strategies Through

CALL in the FL Classroom

Claire Kennedy & Mike Levy

Rationale for this study The need to look in more detail at second language teachers’

use of CALL

Teachers’ association of CALL with motivation may be different in different contexts:– Primary

– Secondary

– Tertiary

Specifically, our research questions are:

1. In what ways do school FL teachers use CALL for motivational purposes?

2. Why is it that FL teachers are strongly attracted to CALL for motivational reasons?

The TELL Survey: Independent Schools Queensland (ISQ)

The overarching goal– To gain language teachers’ perspectives on current CALL working

practices, including reasons for using CALL

Survey conducted June/July 2009– Report delivered November, 2009– Recommendations followed in 2010

Schools– 59 secondary schools from ISQ

• A single response from 29 schools– i.e. just one language teacher in school

• Multiple responses (2-7 per school) from 30 schools

Participants – 132 teachers

Languages taught across the schools(n=59)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Japanese German French Chinese Spanish Italian ESL Korean

Number of years teachers surveyed have taught their language

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1~2 3~5 6~10 11~15 16~20 21~30 31~40

Competence and confidence in using TELL (n=131)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

LOW-1 1~2 2 2~3 3 3~4 4 4~5 HIGH-5

Teachers as Materials Developers

The materials developer role– Tends to be underestimated– 93.2% of cohort developed TELL materials (123/132) and

more than half of these did so on their own

The textbook– 54.1% designed their materials to supplement the textbook

in some way (66/123)– 5.7% designed materials only for use with textbook (7/123)

Online vs blended learning– 12.2% (15/123) online learning only– 87.8% (108/123) developed materials to be used in tandem

with FtF learning

Language skills and areas where TELL materials have been developed

0 20 40 60 80 100

Other

Pronunciation

Grammar

Speaking

Writing

Vocabulary

Culture

Reading

Listening

Three Open-Ended Survey Questions

1. Summarise the reasons why you use TELL with your students.

2. Describe the TELL materials that you believe to have been most successful with your students. Why?

3. What do you consider the most significant blocks to TELL development at this time?

Summarise the reasons why you use TELL with your students

Category Sample quotes

Relevance to the students’ world

It’s not a choice any more in the modern age. It’s a necessity; relevance to real life

Motivation It motivates students and they learn more that way; boys love technology and feel that it is more fun

Ability to revise The ability for students to revise; you can keep the contents and can go through them again or students can use them at home

Extending the class The ability for students to learn outside class; a different approach to supplement the classroom

Learner control The fact that students are in control of their own learning is very attractive; students can research and work independently

Quality of resources More professional looking resources

Describe the TELL materials that you believe to have been most successful with your students. Why?

(n=113)

Category Sqmple answers

Hardware related New language lab; iPods for listening, voice recording and playback as this macro skill difficult to develop; Interactive whiteboard as it grabs students’ interest even when doing simple things like reviewing a text

Generic applications PowerPoint appeals to visual learners/ to explore grammar points; Word – provides scaffolding writing;

LMSs Worksheets/homework on BBd; BBd is an excellent platform to provide access to a range of interactive sites/resources; allows each course to have its own workspace

Specific resources Studyspanish.com; BBC sitcoms; Japanese CD; online dictionary;

Skill-focused Listening activity as this is one of the most difficult skills to practice; PPT – to explore grammar points; vocabulary oriented activities with a lot of visual stimulus

Interactive games Games with timers that helped the students with recognizing characters – they love competitions

What do you consider the most significant blocks to TELL use at this time?

(n=110)

Type of Block Sample answers

Time Time – never enough of it; Time! This is the major factor, especially for languages, as we tend to only have one or two teachers in the one language area to develop resources across a number of courses.

Technology problems Wireless breaks down or not available; IT system within the school, the block is the capability of the system

Access Lack of access to computer rooms with all functioning equipment

Confidence The most significant block is my confidence

Knowledge Limited knowledge of good sites; lack of professional development

Lack of staff Just one Japanese teacher working part-time so no collaborative efforts; no support staff

Policy Policy on student use of e-mail, mobile phones and MP3 players

Applying Dörnyei’s (2001) Framework

1 Creating the basic motivational conditions

2 Generating initial motivation

3 Maintaining and protecting motivation

4 Encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation

Motivational strategies for the language classroom

A process-oriented model of the motivational process

Phases 2 & 3: teachers’ decisions and actions when devising, preparing and carrying out specific lessons and assessment items

Dörnyei, Zoltán 2001a, Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Applying Dörnyei’s Framework

Examples of strategies in Phase 2: Generating initial motivation

Strategy Specific sub-strategies

11 Promote ‘integrative’ values by encouraging a positive and open-minded disposition towards the L2 and its speakers, and towards foreignness in general

11c Encourage learners to conduct their own exploration of the L2 community (e.g. on the Internet), to find out about the countries where the L2 is used

11d promote contact with L2 speakers and L2 cultural products (through access to authentic materials, pen-friends and chat rooms etc.)

13 Increase the students’ expectancy of success in particular tasks and in learning in general

13a Make sure the students receive sufficient preparation and assistance (e.g. letting students help each other, setting cooperative small-group tasks)

15 Make the curriculum and teaching materials relevant to the students

15a Build the students’ needs, goals and interests into your curriculum as much as possible

Dörnyei, Zoltán 2001a, Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Most evident strategiesPhase 2 “Generating initial motivation”

Strategy 11 “Promote ‘integrative values by encouraging a positive and open-minded disposition towards the L2 and its speakers, and towards foreignness in general”

11d Promote contact with L2 speakers and L2 cultural products:

Show students the real China and Chinese peoples’ life Songs in target language - always universal appeal and can be chosen for

appropriateness to programme Music websites – relevant to interests MP3 downloads of current music Means of engaging students. Source of up to date, current, cultural information Fun for students, currency or realia Increases exposure to authentic language and materials YouTube - easy access, relevant, natural

Most evident strategies (cont.)

Phase 2 “Generating initial motivation”Strategy 13 “Increase the students’ expectancy of success in particular tasks and in learning in general”

13a Make sure students receive sufficient preparation and assistance

Word – provides scaffolding for writing PowerPoint – especially with year 7s and 8s, having notes or content from the

texts on a screen allows me more time to circulate amongst them and ensure that they are on task and understand

Audio/visuals – listening skills develop easier with support of body language etc. To meet different language needs – remedial learning for some students and

extension learning for advanced ones Builds confidence. Better reinforcement, less threatening to mediocre students Listening practice using Audacity – the students can repeat listening to the

materials as many times as they like until they understand At first some students were reluctant to use it… Now, every time I give students a

list of vocab, I am immediately asked when I will be sending them the Interlex files. Most of my students rely heavily on the program to learn vocabulary now.

Most evident strategies (cont.)

Phase 2 “Generating initial motivation”Strategy 15 “Making the teaching materials relevant for the learners ”

15a Build the students’ needs, goals and interests into your curriculum as much as possible:

Video Online/ PowerPoint – appeals to visuals learners, grabs boys’ attention more than board work

It is a part of their world outside of school which they are interested in – it’s important to incorporate student interests in lesson planning

It makes the language come alive in ways that students in 2009 relate to To be up to date with what is happening – Boys love technology and feel that it’s

more fun Relevance to real life Games with timers that help the students with recognising characters – they love

competitions Year 7 students love playing interactive games in the target language on the

internet. Expectation of modern learners - ICT is part of their everyday life. Music websites – relevant to interests.

Most evident strategies (cont.)

Phase 3 “Maintaining and protecting motivation”Strategy 17 “Make learning more stimulating and enjoyable by breaking the monotony of classroom events ”

17a Vary the learning tasks and other aspects of your teaching as much as you can

Smartboard – students become more engaged as they are able to touch and move things around the board – it’s also visually stimulating and fun…. Appeals to different learning styles (eg. visual, kinesthetic etc.)

Verb PowerPoints with animation and soundfiles. Because they are animated Powerpoints – visual is always eye catching for children – they are more focused Provide a multidimensional environment to cater for varied learning styles Vocabulary orientated activities with a lot of visual stimulus PowerPoints for visual learners when explaining grammar. In process of self

teaching Flash for more interactive activities with Interactive Whiteboard Interactive programmes on the computer where the students are involved rather

than passive activities

Most evident strategies (cont.)

Phase 3 “Maintaining and protecting motivation”Strategy 29 “Increase student motivation by actively promoting learner autonomy”

29a Allow learners real choices about as many aspects of the learning process as possible

Learners can choose to work on their weaknesses or personal goals. Students have been able to concentrate on their own pronunciation and work at

their own pace. Activities where several resources are linked and integrated, so several students

can access these all, any time and for their specific needs NetOps for listening - student control over volume equity. Some students can improve different macro skills depending on individual JST and JTT allow the students to revise script and vocab at their own pace and

in their own time. The online learning programme for French allows students 24/7 access to revision and extension activities

Encourages them to take responsibility for their learning The students can choose the study speed which suits them Caters for a variety of learning styles

Strategies less evident than expected

Phase 2 “Generating initial motivation”

Strategy 11c Encourage learners to conduct their own exploration of the L2 community

Phase 3 “Maintaining and protecting motivation”

Strategy 28 Promote cooperation among learners Strategy 18d Select tasks that yield tangible, finished

products

Impact of using CALL on teachers’ motivation?

CALL provides these teachers with: an avenue for exercising autonomy and creativity satisfaction that they are increasing their effectiveness as teachers an ongoing intellectual challenge

CALL Contributes to sustaining their own motivation

(See “Teacher motivation” in Dörnyei, Zoltán 2001, Teaching and Researching Motivation, Longman, Harlow)

Conclusion

Many teachers are determined to use TELL/CALL despite significant blocksMany teachers develop their own TELL materials Clearly many teachers feel the benefits for motivating students outweigh the constraints

BUT

blocks to effective CALL use may carry the risk of eroding teachers’ motivation precisely where teachers expect to find intrinsic rewards in their work

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all participating language educators at the independent schools in Queensland for their input into the surveys, and May Kwan, Program Officer (Languages), for her support in this project.

This project was funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations through the School Languages Program.