چکیده:
Despite abundant research on teachers’ motivational strategies worldwide, scant attention has been paid to this in Vietnam. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate the high school EFL teachers’ use of motivational strategies reported by students and their attitudes towards these motivational strategies. The participants consisted of 416 students taught by 30 EFL teachers from ten high schools of eight provinces in the Mekong Delta. A semi-opened questionnaire was employed to elicit students’ report on the motivational strategies employed by their English teachers, and their judgments about the value of these strategies. Findings of the study indicated that the teachers frequently used top motivational strategies as reported in previous research. Such strategies were also judged to be motivating by the students. However, noticeably, the students highly valued teacher recognition of their efforts and a harmonious behaviour and ascribed these practice to their increased motivation. Other strategies were also suggested by students that teachers should use. The implication is that cultural differences mediate students’ perceptions, and that the EFL teachers in the context should attend to fundamental strategies, and the ones preferred by students.
خلاصه ماشینی:
Motivational Practice in High-Schools in Vietnam: EFL Teachers’ Strategies from Student Perspective Loi Van Nguyen*, Ph. D, School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University, Vietnam loinguyen@ctu.
Keywords: motivational strategies, student perspective, EFL, high-school Introduction Exerting a significant influence on foreign language learning achievement (Gardner, 1985; Dörnyei & Otto, 1998; Reid, 2007), learner motivation is often regarded as “the most complex and challenging issue facing teachers” (Dörnyei, 2001a, p.
215) Over the decades, research worldwide has indicated a substantial effect of teacher motivational behaviours on student motivation and language learning, and several studies draw on the ten macro-strategies presented above in different contexts to explore the effect (Alrabai, 2016; Dörnyei, 2001a; Dörnyei, 2001b; Guilloteaux 2007; Karimi & Hosseini, 2019; Moskovsky, Alrabai, Paolini, & Ratcheva, 2013).
Using a survey of 48 motivational strategies drawn from Dörnyei’s (2001b) list, clustered into ten macro-strategies, the researchers found that the ten macro-strategies were employed in the following descending order of frequency: (1) Setting a good personal example, (2) Recognizing learners’ effort and success, (3) Encouraging self-confidence, (4) Generating a relaxing class atmosphere, (5) Presenting appropriate tasks, (6) Promoting goal-oriented learning, (7) Providing stimulating learning tasks, (8) Familiarizing learners with L2 cultural background and values, (9) Encouraging group cohesiveness and group norms, and (10) Promoting learner autonomy.
In terms of teachers’ versus students’ perceptions, a major study was conducted by Ruech, Bown and Dewey (2011) which engaged 126 students from North America enrolling in various foreign language courses, and 30 instructors of corresponding languages at Brigham Young University in responding to a questionnaire of 51 micro-strategies based on Dörnyei and Csizer (1998).