Sunday, December 7, 2014

Foreign Language Student Motivation

My paper for this class will be on motivation in foreign language learners and how knowing what motivates US students to learn a foreign language and reach advanced-level proficiency or higher can be used to improve future L2 teaching practices. I will be comparing the results of two online surveys I have been giving to UNH language students during the past few weeks. While each of the surveys contain the same questions about what motivates them to pursue proficiency foreign language, the first survey was given only to students currently taking a language at the 631 level or above and the second survey was given to beginning (401) level students.

I am curious to see how the two groups compare, and I have my own predictions about how the data might look, but I'd like to ask you guys what you think motivates FLLs at the beginning level vs at the advanced level. Are they motivated by the same factors by the time they get to 631 as they were when they began? Would their motivation levels change over time? How might the teacher be able affect student motivation?


5 comments:

  1. I think that this is a really interesting topic for a paper, especially since students have different reasons for studying a foreign language. I would think that students at the beginning level are motivated by earning the credit for the class, while students in the more advanced levels of foreign language are motivated by their desire to learn the language and continue learning. Of course, I know this isn't the case with every student. I'm not exactly sure what happened when I took my placement test to get into French at UNH, but I tested into 403 (Review of French). I don't remember if I didn't take the test seriously, or if there was a technical problem, but I tested into a lower level French class, and was still motivated to learn the language and do well.
    With that all being said, I think that the motivation is still largely credit-based, in that the students want to earn credits to go towards a Discovery or a minor. If you are taking classes for a Major then your motivations are likely to be higher. I think that some student's motivation levels may change over time if they become interested enough in the material to continue on with it.
    Teachers can also have a sizable impact on students as well. I know that if it weren't for my high school French teachers, I wouldn't have continued with foreign language in college past my Discovery credit. However, the teachers made me enjoy it, and therefore, I wanted to continue with it.

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  2. I've not seen your questions so I don't know what types of questions you asked. Basically, there are two types of motivation; intrinsic vs. extrinsic. Some students study a foreign language because o their intrinsic motivation because they are passionate about certain culture, people or the language itself while others study a foreign language because they think it will get them more marketable or for some kind of job purpose (extrinsic motivation). Students want to receive a good grade so they study (extrinsic). Research shows that in general language majors have intrinsic motivation because they simply enjoy learning a foreign language and want to become fluent. Did you ask some of these types of questions?

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  3. I admit that when I first started Spanish in high school I was only taking it for college. I wanted to look good on my transcripts. I eventually grew to like it but it took awhile. Now I just want to absorb the language up like a sponge. I think this is what happens in the majority of cases, students starting out for credit. If they are lucky they will turn out like us and actually like it. Jess is definitely correct in saying that teachers are very important. I've heard so many people say that they hated foreign languages because they did not like the teachers. How much of this is true I can not say but it is definitely a strong factor since teachers create the first taste of the language.

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  4. Good questions: I think that 401 motivations will be different from 631 motivations, but—I believe that these aren't necessarily different "types of students," but just students at different stages. I think that if you had the resources to follow students over 4 years of their FLL at UNH, their motivations might change, especially for those who hadn't planned on continuing with a FL, but decided to after taking 401.

    As my classmates have said, 401 students are probably "going for credit", instrumental; 631 students are probably claiming to have more instrumental motivation, for the love of the language or the culture.

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  5. To follow with what others have already said, the majority of 401 students seem to only be taking the course for credit, but there are some that actually want to learn Spanish. While I do not have any students who want to eventually earn a major or minor, about half of the class is interested in using their newly acquired language skills in order to travel outside of the country. One of my students is taking a family vacation to Puerto Rico over spring break, and so took the 401-402 sequence in order to learn some basic Spanish and be able to communicate with locals. I think that some of my students are surprised by how much they actually enjoy learning Spanish and exploring Hispanic cultures. A few of my students who really obviously hated the class at the beginning of the year now participate frequently and talk about wanting to use their language skills outside of the classroom. These students enrolled in the class in order to fulfill a discovery requirement, but have now discovered a new interest and potential passion.

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