Teach English in Yangjiapo Zhen - Linyi Shi

There is a long standing stereotype or stigma that school is boring. Think of popular movies, such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where there are panning shots of children dozing off in class while the teacher rattles on with roll call, or whatever subject they happen to be teaching that day. The common denominator in those movie scenes is a teacher speaking monotonously, dressed in pale or boring colors, droning on without any input from the class. School in the real world is a bit different than that, however there can definitely be some uninspired students subject to some less than intriguing teachers. So school is boring, nobody wants to learn anything about boring subjects, end of story, right? Well I believe that student motivation is up to the creativity of the teacher, and not the level of excitement that the course or lesson brings to the table. Student motivation is an extremely important facilitator of student learning as Diane M. Christophel notes in her article “The relationships among teacher immediacy behaviors, student motivation, and learning.” This scholarly article took a couple studies and evaluated the relationship between student motivation and learning. Essentially, unmotivated students are less likely to participate in the class activities, which makes it harder for students to retain the knowledge taught in the lesson. Motivation also directly correlates to morale and the students’ overall experience in the classroom. Student’s motivation, or lack thereof, plays a part in the student’s success. Thankfully, student motivation isn’t some mystical force beyond our control. Teachers have the ability to affect students and their motivation levels! Teachers can facilitate motivation from students by making student learning experience a priority, or bringing a sense of immediacy to the lessons. “Teacher immediacy behaviors” as it pertains to student motivation and learning, was one of the three relationships Christophel examined in her study that was previously mentioned. It was revealed that teacher immediacy enhances a students mindset, and enhances their willingness to participate and learn. When I look back at my student career, I can only say I remember two or three teachers that took the time to make their students want to learn. These classes ranged from mathematics to world history, and even subjects I had no interest in, such as reading and english! Those classes were some of the best classes I had, both for my personal academic achievement, and the pure enjoyment of the class. These teachers brought a sense of immediacy by attending to each of their students learning needs, and went above and beyond outside of the classroom to establish a good rapport. Another way teachers can enhance a student’s will to learn is through a positive attitude! This seems silly, but we can see the effects that mood and behavior have on both students and teachers via the videos that the ITTT TEFL course presented in Unit 10. The first video was a lesson in how not to teach a classroom (correcting every mistake, making students feel bad for not being correct, disinterest in the student’s names, etc.) The second video however, was the epitome of positive energy begetting positive results. The students were much more willing to learn and participate due to the teacher’s mood and encouraging behavior (being clear about what was being taught, accepting silly answers that were grammatically correct, making an effort to learn everyone’s name, etc.) If immediacy and positive attitude aren’t enough to keep a student entranced, teachers can make lessons more interesting by gamification, the act of turning lessons into games. Introducing new material that isn’t interesting or exciting can put a damper on student’s motivation to learn said material. However, through the use of games and activities anything can be at least somewhat fun. “A study of the use of games and gamification to enhance student engagement, experience and achievement on a theory-based course of an undergraduate media degree” a study by Marcus Leaning, goes into depth the effects games can have on student’s willingness to participate and learn the material presented. This study concluded that, if used correctly, games can have a positive result on student’s retention of knowledge and outlook of the subjects. Student motivation isn’t just up to the factors outside of teacher control. Teachers have plenty of weapons in their arsenal to make students want to learn. Teachers just need to prioritize the students, and put their best foot forward. If that’s not enough, games (when utilized properly) can always get students to learn, and have fun while doing it. Learning tough material does not have to be as boring as Hollywood presents it. Works Cited: Diane M. Christophel (1990) The relationships among teacher immediacy behaviors, student motivation, and learning, Communication Education, 39:4, 323-340, DOI: 10.1080/03634529009378813 Marcus Leaning (2015) A study of the use of games and gamification to enhance student engagement, experience and achievement on a theory-based course of an undergraduate media degree, Journal of Media Practice, 16:2, 155-170, DOI: 10.1080/14682753.2015.1041807