Teach English in Fujia Zhen - Zibo Shi

According to the Oxford Dictionary, motivation is a desire or willingness to do something. In the language learning context, motivation is one of the key factors of success as it affects the way students approach the quality of their work and how much time they are generally ready to spend on learning. Hence, motivated learners are usually more attentive and diligent during the lesson and they tend to devote more time to the process of language learning and enjoy it. On the other hand, unmotivated or demotivated learners may be easier distracted, more reluctant to participate and/or have no interest or desire to continue learning the language. There is a difference between unmotivated (those who initially have no motivation) and demotivated learners (those who lost their motivation) and teachers should take it into consideration. As for unmotivated learners, teachers may use several approaches to help them. First, they can try to identify and articulate their «motive» for learning a language: to enter a university in the English-speaking country, to move abroad, to pass the interview or get a promotion, etc. However, some learners might not have any specific goals within a particular time limit. In this case, teachers can help their students to set their goals. Those might be related to travelling (talking to locals), work (reading professional articles and literature) or personal goals (watching favourite TV series in the original and meeting people online). There are also students who simply enjoy the process of learning a new language and those who perceive it as a part of their self-development. However, even initially motivated learners might lose their enthusiasm about language learning once in a while. So, how can teachers help their students stay motivated? First of all, it is always a good idea to provide a personal example by being motivated, interested and committed to teaching the language. Become a role model and inspire your students to work towards achieving their aims. Next, it is very important to create a pleasant and engaging classroom atmosphere to let your students feel calm and secure. Encourage your students to experiment with the language, accept creative ideas and involve your students into organizing the learning process as much as possible. Some students are more willing to learn the language just because they like their teacher and have friendly relations with their classmates. A classroom, full of laughter, smile and cooperative work, has better chances of having more successful learners. Another important factor to maintain motivation is the level of interest. It is always very beneficial to personalize your lessons and make them relevant to your students’ interests, needs and aims. Increase your young learners’ interest by providing them with a wide variety of materials, activities and games, add some challenge or encourage healthy competition to involve your teenage learners and provoke lively debate to let your adult students share their ideas. In addition, prompt your students to discover the culture of the target language country. Bring some authentic materials (books, magazines, menus, etc.) into the classroom, invite native speakers to teach their countries’ customs and talk about lifestyle and even cook a traditional dish with your young learners to make the lessons memorable. Feeling good about language learning will also increase your students’ motivation. Regardless of age, every student needs to get praise and positive feedback to build up confidence. Have you student occasionally experience success by giving them easy tasks and draw their attention to how much progress they have made so far Also, make sure that your students realize, that making mistakes is an integral part of the learning process. Not having any mistakes is not necessarily a good sign. On the contrary, it might mean that the material is too easy for learners and they are not making any progress. Finally, feeling progress is another factor that can boost the motivation of your learners, especially adults. Always point out to the compliance of selected materials and tasks with the goals of your adult learners. Let your students know the objectives of the lesson: "By the end of this lesson, you will have learnt how to order food in a restaurant (for students who prepare to move abroad). Similarly, summarizing the lesson is a good way to show progress. Tie up your students’ achievements to their aims, for example: "Now you can talk about your work experience using Present Perfect and describe your strong and weak points" (for students who prepare for a job interview). In conclusion, motivation is a very powerful tool in language learning and it sometimes defines its success. Some of the key factors that can strengthen the motivation of your students are giving a good personal example, creating an engaging atmosphere, supporting students' interest, making them feel good about language learning and showing their progress. Depending on their students' age, personality, interests and goals, teachers can use a range of techniques to motivate them and help them stay motivated.