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In this response, I will address effective methods of motivating students. Like many characteristics of a teacher’s cohort of students, motivation can vary widely from one student to another. In order to properly motivate a body of students, it is important to first understand the baseline reasoning behind a given student’s participation in an English as a second language course. One of the first factors behind motivation, a factor that is immediately obvious to the teacher, is the age of the students. Adult students have usually made the decision on their own accord to take the course, resulting in such a classroom generally being more motivated to begin with. On the other hand, teaching a course of younger students offers a much more complexly motivated environment. While younger students may have an easier time retaining and learning English, their motivation will vary wildly. Part of this has to do with their lower attention spans and higher rates of loss of focus in the classroom. Even so, in both age group of classes each individual student may have their own personal motivation behind taking the course as well. This can vary from goals of future careers, travel prospects, or just out of a general interest in language. When assessing a group of students, knowing their motivation behind taking a course is helpful in continuing and building that motivation. Creating a group of motivated students plays into the teacher and student dynamic. Regardless of the level and reason behind students’ motivation, it is the teacher’s role to ensure motivation by creating lessons that are enjoyable and engaging. In order to do such, the teacher must rely on a multitude of techniques and have a good understanding of the student body. The teacher should employ numerous techniques in order to have the appropriate amount of variety in a lesson that will keep the students excited. The teacher should avoid following a regime schedule, because predictability in lessons will lead to disengagement of students. This is not to say that certain activities should not be reused in the classroom. When giving a certain style of lesson, the teacher should be attuned to the response of the students. If a study or active phase assignment is clearly generating positive feedback, the teacher should make note of that and utilize it again in the future. The same idea goes for if an activity has a negative response, in this case the teacher should do their best to avoid using it again unless necessary. The engage phase of the ESA structure is crucial in generating motivation for the remainder of the lesson. When introducing a new topic to students use culturally relevant and age-appropriate techniques to spark curiosity. All in all, like most of a teacher’s duties it is important to be adaptable and understanding when it comes to motivating students. Variety is only one element of the greater puzzle, but it is also critical for a teacher to undertake all roles and be flexible when necessary.
