Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Prof. Gladys Noemí Baya and Myriam Martingano = September 13th, 2008
1. ______________________________________________
The learner finds it important to succeed in learning in order to maintain and promote his or
her (positive) self-image.
2. ______________________________________________
The learner is ambitious, goes for demanding challenges, high proficiency, top grades.
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3. ______________________________________________
The learner consistently invests a high level of effort in learning, and is not discouraged by
setbacks or apparent lack of progress.
4. ______________________________________________
The learner is willing to tackle tasks and challenges, and has confidence in his or her
success.
5. ______________________________________________
The learner has a need to achieve, to overcome difficulties and succeed in what he or she
sets out to do.
6. ______________________________________________
The learner is clearly aware of the goals of learning, or of specific learning activities, and
directs his or her efforts towards achieving them.
7. ______________________________________________
The learner is not disturbed or frustrated by situations involving a temporary lack of
understanding or confusion; he or she can live with these patiently, in the confidence that
understanding will come later.
Now let’s a watch a scene from the movie “Educating Rita” (1983;
starring Julie Walters and Michael Caine)
What can influence the motivation students bring to the task of learning? Check those items
in the list below which you believe are likely to affect your learners’ motivation:
………………………………………………………………………….
Now we’d like you to reflect upon a moment in your teaching at which your students were
especially motivated. Just follow the instructor’s guidelines!
After the visualization: Using the list below as a checklist, reflect upon that teaching
experience you’ve visualized.
Identify:
• 2 strengths in the task or the way you conducted it that contributed to enhancing
motivation
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• 1 aspect in which you would like to improve your skills as a motivator
a. Did your lesson appeal to your students' interests? Was it relevant to their lives?
b. Did you present your lesson in a positive, enthusiastic manner?
c. Were the students aware of the purpose of the lesson?
d. Did students have some choice in:
1. choosing some aspect of the lesson?
2. determining how they go about fulfilling the goals of the lesson?
e. Did the lesson encourage students to discover by themselves certain principles or rules
(rather than simply being "told")?
f. Did it encourage students in some way to develop or use effective strategies of learning
and communication?
g. Did it contribute -at least to some extent- to students' ultimate autonomy and
independence (from you)?
h. Did it foster cooperative negotiation with other students in the class? Was it truly
interactive?
i. Did the lesson present a "reasonable challenge"?
j. Did students receive sufficient feedback on their performance (from each other or from
you)?
Share your conclusions with the group! As you listen, think of:
* something you have in common with the speaker
OR
* something you like about what the speaker is saying
When each participant finishes, let them know what you thought of!
Penny Urr (1991:281) lists the following ways of creating learner interest in doing a task.
Working in threes, discuss:
Which of the items on the list are used most and which least in teaching situations you are
familiar with? Can you single out those which (in your opinion) are under-exploited and
you would like to try more yourself?
In teacher development, it is often useful to set this concept within a broad spectrum of
experience:
Being
Having
Doing
MATCH:
Jot down your ideas in the 2 columns below (your notes are private, you won’t be asked to
discuss them at any moment):
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TASK 8: Dear Blog,…
Dörnyei (2001:174) suggests the following self-motivating strategies for teachers:
Reflect immediately after a lesson on how it went and make mental notes on what
to do differently next time.
Observe others as a learning tool.
Marshal inner resources and remember you’ve been through more than this and
more.
Analyse why you feel so anxious about aspects of your work, and think through
ways to overcome these feelings.
Embellish your teaching – keep changing what you do- so it’s more interesting for
you to teach it again.
Rearrange the classroom layout for maximal attention from students.
Call teacher study groups to resolve problems cooperatively.
We are getting towards the end of the school year… Motivation is waning, and both
students and teachers find it hard to keep doing their best… Why not make a “Last-Term
Resolution”?
Time to comment on other teacher’s texts! (your instructors will provide you with special
slips for this).
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Arnold, J. (ed.) (1999). Affect in Language Learning . Cambridge University Press
Brown, H. Douglas (2006). Principles of language learning and teaching – 5thed. Pearson-
Longman
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Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Teaching and Researching Motivation. Longman
Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching 3rd edition. Longman
Urr, P. (1991). A Course in Language Teaching – Practice and Theory. Cambridge
University Press