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T37
Motivation
A seventh grade student known to his Spanish teacher as
“Juanito” ambles reluctantly into his beginning Spanish
classroom. He greets the teacher, not with an enthusiastic
“Buenos días, señora,” but instead with the question on the
mind of many of his classmates, “What are we doing in here
today?” Although we would like to believe that the question has
been posed out of genuine interest in the classroom activities,
we realize that Juanito’s question is motivated by self-
preservation. He worries that he might be unprepared for, or
embarrassed by, the activities Señora has planned for the day.
What Motivates Our Students
Motivation is crucial to teaching and learning. Whenever we feel
a desire or need for something, we are in a state of motivation.
Juanito is motivated to survive the class period, and his
teacher wants him to thrive and share her passion for the
Spanish language and Hispanic culture. He has a need to feel
safe, yet his teacher understands that he must take risks in
order to acquire language. He wants to avoid struggle, and she
knows that great effort is involved in negotiating meaning and
learning from mistakes. Although human beings are motivated
to learn from birth, students are often not motivated to learn
what we want them to learn in the way that we want them to
learn it. They do, however, select information and learning
experiences that are important to them every day. Teachers
continue to work tirelessly to motivate their students, but most
focus on extrinsic motivators, which may not be enough to truly
engage students in the long term. How do we make students
feel connected to learning? How do we make them feel as if
the learning could not happen without them? How do we create
excitement for learning, resulting in students eagerly entering
our classrooms each day?
Relationships Are Key
We rely on the standards and performance guidelines to
articulate authentic tasks and clear goals. We persevere in our
commitment to adjust the learning environment and the content
to attract students. Most importantly, we recognize that our
relationships with our students and their relationship with the
learning process are crucial. Students must believe that they
can be successful and experience incremental growth through
learning experiences carefully designed around small chunks
of meaningful language, leading to purposeful communication.
Learning must be fun. Students are more likely to retain the
language they acquire in a learning context that they enjoy.
Jan Kucerik
Pinellas County Public Schools, Pinellas County, Florida
They must feel that they are part of the learning environment,
that they belong to the target culture, while they are acquiring
their new language. They must understand the purpose of
the lesson and have the freedom to select language that is
important to them along the way.
Motivation and Learning
Students are motivated to take part in Spanish class when the
context through which the language is presented and practiced
is meaningful, serves a purpose, and relies on the students to
bring it to life. Effective teachers understand the link between
motivation and learning, and select language and cultural
contexts that rely on the students to tell the story. “What are
we doing in here today, Señora
?
”
“We need you, Juanito,
to help guide us on our learning journey.”
Bibliography
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Foreign Language Teacher’s Guide to Active
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Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education, Inc., 1999.
———. Bringing the Standards for Foreign Language Learning
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Curtain, Helena, and Carol A. Dahlberg.
Languages and
Children—Making the Match.
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Second Language Learning through Cooperative
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Classroom Instruction that Works
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Omaggio, Alice H.
Teaching Language in Context
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Patrick, Paula.
The Keys to the Classroom
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Rogers, Spence.
21 Building Blocks Critical to Leaving No Child
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Rogers, Spence, Jim Ludington, and Becky Graf.
Teaching
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Excellence
. Evergreen, CO: PEAK Learning Systems, Inc.,
2003.
Rogers, Spence, Jim Ludington, and Shari Graham.
Motivation
and Learning: A Teacher’s Guide to Building Excitement
for Learning and Igniting the Drive for Quality
. Evergreen,
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Shrum, Judith L., and Eileen W. Glisan.
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Background and Research