ESP Teachers’ Beliefs about Student
Motivation and Their Motivational Practices:
A Case Study
Author’s Name: Xiaowan Yang
University of Portsmouth
British Council ELT Master’s Dissertation Awards: Commendation
ESP Teachers’ Beliefs about Student
Motivation and Their Motivational Practices:
A Case Study
August, 2015
0
Dedication
To my dear mum
&
To my precious daughter
i
Abstract
This study examines ESP teachers’ beliefs about student motivation and their
motivational practices in a university in China. With the help of interviews and
observations, three ESP teachers’ beliefs about student motivation and their
motivational practices in the language classroom were explored and the
relationship between their beliefs and practices were investigated. Findings of
this study showed that teachers generally acknowledged the importance of
motivation and its contribution to second language attainment. Motivational
factors that they perceived important included relevance, autonomy and
expectancy of success. Besides, findings of the study indicated that teachers’
beliefs and practices were not always in line with each other. Tensions
between their beliefs and practices could result from either their
conflicting/competing beliefs or contextual constraints. Findings also
suggested that teachers’ beliefs could be strongly influenced by their learning
experience and their cultural background. Based on the findings, implications
of study for teacher education were discussed and recommendations for
future study were provided.
ii
Table of Contents
List of Tables and Figures ........................................................................................................................ v
Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................ vi
Chapter 1
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1
1.1
Rationale of the study ............................................................................................................. 1
1.2
Structure of the study ............................................................................................................. 2
Chapter 2
2.1
Literature Review ............................................................................................................... 3
Motivation and L2 Attainment................................................................................................ 3
2.1.1
Definition of “Motivation” .............................................................................................. 3
2.1.2
Theories of L2 Motivation ............................................................................................... 4
2.1.3
The Teacher’s Role and Motivational Practices in the Language Classroom.................. 9
2.1.4
Linking ESP and L2 Motivation ...................................................................................... 11
2.2
Teachers’ beliefs and practices ............................................................................................. 13
2.2.1
Definition of teacher beliefs ......................................................................................... 14
2.2.2
Origin of teacher beliefs................................................................................................ 14
2.2.3
Teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices.................................................................... 15
2.3
Teacher Cognition and L2 Motivation................................................................................... 17
2.4
Summary ............................................................................................................................... 19
Chapter 3
Research Methodology .................................................................................................... 20
3.1
Research questions ............................................................................................................... 20
3.2
Research approach................................................................................................................ 20
3.3
Research methods ................................................................................................................ 21
3.3.1
Interviews...................................................................................................................... 21
3.3.2
Classroom observations ................................................................................................ 23
3.4
Participants ........................................................................................................................... 25
3.5
Pilot study ............................................................................................................................. 26
3.6
Data analysis ......................................................................................................................... 26
Chapter 4
4.1
Findings ............................................................................................................................ 28
Case 1: Ms Zhang .................................................................................................................. 28
4.1.1
Beliefs ............................................................................................................................ 28
4.1.2
Practices ........................................................................................................................ 31
4.1.3
Tensions between beliefs and practices ....................................................................... 32
4.2
Case 2: Mr Li .......................................................................................................................... 34
4.2.1
Beliefs ............................................................................................................................ 35
iii
4.2.2
Practices ........................................................................................................................ 37
4.2.3
Tensions between beliefs and practices ....................................................................... 38
4.3
Case 3: Ms Wang ................................................................................................................... 40
4.3.1
Beliefs ............................................................................................................................ 40
4.3.2
Practices ........................................................................................................................ 43
4.3.3
Tensions between beliefs and practices ....................................................................... 45
4.4
Cross-case analysis ................................................................................................................ 45
4.4.1
Shared beliefs and practices ......................................................................................... 45
4.4.2
Different beliefs and practices ...................................................................................... 46
Chapter 5
Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 51
5.1
ESP teachers’ beliefs about motivating students and their motivational practices ............. 51
5.1.1
General understandings of motivation ......................................................................... 51
5.1.2
Teachers’ role in motivating students .......................................................................... 52
5.1.3
Motivating factors for ESP students and teachers’ motivational practices .................. 53
5.2
Relationship between beliefs and practices ......................................................................... 60
5.2.1
Conflicting/competing beliefs ....................................................................................... 61
5.2.2
Contextual factors ......................................................................................................... 63
5.2.3
Sources of beliefs .......................................................................................................... 63
Chapter 6
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 67
6.1
Implications ........................................................................................................................... 67
6.2
Limitations............................................................................................................................. 68
6.3
Recommendations for future research................................................................................. 68
6.4
Concluding remarks .............................................................................................................. 69
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 70
Appendices............................................................................................................................................ 86
Appendix I
Consent form (Participants) ...................................................................................... 87
Appendix II
Interview Guide (Semi-structured interviews).......................................................... 88
Appendix III
Classroom Observation Sheet ................................................................................... 89
Appendix IV
Interview Guide (SRIs) ............................................................................................... 90
Appendix V
Participants’ observed motivational practices.......................................................... 91
Declaration ............................................................................................................................................ 95
iv
List of Tables and Figures
Figure
1:
The
components
of
motivational
teaching
practice
in
the
L2
classroom………………………………11
Table
1:
Profile
of
participants………………………………………………………………………………………………………….24
Table
2:
Data
collection
process……………………………………………………………………………………………………….26
Table
3:
Recurrent
themes
and
categories………………………………………………………………………………………..26
Table
4:
Perceived
student
needs
and
favoured
motivational
techniques
(Ms
Zhang)……………………….29
Table 5: Participating
practices……………47
teachers’
beliefs
about
student
motivation
and
motivational
v
Acknowledgements
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to all my participants in this study,
who welcomed me into their classrooms and made generous contributions to
this study.
Secondly, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Mark Wyatt who has been
patient, encouraging, and kind, and provided invaluable support and guidance
throughout the study.
Finally, I wish to express my thanks to my mother, my husband and my
daughter. Without their endless support and understanding, this study would
not
have
been
possible.
vi
Chapter 1
Introduction
This study is about the beliefs ESP teachers hold about student motivation and their
motivational practices in the ESP classroom. It examines how ESP teachers’
understanding of student motivation and the way they motivate students in the
classroom interrelate with each other. The purpose of this chapter is to first provide the
rationale of the study and then outline the key chapters included in this dissertation.
1.1 Rationale of the study
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teaching and research started in China around the
late 1970s when the concept of ESP and related research were introduced by Huizhong
Yang (1978). It has developed quickly since the 1990s because of the huge demand for
talents who are not only competent in their English language skills but also skilled in a
specified profession or field (Qin, 2003). Business English provides a good example for
the thriving development of ESP: as a sub-branch of ESP, it is recognized as a formalized
discipline by the Ministry of Education in China since 2007 and over 800 universities
have provided this course to student (Zhu, Peng, Zhang, & Yi, 2007). Many other ESP
courses are also offered by higher institutions and universities in China.
This creates an ever greater need for competent ESP teachers and related research in
this area. However, most research on ESP puts its focus on ESP course design, students’
lexical needs, design of teaching materials and learners’ roles in the learning process.
Research exploring the role of ESP teachers, in contrast, has been relatively limited
(Watson Todd, 2003), with rare exceptions such as Wu and Badger (2009), Northcott
and Brown (2006), and Howard and Brown (1997), although many investigations in this
area have been conducted in ELT (English Language Teaching) research.
Motivation is another area that has been studied in depth in ELT. However, most studies
on motivation attempts to answer why students are motivated to learn while only a few
research has investigated how learners can be motivated by the immediate environment
1
(e.g. Dörnyei&Csizér, 1998; Guilloteaux&Dörnyei, 2008). Studies researching how
language teachers understand and try to influence learner motivation are even scarcer
with Cowie and Sakui (2011), Harvey (2013) and Lee (2015) as exceptions.
Borg (2006, p. 40) claims that “teacher cognition research has affirmed the active role
which teachers play in shaping classroom events and highlighted the complex nature of
classroom decision-making”. In order to get a better understanding of how ESP teachers
can facilitate students’ language learning process, it is essential to investigate how
teachers understand and respond to student motivation and in particular the
relationship between their beliefs and practices.
This study therefore merges the three main areas of investigation, ESP teaching, L2
(second language) motivation and language teacher cognition, and aims to address the
gap by examining ESP teachers’ beliefs about student motivation and their motivational
practices in the classroom in China. It is hoped that this research could shed lights on
how teachers’ beliefs and practices relate to ESP students’ motivation and thus inform
ESP teacher education.
1.2 Structure of the study
This dissertation is divided into six chapters in total. Chapter 1 introduces the rationale
and structure of the study. Chapter 2 is a Literature Review with three sections
regarding respectively motivation and L2 attainment, teachers’ beliefs and practices and
teachers’ beliefs and practices with specific reference to motivation. Chapter 3 presents
research questions and discusses methodological issues. The general findings of the
research gathered from the interviews and observations are presented in Chapter 4 and
both analysis of three individual cases and cross-case analysis are made. Chapter 5
concentrates on the Discussion of the findings with reference to previous research.
Chapter 6 is the Conclusion which provides implications and limitations of the study and
outlines suggestions for future research.
2
Chapter 2
Literature Review
The rationale of the study stated in Chapter 1 suggests the need for a literature review
with three themes: motivation and L2 attainment, teachers’ beliefs and practices and
teachers’ beliefs and practices with specific reference to motivation.
2.1 Motivation and L2 Attainment
Research indicates that the success of L2 learning relates to many factors including
aptitude, age, motivation, and previous learning experience (Gass, Behney and Plonsky,
2013), among which motivation is the most frequently mentioned. Indeed, motivation is
claimed by researchers to be a key factor that determines L2 attainment
(Csizér&Dörnyei, 2005) and some even argue that its importance may override that of
aptitude for language learning (e.g. Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Good &Brophy, 1994;
Sternberg, 2002). Dörnyei (1998, p. 17), for example, argues for the central role of
motivation in L2 learning:
Motivation provides the primary impetus to initiate learning the L2 and later
the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process;
indeed, all other factors involved in L2 acquisition presuppose motivation to
some extent.
In this section, I first discuss how “motivation” is defined in previous research and briefly
review theories of L2 motivation to provide the theoretical framework for the present
study. I then consider findings which show how the classroom can shape student
motivation, with a focus on teachers’ role and their motivational practices. The last part
discusses more specifically studies that link ESP and L2 motivation.
2.1.1 Definition of “Motivation”
The term “motivation” is defined in the field of psychology as a drive. Brown (1980, p.
112) states that “motivation is commonly thought of as an inner drive, impulse, emotion
3
or desire that moves one to a particular action”. It is about “the processes involved in
arousing, directing and sustaining behaviour” (White, 1977, p. 2) or “an innate state that
arouses, directs and maintains behaviour” (Woolfolk, 1993, p. 336).
In the field of L2 acquisition, it seems that although teachers are able to intuitively
detect levels of motivation among their students, when it comes to where motivation
comes from and how it works, motivation appears a complex concept. As Dörnyei (1998,
p. 118) states, motivation is a “multi-faceted construct” as a considerable diversity of
theories and approaches is used to study the motivational determinants of L2
acquisition and use.
2.1.2 Theories of L2 Motivation
2.1.2.1
Mainstream motivational theories and L2 motivation
Many influential motivational theories have directly or indirectly influenced L2
motivational theories and are briefly outlined in this section.
Early motivational theories took a behaviorist view that motivation was attributed to
outside stimuli and reinforcement (e.g. Watson, 1913). In the early 1960s, however,
theories turned from this behaviorist view to a cognitive one in which humans were
seen as proactive rather than responsive (see an overview by Bandura, 1986), among
which are goal theories (Locke & Latham, 1990; Schunk, Pintrich, &Meece, 2008),
expectancy-value theory (Atkinson, 1964; Rotter, 1966) and attributiontheory (Heider,
1958; Weiner, 1985).
According to goal theories, humans exercise self-influence through setting themselves
challenging goals, a process that serves as a cognitive mechanism of motivation and selfdirectedness. Goal setting theory (Locke & Latham, 1990) considers goals as immediate
regulators of behaviour while goal orientation theory deals more with the questions why
an individual may want to engage in a task and how he/she will approach it (Pintrich,
2000a, 2000b). In L2 motivation theories, the interest in goal theories has increased in
4
the 1990s with special attention to the importance of learner goals for motivational
processes.
Expectancy-valuetheoryprincipally addresses the initial phase of motivation as it aims to
explain the incentive to pursue a particular action by an individual’s expectancy of
success and the value that the individual attaches to this success (Atkinson, 1964). In
addition, the locus of control – that is, whether a person perceives that the outcome of
an event lies outside or within his control – further influences expectancies (Rotter,
1966). Components associated with the expectancy-value framework have been
frequently incorporated into various L2 research. The concept linguistic self-confidence
(Clément, Dörnyei, & Noels, 1994), for example, bears many similarities to self-efficacy
theory(Bandura, 1977), referring to the belief that a person has the ability to produce
results, accomplish goals or perform tasks competently.
Attribution theory, the analysis of how people process past experiences of failure and
success and what consequences these will have on future achievement strivings, is also
incorporated in L2 research to identify the causal attributional processes of L2 learners
(e.g. Williams & Burden, 1999; Ushioda, 1998).
2.1.2.2
Socio-educational model
The most influential framework that has driven much of the research on L2 motivation is
the socio-educational model developed by Gardner & Lambert around the late 1950s.
Based on this model, they identified two orientations of motivation: instrumental
orientation and integrative orientation(1972). Instrumental orientation encourages the
learner to learn an L2 for practical reasons, while integrative orientation is defined as
“reflecting a sincere and personal interest in the people and culture represented by the
other group” (p. 132) and involves psychological or emotional identification with the
target community.
They reason that integrative orientation can help sustain learners’ long-term motivation
and argue that individuals with integrative orientation are likely to be more motivated
5
and thus achieve better L2 learning outcomes(1972, p. 12). This basic proposition has
gained many support (e.g. Gardner, Day &MacIntyre, 1992; Smythe, Stennett, &Feenstra,
1972), but also provoked considerable criticism:
 A strong version of the integrative concept, social identification and integration, is
considered unrealistic for many language learners (McDonough, 1981, p. 152;
Clément &Kruidenier, 1983) and has relevance only in specific sociocultural
contexts. This is particularly the case with the global spread of English: with
English now becoming “deterritorialized”, finding a specific target reference group
for learners of English to integrate or identify with becomes difficult (Dörnyei,
2005; Lamb, 2004).
 The superiority of integrative orientation to instrumental orientation is also
challenged (Crooks & Schmidt, 1991), as studies have found that the relationship
between motivation and language learning may be unstable (Oyama, 1978;
Purcell &Suter, 1980), varying greatly across individuals, contexts, and learning
tasks” (Oller, 1981, p. 15).
 The causality hypothesis is criticized as well as researchers have proposed that
achievement might lead to attitude rather than the other way round (Hermann,
1980; Strong, 1984).
Due to the cultural impasse of the Gardner model, L2 scholars have been considering
alternative motivational models (e.g. Crooks & Schmidt, 1991; Clément et al., 1994). One
model that they(e.g. Brown, 1994; Williams & Burden, 1997) have been interested in is
self-determination theory (Deci& Ryan, 1985).
2.1.2.3
Self-determination theory
Among the several attempts researchers have made to complement the integrativeinstrumental distinction (Oxford, 1996), one effort is to incorporate some elements of
self-determination theory in the study of L2 motivation.
Self-determination theoryposits that humans have an innate need for choice and
6
personal control over what we do and an inbuilt desire for learning and development.
They conceptualized motivation as being either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation
refers to a situation in which a learner undertakes an activity for pleasure and for the
desire for self-determination and learning (Noels, Clément, & Pelletier, 1999, p. 24).
Extrinsic motivation, instead, is based on some kind of end and is broken down to
external regulation, introjected regulation and identified regulation (see Deci, Vallerand,
Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991).
One element of self-determination theory, learner autonomy, has been greatly
emphasized in L2 motivation research. Evidence has shown that L2 motivation and
learner autonomy go hand in hand (e.g. Ushioda, 1996; Benson &Voller, 1997; Dörnyei,
1998). Autonomy-supporting teaching style fosters intrinsic motivation (Noels, Clément,
& Pelletier, 1999). A less controlling style, and a classroom in which there is learner
autonomy would therefore be a more successful form of instruction.
2.1.2.4
International posture
Yashima’s (2002) international posture is another effort to reframe the Gardnerian
concept of integrativeness in the EFL context. It is defined as “a general attitude toward
the international community that influences English learning and communication”
among learners and involves their “interest in foreign or international affairs, willingness
to go overseas to stay or work, readiness to interact with intercultural partners, and […]
openness or a non-ethnocentric attitude toward different cultures” (Yashima, 2002, P.
57-63). Three subcomponents are included: intergroup approach tendency; interest in
international vocation and activities; interest in foreign affairs (Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide,
& Shimizu, 2004).
Many studies have provided evidence that that international posture is a valid construct
to predict learners’ motivation to study English as a foreign language in other EFL
contexts (e.g. Lamb, 2004; Kormos&Csizér, 2007).
7
2.1.2.5
L2 motivational self system
As a more radical rethinking of the integrative concept and a shift of focus from the
discussion of an external reference group to the “internal domain of self and identity”
(Ushioda&Dörnyei, 2009, p. 3), Dörnyei (2005) proposed the L2 motivational self
system(LMSS). This new approach conceptualizes L2 learning motivation within a “self”
framework and attempts to explain motivation in the diverse language learning
environment in a globalized world.
In this system, language learners are assumed to be motivated by 1) their internal desire
to become an effective L2 user (the ideal L2 self); 2) social pressures coming from the
learner’s environment to master the L2 (the ought-to L2 self); and 3) the actual
experience of being engaged in the L2 learning process (the L2 learning experience)
(Dörnyei& Chan, 2013, p. 439).
Several studies (Csizér&Lukács, 2010; Henry, 2011; Kormos, Kiddle, &Csizér, 2011; Magid,
2012; Papi, 2010; Islam, Lamb, & Chambers, 2013) have confirmed that LMSS can explain
motivation. The ideal L2 self has been found to be a strong predictor of motivation, and
play an important role in determining motivated behaviour. However, research has also
revealed that the impact of the ought-to L2 self on motivated L2 behaviour is limited
(Csizér&Kormos, 2009; Csizér&Lukács, 2010) and learners’ ought-to L2 self has to be
internalized to impact on motivation (Kim, 2009).
There are other L2 orientations as well, for example, Islam et al’s (2013) “national
interest” (Islam et al, 2013), “xenophilic”, “identification”, “socio-cultural”, “instrumental
knowledge”, and “English media” orientations (Clément et al, 1994), and eleven
orientations by Bradford (2007) (cited in Ali, Wyatt, & Van Laar, 2015). However, as the
research findings of the present study are not directly related to these L2 orientations,
they are not reviewed in this dissertation in detail.
8
2.1.3 The Teacher’s Role and Motivational Practices in the Language
Classroom
During the past two decades, there has been an increasing emphasis placed on the study
of motivation that stems from the sociocultural context – the physical and psychological
settings in which human actions are embedded (for a review, see Dörnyei, 2000). Central
to this social shift in motivation research is the growing recognition that social
environment, cultural aspects and the immediate learning environment all have a
certain amount of influence on student motivation. Among the above factors, the
immediate learning environment has been well researched with the teacher, the
curriculum, the teaching practices and the learning group identified as important
classroom variables that impact on student motivation (e.g. Brophy&Kher, 1986;
Chambers, 1999).
2.1.3.1
The teacher’s role
The teacher, as key figures, or authorities in the students’ immediate learning
environment, is a “powerful motivational socialiser” (Dörnyei, 2001a, p. 35) for students.
Dörnyei (2001a, pp. 35-36) proposes four interrelated dimensions of teachers’ multiple
influences include their personal characteristics (eg. Ausubel, Novak, &Hanesian, 1978;
Alison, 1993; Chambers, 1999), teacher immediacy (eg. Christophel, 1990), active
motivational socialising behaviour (Brophy&Kher, 1986; Pintrich&Schunk, 1996) and
classroom management (Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939; Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan,
1991).
Oxford and Shearin (1996, p. 139) also emphasize teachers’ influences on students’ level
of motivation including identifying students’ motivation to study the language, shaping
students’ beliefs about success and failure in L2 learning, showing how exciting L2
learning is, making the L2 classroom a welcoming place, and promoting students’
intrinsic motivation and their sense of self-efficacy.
9
2.1.3.2
Motivational practices
The situated nature of motivation also suggests the impact of teaching practices on
student motivation.
Nikolov (2001), for example, concluded that students’ negative perceptions of classroom
practices were the main reason for failure. Likewise, a research on Israeli students
studying Arabic (Donitsa-Schmidt, Inbar, and Shohamy, 2004) found that the quality of
the teaching program and classroom practices could override their negative attitude
toward the target culture and encourage them to continue their study. Papi and
Abdollahzadeh (2011) also found that teachers’ motivational practice could greatly
influence student motivation, which was further proved by recent studies including AlMahrooqi, Abrar-Ul-Hassan, and Asante (2012), Sugita and Takeuchi (2012), and
Moskovsky, Alrabai, Paolini, and Ratcheva (2013). Other studies have demonstrated
that learners’ perceptions of autonomy-supporting VS controlling teacher behaviour
influence the extent of learners’ intrinsic motivation (Noels, 2003). All these findings
emphasize the importance of motivational teaching practices (Dörnyei 2001b).
Researchers in the field of L2 and educational psychology have developed various
techniques to increase student motivation (e.g. Brophy, 1987; McCombs, 1994;
Pintrich&Schunk, 1996). However, there is an absence of a theory-based framework that
could accommodate the diverse behaviours, except for Dörnyei’s (2001b) notable model
for motivational L2 teaching practice, with the following four main dimensions:
 Creating basic motivational conditions.
 Generating initial motivation.
 Maintaining and protecting motivation.
 Encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation.
Figure 1 below is a schematic representation of the model, presenting the main macrostrategies associated with each dimension (Dörnyei, 2001b). This model served as the
theoretical basis for designing the classroom observation sheets in the current study.
10
2.1.4 Linking ESP and L2 Motivation
Although a considerable amount of study has been conducted to investigate student L2
motivation in the EFL field, the area of ESP has not been awarded enough attention. A
few exceptions are discussed below.
Figure 1: The components of motivational teaching practice in the L2 classroom(Dörnyei,
2001b, p. 29).
Research that links ESP with L2 motivation generally suggests the importance of
identifying learners’ needs. Hutchinson and Waters (1987, p. 8) state that “learners were
seen to have different needs and interests, which would have an important influence on
their motivation to learn and therefore on the effectiveness of their learning.” Crookes
11
and Schmidt (1991, p. 492) also argue that “a programme which appears to meet the
student’s own expressed needs (or whatever their supervisors/teachers believe to be
their needs) will be more motivating, more efficient, and thus more successful.”
Robinson (1980), Kennedy and Bolitho (1984), and Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) all
seem to agree that students are more motivated when the English course is directly
related to their main subject course or professional needs.
The above argument is supported by several studies. Baston-Dousel and Alonzo (2011)
showed that results of need analysis helped support a more practical curriculum
pertaining to learners’ expectations. Liuoliene&Metiuniene (2006) also emphasized
understanding learners’ needs prior to instruction; they found a significant relationship
between learner’s motivation and their needs and wishes.
Related to learners’ needs, the relevance of the course to the learners also impacts on
leaners’ motivation. As Chambers has pointed out (1999, p. 37): “if pupils fail to see the
relationship between the activity and the world in which they live, then the point of the
activity is likely to be lost on them.” Kember, Ho & Hong (2008) reported findings from a
study with 36 undergraduate students and found that students were motivated by a
teaching environment that was felt to be relevant to their future career. From an EAP
point of view, Woodrow (2013) concluded that in the case of pre-sessional EAP students,
perceived relevance was a motivating force. Malcolm’s (2013) research found that, for
her medical students, course materials that focused on the language of science, medical
terminology as well as assignments that required the reading of medical texts were
more motivating.
Studies in ESP learning motivation also highlight the prominence of learners’
instrumental orientation. Katsara’s (2008) survey found that the majority of ESP
students (84%) were instrumentally motivated in learning English, while only 16% were
integrative-oriented. Research conducted by Al-Tamimi and Shuib (2009) on 81
petroleum engineering undergraduates in Malaysia revealed that students had greater
support of learning English for utilitarian reasons but less support for integrative reasons.
12
Similarly, Katsara’s (2008) study of Greek students in business administration found that
learners’ motivation for learning ESP was characterized by both instrumental orientation,
such as learning English to benefit their future careers, and a desire to communicate
with foreigners. Moreover, Chen (2005) suggested that a task-based syllabus for
teaching business English was helpful, as such a practical type of syllabus encourages
learners to transfer the language skills taught in class to practical business situations.
Alqurashi’s (2011) study showed that Saudi police officers were motivated to learn
English as they considered it the future language whose mastery would open wide the
gates of education and global communication.
As can be seen in the above review, many of the recent research have still been relying
heavily on the Gardner model, although L2 motivational research has already moved
away from that.
2.2 Teachers’ beliefs and practices
This section discusses several areas of research in the domain of teacher cognition in
order to position this study within the existing body of literature.
During the past 30 years, there has been a growing interest among researchers in
exploring what goes on in the mind of the teacher. Attention has been put on
investigating concepts such as “teacher thinking” (Clark & Peterson, 1986), “teacher
beliefs” (Pajares, 1992), “teacher knowledge” (Borko& Putnam, 1995), “teacher craft
knowledge” (Cooper & McIntyre, 1996), “teacher images”, “teacher metaphors” (Black,
2002), “teacher cognition” (Borg, 2003), and so on.
This growing interest has stemmed from the influence of constructivism and cognitive
psychology in education (Clark &Yinger, 1977) and the recognition that the beliefs
individuals hold influence their decisions and the choices they make during the course of
everyday life (Bandura, 1986). In this respect, it has been suggested that teachers’
classroom decisions and actions are guided by certain practical and professional
13
theoretical frameworks, which derive from beliefs and are developed through their own
learning and teaching experiences and professional socialization.
2.2.1 Definition of teacher beliefs
With belief as such a “messy construct” (Pajares, 1992, p. 307) vexed by “conceptual
ambiguity” (Borg, 2003, p. 83), studying teachers’ beliefs has always been difficult.
According to Fishbein and Ajzen (1975), belief is a representation of the information a
person holds about an object (p. 12), or “a person’s understanding of himself and his
environment” (p. 131). Sigel (1985) instead focuses more on the mental process and
defines beliefs as “mental construction of experience – often condensed and integrated
into schemata or concepts” (p. 351). In the field of English language teaching, Borg (2010)
describes a belief as “a proposition which may be consciously or unconsciously held, is
evaluative in that it is accepted as true by the individual, and is therefore imbued with
emotive commitment; further it serves as a guide to thought and behaviour” (p. 186).
2.2.2 Origin of teacher beliefs
Teachers’ beliefs systems are structured gradually over time and include both subjective
and objective knowledge (Richards & Lockhart, 1996; Lortie, 1975; Wilson, 1990).
Various factors have been identified as having a powerful impact on teachers’ beliefs,
including:
 Their own experience as language learners. Lortie (1975) calls this experience the
“apprenticeship of observation”, which includes their memories as students and
their memories of their former teachers, which are “indelible imprint on most
teachers’ lives and minds’ (Johnson, 1999, p. 23).
 Teachers’ own teaching experience. During their continuous teaching over a
number of years, teachers develop their favoured teaching styles, techniques,
and strategies, which becomes a powerful source of their beliefs (Kindsvatter,
Willen, &Ishler, 1988; Crookes & Arakaki, 1999).
14
 Teacher education. There has been much debate about how much teacher
education can influence teachers’ beliefs; however, some research does provide
increasing evidence that it can impact on them in some way (Borg 1998; Borg
2005; Phipps, 2009).
 Culture. It is also mentioned by some researchers that culture helps shape
teachers’ beliefs and in turn “strongly influence the processing of new
information” (Pajares, 1992, p. 317). Richardson (1996, p. 105), for example,
believes that “enculturation” is among the three possible sources of teachers’
beliefs, parallel to personal experience, and experience with schooling and formal
knowledge. However, culture as a source of teachers’ belief is still
underresearched and the limited research into it mainly regards cultural
elements as something that teachers adopt during their learning experience (e.g.
Pajares, 1992, p. 316; Mellati, Khademi, &Shirzadeh, 2015, p. 178).
 Others. Other factors may also influence teachers’ beliefs: teachers’ personality
factors, research-based principles, and principles derived from an approach or
method (Kindsvatter et al., 1988; Richards & Lockhart, 1996).
2.2.3 Teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices
A wide range of studies has been undertaken in which researchers attempt to examine
the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their classroom practices. There is now
clear evidence that teachers’ beliefs provide a basis for their actions (Borg, 2011) and
guide classroom practices. Teachers “filter, digest, and implement the curriculum
depending upon their beliefs and environmental contexts” (Sakui, 2004, p. 155).
However, the degree to which reported beliefs have been found to accurately reflect the
beliefs researchers infer from observations of teachers’ practice is extremely varied.
Few studies (Farrell & Kun, 2008; Briscoe, 1991; Smith, 1996; Walsh & Wyatt, 2014) have
reported close matches between beliefs and classroom practices, which may result from
“a happy congruence” between the teachers’ beliefs and a supportive teaching context
(Walsh & Wyatt, 2014, p. 693).
15
More research has suggested, however, that “the teachers’ stated beliefs offered only a
partial window on practice” (Basturkmen, Loewen, & Ellis , 2004, p. 268), and there
could sometimes be mismatches or tensions between beliefs and practices for the
following reasons.
 Teachers may have competing beliefs which interact in such a way as to make
any direct link between belief and action difficult to determine. Phipps & Borg
(2009), for example, found that a teachers’ belief in the need for pace and
classroom control superseded her belief that “controlled grammar practice … did
not contribute much to student learning” (p. 18).
 Contextual factors can also have a significant impact on the relationship between
stated beliefs and practices (Curtiss and Nistler 1998; Borg 2006; Miller& Smith,
2004; Maiklad, 2001; Davis, 2003). Lam and Kember’s (2006) study of art teachers
in Hong Kong, for example, found that there was a much less direct relationship
between beliefs and practices when teaching was driven by the need to follow a
prescribed examination syllabus. A number of studies have also indicated that
the social, institutional and physical settings can all constrain what teachers do in
their classes (Shavelson& Stern, 1981; Freeman, 1993; Johnson, 1996; Woods,
1996). These factors include heavy workloads, large classes, student discipline,
lack of motivation for learning, students’ varying levels of proficiency, insufficient
English proficiency of students, students’ resistance to new ways of learning,
examination pressure, curriculum mandates, and a shortage of resources.
 The methods used to elicit or infer beliefs can also result in mismatches between
beliefs and practice as teachers may “have difficulty in making their implicit
beliefs explicit” (Sahin, Bullock, & Stables, 2002, p. 381). Some researchers assert
that it is insufficient to rely solely on either verbal commentaries or observations.
There is a need both to draw inferences from the belief statements teachers
make, and to examine what they actually do in their classrooms. According to
Pajares (1992), they are the fundamental prerequisites for studying teachers’
beliefs.
16
Therefore, studies of teacher cognition should examine both teachers’ theoretical
beliefs and how they are mediated in practice by the contexts in which teachers
work. By looking at the congruences and/or tensions, teachers can be encouraged to
reflect on their beliefs and practices and with their heightened awareness, their
classroom teaching can be more effective. Besides, the findings of such studies could
also inform further in-service teacher education and thus promote teachers’
professional development.
2.3 Teacher Cognition and L2 Motivation
As previously mentioned, teacher cognition has become a major area of interest for
researchers in the field of L2 teaching in the past 20 years. Various domains of L2
teaching have been examined from a teacher cognition perspective, among which,
grammar teaching has received the most attention (e.g. Borg, 2001; Andrews, 2007;
Borg & Burns, 2008; Farrell & Lim, 2005; Basturkmen, Loewen, & Ellis, 2004).
The extensive body of research on L2 grammar teaching cognition, however, contrasts
with the scarcity of work on teacher cognition in relation to student motivation. Among
the few studies in this area, Cowie and Sakui (2011), Harvey (2013), Lee (2015) and
Ruesch, Brown & Dewey (2012) provide interesting insights into teachers’ perceptions of
learner motivation and their motivational strategies.
Cowie and Sakui effectively illustrated the close relationship between experienced EFL
teachers’ beliefs concerning motivation and their classroom practices and found that
teachers held clear but simplified views about learner motivation, which were informed
by their own knowledge and expertise as well as motivation theories. They also found
that motivational strategies in the Japanese context match well with the Ten
Commandments of Dörnyei and Csizér (1998), which suggested that the strategies
proposed in the Hungarian contexts could be culturally transferrable.Harvey’s (2013)
held a similar view that teachers were generally sensitive to students’ motivation and
the effects of motivational influences. However, she also found that teachers may
mistake learners’ behaviours as evidence of their motivation levels, and therefore
17
emphasized the importance of teacher/student relationship as a motivational influence
on learners.Lee (2015) analysed factors that shaped teachers’ perceptions of L2
motivation with reference to existing research and their own experience. His study
suggested that teachers’ L2 learning and teaching experience could profoundly influence
their understanding of L2 motivation and factors pertaining to teachers, students and
institutions could all influence teachers’ use of motivational strategies.Ruesch et al.
(2012) also studied motivational strategies in the EFL classroom as were perceived by
students and teachers. Their findings suggested that in North America strategies related
to teacher behaviour and rapport, climate, and building learner’s self-confidence were
among the most important for all teacher and student groups, while due to cultural
differences, comparison, effort and task were among the strategies with the most
significant difference.
The above studies, however, only take account of teacher perceptions and whether
teachers’ actual motivational practices in the classroom are in harmony with their stated
beliefs is not investigated.
Two interesting studies by Kubanyiova (2006, 2009) have provided an account for the
development of teacher cognition in relation to their motivational practice.
Sheinvestigated teacher change with regards to teachers’ motivational teaching practice
in 2006 and found that the teacher development course failed in its goal to promote
significant change in teachers’ motivational teaching practice. She first suggested that
broader macro-contextual influences that shaped teachers’ professional development
initiatives might be a deciding factor of the change that teacher development
programmes could bring about. In her later research article (2009), she introduced the
construct of possible selves as a theoretical framework and further suggested that
development input from the teacher education programme when contradicted with the
ought-to selves of the teacherscould inhibit teachers’ cognitive development.
18
2.4 Summary
Although motivation and teacher cognition are both well-researched areas,
limitedresearch has touched on the issue of teacher cognition in relation to L2
motivation, particularly in the field of English for specific purposes. The present study,
therefore, intends to address this significant gap by discussing in detail ESP teachers’
beliefs about student motivation and their motivational practices in the classroom in
China.
19
Chapter 3
Research Methodology
The aim of this chapter is to present the research questions, provide the rationales for
the choice of research methodology and discuss in detail the research design of the
present study.
3.1 Research questions
The present study aims to answer the following research questions:
1. What beliefs do ESP teachers hold about student motivation?
a. What are their understandings of motivation?
b. To what extent does motivation contribute to L2 learning?
c. What role do teachers play in motivating learners in the ESP classroom?
d. What motivational strategies/techniques are effective for students?
2. What are their motivational practices in the classrooms?
a. What motivational strategies are used?
3. What is the relationship between their beliefs and practices?
a. What are the matches and mismatches/tensions?
b. What contributes to the mismatches/tensions?
3.2 Research approach
The present study adopted a qualitative case study approach.
According to Li and Walsh (2011, p. 43), a qualitative case study “allows different
methods to seek in-depth understanding of some social phenomenon, especially when
such understanding encompassed important contextual conditions”. Besides, such an
approach could draw our attention to “clues that might have been lost in numbers and
statistics” (Werbinska, 2011, p. 184).
Some key characteristics of the case study approach can be identified as follows:
20
 Case studies explore the “particularity” of the case (Stake, 1995). Cases are
selected precisely in order to provide an in-depth understanding of the particular,
rather than to find out what is generally true of the many (Cohen, Manion&
Morrison, 2000; Merriam, 1998).
 Case studies provide a “thick description” (Dörnyei, 2007) (rich insights, and indepth understanding) of a complex social issue.
 Cases are examined in natural contexts, which are unique, dynamic and
information-rich (Cohen et al., 2000; Yin, 2003) without which cases cannot be
fully understand.
 Case studies typically draw on multiple sources of data, combining interviews and
observations and/or related documents so as to provide different perspectives
on the phenomena being studied (Yin, 2003; Creswell, 2003).
With the above characteristics, the case study approach meets the needs of the present
study as it allows participants to provide a rich, contextualized and personal account of
their beliefs and the rationales for their actual practices and therefore enables the
researcherto capture the subtleties and complexities of ESP teachers’ beliefs about
student motivation and their classroom practices.
3.3 Research methods
As in other teacher cognition studies (e.g. Cundale, 2001; Farrell & Kun, 2008; Tam, 2006;
Feryok, 2004; Zhang & Borg, 2013), interviews and classroom observations were used to
generate data in the present study.
3.3.1 Interviews
An interview, according to Burns (2000, p. 423) is “a verbal interchange, often face to
face, in which an interviewer tries to elicit information, beliefs or opinions from another
person”. As a research method interviews are “the most often used method in
qualitative inquiries” (Dörnyei, 2007, p. 134). They allow researchers to ask specific
questions to their informants and probe them where necessary (Creswell, 2003).
21
Interviews have been widely used in previous studies to explore teachers’ beliefs.
Sakui&Gaies (2009), for example, suggest that interviews validate quantitative methods
as they allow participants to describe their beliefs in ways that questionnaires and
surveys do not. Barcelos (2003, p.13) also argues that interviews disclose how “beliefs
about language learning are context-bound and dynamic”.
3.3.1.1
Semi-structured interview
There are different types of interviews such as structured, unstructured, and semistructured ones. As the present study is mainly exploratory, the linear questioning
nature of a structured interview would not have helped fully explore teachers’ beliefs.
Unstructured interviews, although appear to be useful to understand teachers’ views
and practices, may not work well for this study as they may result in teachers’
unnecessarily detailed description and thus distraction from the research agenda. Semistructured interviews, instead, provide a more structured framework while remain
flexible for more follow-up responses (McDonough, 1997, p. 183-184). For the purpose
of the present research, pre-observation interviews were semi-structured in nature.
Pre-observation interviews took place between May 12 and May 15, one week before
classroom observations. Each interview lasted approximately 50 minutes and with
participants’ consent, was audio recorded. The interviews focused on how the
participants understood ESP students’ motivation. It is hoped that with semi-structured
interviews both the interviewer and the interviewees have some flexibility in introducing
and pursuing themes of relevance that emerged during the conversation and thus help
to contribute an in-depth understanding to the topic of teachers’ beliefs. Key questions
for pre-observation interviews can be seen in Appendix II.
3.3.1.2
Stimulated recall interview
Given the complex nature of teachers’ beliefs, pre-observation interviews may only
reveal partial fragments rather than the whole picture (Holliday, 2007). Therefore, they
were complemented by classroom observations and stimulated recall interviews.
22
Stimulated recall interview (SRI) as a technique is defined as a way of gathering
“teachers’ retrospective reports of their thought processes” (Calderhead, 1981, p. 215).
This method represents “a means of eliciting data through the process involved in
carrying out a task or activity” (Gass& Mackey, 2000, p. 1) by inviting participants to
recall their concurrent cognitive activity (Norman, 1983).
According to Gass and Mackey (2000), SRI can isolate particular events from a chain of
unconscious actions to reveal the cognitions of the observed participant; it helps to
identify the organization of knowledge, and beliefs, and to determine if a particular
cognitive process is employed. As it deals with moment to moment thought processes
and decision-making (Nespor, 1985), SRI is a valuable source of gaining insight into
teachers’ beliefs.
The natural and internal contradiction of beliefs (Borg, 2006) also requires SRI to be
adopted, as a person might act in accordance with or contrary to his/her actual beliefs
(Nespor, 1985; Woods, 1996). Using SRI can help the participants to make explicit and
articulate the beliefs that guided their teaching in real contexts.
In the present research, all SRIs took place on the same day of the observations so as to
minimise data loss (Gass& Mackey, 2000). Each interview lasted about 40 minutes and
was audio-recorded with participants’ consent. The purpose of the SRIs was to discuss
with the teachers their practices during the observed lessons, examine the factors that
shape the teachers’ choice of strategies, and explore further teachers’ understanding of
motivation. Notes taken during observations with the help of classroom observation
sheets were used as stimuli to prompt teachers to reflect on their teaching practices.
Teaching materials and classroom activities during the observed lessons also served as a
spring board for discussion. Key questions for SRIs can be found in Appendix IV.
3.3.2 Classroom observations
Beliefs can be contradictory and unconscious. Interview data may not be reliable enough
as they depend too much on the subjects’ willingness to participate, their verbal skills
23
(Basturkmen et al., 2004), and their memory (Gass& Mackey, 2000). Besides, the
subjects sometimes may feel they have to invent reasons to satisfy the interviewer
(Gass& Mackey, 2000; Norman, 1983), which can make interview data even less valid.
Therefore, the researcher needs to enter the classes to observe than to “stand outside”
(Mason, 1996).
Observation helps the researcher to be more aware of the dynamics of classrooms
which cannot be captured by other instruments. It also helps the researcher to avoid
relying solely on verbal commentary. With reliable observations, the subjects’ actions
can be quantified so that the researcher can compare what they actually did in the
classroom and what they told the researcher that they thought they should do or did in
their classes.
In the present research, two of each participant’s normal classes (each lasted 50 minutes)
were observed. Decisions about which classes would be observed were made by the
teachers. It was a coincidence that all three participants were teaching the same two
units (A Job Interview and Mergers & Acquisitions) during the observed lessons which
was ideal for cross-case analysis. In each observed lesson the researcher was present as
a non-participant observer and as in University X, lessons are frequently observed for
various purposes (e.g. teacher development, teaching management, and research),
students are quite comfortable with the observer’s presence.
The observer recorded information about the lesson via written notes rather than more
widely used audio/video recordings as in the present study the researcher did not get
permission from University X to audio/video record the observed lessons. Observational
notes were taken with specific attention to the motivational strategies used by the
participants. Dörnyei’s (2001) Motivational Teaching Practice Model, as was reviewed in
Chapter 2, was used as the main framework for the design of the classroom observation
sheet (see Appendix III). Teaching materials such as worksheets, handouts, course book
and powerpoint slides were also collected as valuable observational data. These
observational data provided direct evidence of the manner in which the teachers
24
motivated the students in the ESP classroom. These data also served to frame the issues
raised to be discussed during the SRIs.
3.4 Participants
Among the various sampling strategies frequently utilized in social science research,
purposive sampling strategy is adopted in this research as it allows the researcher to
choose “the informants who are able to provide rich and varied insights into the
phenomenon under investigation so as to maximize what we can learn” (Dörnyei, 2007,
p. 126). According to “the researcher’s judgement as to typicality or interest” (Robson,
1993, p. 142), five Chinese teachers of English from the same university (later referred to
as University X) in a southern city in China were selected to participate in this qualitative
study. They were all non-native speakers of English, teaching mono-lingual and monocultural classes.
The participants were selected based on convenience of access and willingness to
participate. The fact that they were all teaching the same course also made comparison
among them possible. Additionally, variety in terms of gender, years of experience and
their own backgroundwas considered. Table 1 provides a profile of all participants.
Table 1: Profile of participants
Pseudonym
Gender
Mr Xiao
Male
Miss Chen
Miss
Ms Zhang
Female
Mr Li
Male
Ms Wang
Female
Qualifications
BA (English education)
MA (Marketing)
BA (English Language
& Culture)
MA (Business English)
BA (English Literature)
MA (Accounting)
BA (Business English)
MA (Business English)
BA (Business English)
MBA
PhD
candidate
(Management)
Overseas
experience
(years)
Teaching Experience
ESP
1
General
English
10
0
5
5
1.5
25
5
0.5
9
7
1
9
9
5
25
Before the interviews, objectives and procedures of the study were explained to the
participants and consent was obtained from both the participants (see Appendix I).
Participants’ anonymity was ensured through the use of pseudonyms when participants
were mentioned in the study. When all data collection was completed, all participants
were provided transcripts of interviews for them to delete, clarify, or amend before data
were analysed.
It should also be mentioned that Mr Xiao and Miss Chen only participated in the pilot
study and the findings from them will not be presented or discussed in this dissertation.
3.5 Pilot study
As was mentioned in 3.3, Mr Xiao and Miss Chen participated in the pilot study in which
research instruments were piloted. The pilot study informed the main study in the
following aspects:
 Develop my techniques of interviewing. Backchannel devices, such as “sure”,
“hhmm”, “right” and nodding, were adopted to enable a more cooperative and
effective interpersonal interaction. Class materials or activities instead of
students’ reaction were used as simuli to reduce the possibility of defensive
remarks.
 Raise my awareness of contextual constraints. All interviews were conducted
during a relaxing dinner after the participants finished a whole-day’s job to
guarantee the reactivity of participants. Besides, notes on observation sheets
rather than video recording during classroom observations were used to reduce
stress and avoid artificial behaviours of both teachers and students.
3.6 Data analysis
After the pilot study, three sets of data were collected during a two-week period (Table
2) and analysed in the following ways.
26
First, interviews conducted in Chinese were transcribed and translated into English by
the researcher and a full copy of interview scripts in English were sent to the
participants for verification. The data were then read and the exact words that appeared
to capture key thoughts or concepts were manually highlighted. Based on core ideas,
assumptions and concepts emerging from the texts, broader categories were formed
and used to code relevant data. Patterns were then identified in the responses and
based on how they were related and linked, information was reassembled into main
themes to gain implications from the data. Table 2 reports the recurrent themes
emergent from the data subsumed under three categories.
Table 2: Data collection process
Methods
Research
questions Ms Zhang
Pre-observation RQ1, RQ3 1 session
interviews
(40 min)
Classroom
RQ2, RQ3 2 sessions
observations
(50 min*2)
Stimulated recall RQ1, RQ3 2 sessions
interviews
(30 min+35 min)
Data collected
Mr Li
1 session
(52 min)
2 sessions
(50 min*2)
2 sessions
(38 min+30 min)
Ms Wang
1 session
(45 min)
2 sessions
(50 min*2)
2 sessions
(35 min+40 min)
Table 3: Recurrent themes and categories
Category
Motivation and ESP learning
Theme
Understandings of motivation (Q1)
Motivation and L2 attainment (Q1)
ESP student motivation (Q1)
Teachers and ESP student Teachers’ role in motivating students (Q1)
motivation
Effect of student motivation on teacher motivation(Q1)
Motivating factors for ESP students (Q1)
Effective motivational strategies for ESP students(Q1)
Sources of teacher beliefs about motivation (Q3b)
Factors that may influence Class size
teachers’
motivational Teacher evaluation
practices
Time pressure
(Q3b)
Mixed-ability students
Institutional requirements
After analysing the data, I drew up on thick description of the data and in Chapter 4 I
present my findings.
27
Chapter 4
Findings
To make the findings easy to read, individual cases are constructed for the three
participants respectively, with each case including four sections: the participant’s profile;
his/her beliefs about motivating ESP students; his/her motivational practices in the ESP
classroom; and tensions between his/her beliefs and practices. Salient tensions
identified in each participant’s beliefs as well as the tensions in his/her stated beliefs
and classroom practices are highlighted, while the congruent beliefs and practices are
presented in conjunction with those of other participants in the cross-case analysis.
4.1 Case 1: Ms Zhang
Ms Zhang is in her late forties. She began her teaching career in University X 25 years
ago, immediately after receiving her Bachelor’s degree in English Literature. In 2004, she
studied in the UK and got her Master’s degree in Accounting in 2005. She started
teaching ESP about 5 years ago in 2009. She doesn’t have any work experience other
than teaching.
4.1.1 Beliefs
The belief statements identified in Ms Zhang’s verbal commentary show her
understanding of “motivation”. She saw motivation as the most important factor that
contributed to language learning success. She used very strong words including
“definitely”, “for sure”, “of course”, “impossible” and “THE factor” when she verbalized
her opinions about motivation and L2 attainment. For example,
Motivation is what drives students to learn … yes, definitely the most
important for students to learn English. (Excerpt 4.1.1)
I cannot imagine how a student can succeed in learning English if he has no
motivation to learn at all. It is just impossible … unless he’s a genius. (Excerpt
4.1.2)
28
Ms Zhang feltESP students were generally very motivated as “they know it (ESP course)
is useful and practical” and “it is closely related to their subject of study”. However,she
believed that motivational techniques do not work for all students.
They (unmotivated students) either come from well-to-do families and don’t
have the pressure to find a good job or have a poor foundation of English and
are not willing to work hard to catch up. (Excerpt 4.1.3)
Some students are just not interested. They don’t need English in their future
life. What can I do? I cannot force them, right? They are adults. They know
what’s best for themselves. (Excerpt 4.1.4)
Interestingly, despite her strong views on the importance of motivation for language
learning, she said that although teachers did have an impact, they didn’t and shouldn’t
play a big role in motivating students.
I’m a teacher. My main responsibility is to teach. What I can do is only to
show them how this course can work for them … Be nice to them and make
them comfortable in the classroom … but they need to be motivated from
inside … by themselves, not by me. (Excerpt 4.1.5)
Ms Zhang listed some factors that she thought most important for ESP student
motivation, including relevance, learner autonomy and students’ sense of self-efficacy.
Students need to know that what they are learning is practical and can be of
use to them … They should be given the choice, or power … I don’t know
which word is better … They need to know that they can do it … maybe it
requires some efforts, but they can achieve their goal. (Excerpt 4.1.6)
She adopted several motivational strategies in her ESP teaching. The most effective one,
she thought, was “relating the course to their practical needs”. Some of her perceived
student needs and her favoured motivational techniques that she mentioned were as
follows:
29
Table 4: Perceived student needs and favoured motivational techniques (Ms Zhang)
Practical needs
A higher GPA to further study or
better jobs
Prepare students for future
study or career
The
need
for
oral
communication in future career
Favoured motivational techniques
Bonus grades for active participation,
presentations and assignments
Use authentic materials and activities which
are more relevant to students
Question students frequently during the class
Frequent group work so that students have
more chance to speak
She also mentioned the importance of “developing a good relationship with students”,
“making the classroom a comfortable place for students”, “empowering students and
letting them decide what best fits their needs”.
However, she strongly disagreed with some practices which were thought by some to be
motivational and believed that the pressure from teacher evaluation led to these
practices.
I understand that Teacher Evaluation puts a lot of pressure on teachers, but
this should not be the reason that we focus on pleasing the students. They are
students. They need guidance from teachers. They may want lessons to be a
lot of fun, but this doesn’t mean teachers should just give them the fun they
need. Yes, you can tell jokes, you can play videos … make fancy PPTs, play
games. Students love them, they are motivated to come to your class. But
what can they possibly learn? (Excerpt 4.1.7)
Teachers are teachers, not stand-up comedians. The classroom is not a circus.
It’s a place to learn. (Excerpt 4.1.8)
When I was a student, my teachers never needed to worry about motivating
students to learn. Classes were not quite fun, but we treasured the
opportunity to learn. (Excerpt 4.1.9)
30
4.1.2 Practices
In both observed classes, Ms Zhang started by introducing to students how the unit
related to their subject of study and the business world. She then proceeded with the
course book activities. For reading activities, she first asked several questions for
students to discuss in groups and after students finished reading, they had to complete
the exercises independently. She then checked students’ answers and explained the key
words or expressions in the texts. Listening activities followed basically the same
procedure. She frequently invited students to answer questions. Students usually could
locate the answers to questions directly in the reading or listening texts. When students
gave the correct answers, she used “good”, or “excellent” to praise them. If they
seemed to have difficulty, she used prompts to help them. Most activities in Ms Zhang’s
class were based on the key reading text in the course book.
For speaking activities, students worked in groups. For only once (there were 5 speaking
activities in total in the two observed classes), she invited a group of three students to
model a conversation (a job interview) and commented on their use of language.
Ms Zhang used black and white ppt slides to facilitate teaching and her teaching was
rather regimented. She checked her watch several times to make sure that she could
cover everything planned. The last 5 minutes in each class was for Questions and
Answers. During the observed sessions, students were all reading the course book by
then and no one asked questions.
Ms Zhang stayed behind the podium most of the time. She walked to the students twice
during the observed classes. Once a student raised her hand and asked a question
during a group discussion. The second time was during the Q&A time, when she walked
around the class for a while.
Every student had with them the syllabus for the course, with the aim of the course, key
contents (negotiated and decided by Ms Zhang and the students together) and learning
objectives for each unit. How students would be assessed was made very clear in the
31
syllabus, with all the bonus points they could get from presentations, assignments and
active classroom participation listed.
4.1.3 Tensions between beliefs and practices
A major tension exists between Ms Zhang’s beliefs that empowering students can lead
to motivation and teachers should be the centre of language classroom. On one hand,
Ms Zhang acknowledged the importance of learner autonomy. She mentioned “students
should be empowered and choose for themselves what best fits their needs” and “They
are adults. They know what’s best for themselves”. On the other hand, however, she also
stated that“They are students. They need guidance from teachers” and “The classroom
should be led by the teacher. We cannot let students do whatever they want. They have
to follow the teacher”.
In both observed sessions, her need to be the centre of the classroom prevailed. This
teacher-centeredness seemed to be evidenced by the tight control she took over the
flow of teaching and learning and also her choice of motivational strategies.
Despite her belief that teachers should try to build a good relationship with students and
create a relaxing classroom atmosphere, she didn’t seem to make such effort in this
respect in the classroom. There was no real communication between Ms Zhang and the
students. The teacher and the students did not seem to be personally related.
This could be explained by the time constraints that Ms Zhang repeatedly mentioned,
which made her feel the need to move quickly from activity to activity and inability to
mingle with students.
Although I know my students would like some lead and say in the classroom, I
just don’t have enough time. I have to lead the students so that we can move
faster to cover everything. We have to be straightforward. We don’t have
time for chit-chat. (Excerpt 4.1.10)
32
The above account also explains the tension between the stated belief about learner
autonomy and the lack of such motivational practice in the classroom. Large class size
works together with time constraint and contributes to this tension.
Can you imagine 50 students in a class?! It is not easy to manage. If everyone
speaks 1 minute, that’s a 50-minute class finished already. And I couldn’t
afford to let them pull the class to different directions. So I have to do more
talking and keep questions and answers short. (Excerpt 4.1.11)
The use of teaching/learning materials is another tension between Ms Zhang’s beliefs
and practices. Although Ms Zhang held the opinion that authentic materials that are
more relevant to students’ subject of study can motivate students more, in her class, she
stick to the course book materials which were obviously dated instead of supplying
students with other materials.
I know some course book materials were dated and some activities are not so
relevant to students. But at least, this is a published course book, which
means it is more authoritative and trustworthy. I don’t want to mislead my
students with materials from other sources. … For example, what if it is not
written in right English, like it’s Japanese English or English that’s not used by
the general people? That will confuse my students. (Excerpt 4.1.12)
We can see that this tensions arises from two conflicting beliefs as well. Her belief
about using authentic materials as a motivating strategy is at odds with her
overarching belief about what authentic English means. In her mind, only English
“used by native speakers” and “official English, like BBC or VOA English” is
authentic while “English used by non-native speakers” may mislead students.
Feeling that she has to look for extra materials with “authentic English” in her
sense clearly adds to the difficulty of providing the right materials to motivate her
students.
33
Mixed-ability students in her classes made it even more difficult for Ms Zhang to
find the right materials for everyone.
Students are from different parts of China and have varied levels of language
ability and subject knowledge. I have this student who can read The Alchemy
of Finance without the help of dictionary. I also have students who barely
passed CET-4 and CET-6. (Excerpt 4.1.13)
Another tension is between the need to please students and her belief about the
nature of learning.
Although I strongly disagree with the use of entertainment in the classroom, I
have to occasionally play a video or a song and students have fun so as to
please them. But I don’t think learning needs so much fun. Learning needs a
lot of hard work and painstaking effort. We should not give students the
wrong idea. (Excerpt 4.1.14)
Teacher evaluation is a factor that Ms Zhang frequently talked about with strongly
opposition. For her, it was the pressure of having to please the students so as not
to fail Teacher evaluation that forced her to use some motivational techniques that
she didn’t at all believe in.
4.2 Case 2: Mr Li
Mr Li is in his mid-thirties. He received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in
Business English in University X and started teaching in 2006. He has no overseas
experience.
Mr Li has been teaching ESP for the last 7 years.
34
4.2.1 Beliefs
Mr Li described motivation as “an engine” which “creates the force for students to move
forward”. He believed that motivation could contribute to L2 attainment, saying
“without the engine, students do not make progress; without motivation, students
cannot learn a language well”.
Mr Li felt it easy to identify if a student is motivated, as motivated students “participate
in activities”, “ask questions”, “long for a challenging course”, “have frequent eye
contact with me” and are “curious and interested”. Most of his students were highly
motivated, although “unfortunately, there are also exceptions”.
Mr Li articulated the important role that teachers have on motivating students and,
interestingly, the impact of students’ motivation on him:
Teachers are the centre of the class. They lead the class. They influence
students not only with their language, but with their voice, facial expressions,
and body language. (Excerpt 4.2.1)
The teacher should find out what students need and expect from the teacher,
and provide them what they want. (Excerpt 4.2.2)
I think the influence is mutual. If I’m, for example, not in a good mood, my
students will feel that … I cannot motivate my students without motivating
myself first. I think they can feel my passion. My students have a strong
impact on me as well. Sometimes, they are just difficult to please. When they
don’t laugh over my jokes, I feel like a clown and it could become
embarrassing. (Excerpt 4.2.3)
Mr Li believed that relevance of the course to the students was the most important
motivating factor.
35
Students want to learn things that are useful to them. Teachers therefore
should make it very clear how this course is related to their subject of study
and possibly their future career. .. Providing authentic materials or real-world
activities to them can also help. Students can be more exposed to the real
world in which ESP is needed and be more motivated. (Excerpt 4.2.4)
He also suggested that students could be more motivated if they know how their
efforts could lead to achievement.
Students need to know that their effort will pay off. We cannot show them
the long-term effect, such as success in their future career, but we can link
their grades with their effort. If they work hard, they get a higher grade.
(Excerpt 4.2.5)
Learner autonomy was also regarded a vital factor.
We should allow students to contribute to the course. We can discuss
together what to include in the course and let them find materials that they’d
like to read. I want them to feel that their input is valued. I need to control the
whole process though, in order to make them on the right track. (Excerpt
4.2.6)
According to Mr Li, a good relationship with students helped motivate students too,
although this strategy should be used with care.
When the teacher develops a personalized relationship with students, they
can be more relaxed in the classroom and they are not afraid to make
mistakes. Without such pressure, they are more into the course. However,
when students feel that you are friends, they could misbehave. So during the
whole process, you have to let them know that you are still the boss. (Excerpt
4.2.7)
Mr Li mentioned a source of his beliefs:
36
I still remember how boring the classes were when we were students.
Students played cards, read cartoons, … Some students basically slept
through university. Teachers probably thought we were recording machines.
For them, learning was listening and repeating. (Excerpt 4.2.8)
4.2.2 Practices
Mr Li is an enthusiastic teacher. He has a loud voice and uses gestures a lot. He
remembers most students’ names (either their Chinese or English names) and students
address him with his English name instead of “Teacher Li” which is typically the way
students address teachers. Before each observed class, he played an English pop song
with strong beats – Lady Gaga’s for the 1st class and Justin Bieber’s for the 2nd.
Both observed classes started with an informal chat with students. “How was your
weekend?” for the 1st class took about 5 minutes. “How could you lose your basketball
game to SPPA yesterday?!” (SPPA is another school in University X) for the 2 nd observed
class triggered a heated discussion and it took him a lot of effort to calm the students
down. After that, he stated briefly the learning objectives of the lesson by relating them
to students’ subject of study and moved on to course book activities.
In the 1st observed lesson, he used only 2 out of the 4 key activities in the course book
and redesigned the other two to make them more real-world. In the 2nd observed lesson,
he again replaced the reading material in the course book with a recent M&A report
from Business Week for students to analyse. However, some students complained that it
was too long (3 pieces of A4 paper) and there were too many difficult words. He then
decided to skip this activity. He assigned it as their home reading, and encouraged
students to find more readings on M&A and bring them to class next time so that they
can share or teach each other.
In Mr Li’s classes, students all sat close to their team members and all activities he
designed needed the cooperation among team members. Mr Li seldom stood behind the
37
podium unless he needed to operate the main computer. He constantly moved around
in class and offered assistance during activities.
Mr Li gave students positive feedback too when they answered questions. His focus,
however, was mainly on their progress and effort rather than correctness. In one activity,
each group was asked to design some interview questions for different job positions. He
invited them to post the interview questions on their class blog.
Just like in Ms Zhang’s class, every student had with them the syllabus for the course.
4.2.3 Tensions between beliefs and practices
For Mr Li, the tensions between his beliefs and practices are mostly associated with his
perceptions of students’ expectations.
When articulating his beliefs about teacher’s role in the language classroom, Mr Li used
expressions like “centre”, “boss”, “control”, and “lead”, which indicated his belief about
teachers’ centeredness in the language classroom. His need to take control over
classroom management, however, was frequently challenged by impacts of his
motivational techniques.
In one observed class, for example, Ms Li started class with a few comments on a
basketball match. Students were so interested by the topic that their discussion heated
and the class became difficult to manage. It took him quite an effort to calm the
students down and proceeded with the lesson. Mr Li stated:
I have to be careful about the use of certain motivational strategies. I feel I’m
constantly fighting against my students over control of the class. (Excerpt
4.2.9)
His desire to control the flow of teaching and his belief that the teacher should
meet students’ needs and expectations fought against each other during his
classes and caused more difficulty in following through his plans for the class.
38
He attributed to the need to control, however, to time pressure and institutional
requirement.
I want students to have fun in my class. But it’s a 50-minute class and I’ve got
a whole unit to cover. (Excerpt 4.2.10The syllabus has outline clearly the units
that we should cover and also the key areas that they will be assessed. If I let
students to take control, there’s no way we can cover everything. How would
they feel if at the end of the semester, they fail their exams? (Excerpt 4.2.11)
According to him, “without such constraints”, he could be more flexible with his
motivational strategies and “let students take control”.
Mr Li stated his belief that authentic materials would motivate students as they
were more relevant to their subject of study and future career. He also stated that
teachers should motivate students by meeting their expectations. However, these
two beliefs did not always see eye to eye with each other.
Students are sometimes difficult to please. I gave them an extra reading in
class in class because they told me that they wanted to know more about
M&A. I didn’t expect that they would complain that this was too difficult for
them, so I had to improvise and skip this activity. (Excerpt 4.2.12)
According to him, the tension between these stated beliefs was due to students’
varied, constantly changing and sometimes contradicting expectations.
Students sometimes have contradicting expectations. I have to decide what’s
good for them. (Excerpt 4.2.13)
Mr Li also mentioned some contextual factors that influenced his motivational
practices, including students’ varied levels of English proficiency and subject
knowledge, large class size, and classroom facilities.
39
4.3 Case 3: Ms Wang
Ms Wang is also in her mid-thirties. She has got two Bachelor’s degrees, one in Business
English and the other in Economics. She got her Master’s degree in Human Resource
Management in Australia in 2005 and started teaching in 2006. She is currently a 3 rdyear PhD student in Management.
Ms Wang joined University X in 2006; however, she started teaching on a part-time basis
in a private language institution when she was still an undergraduate student. During
her study in Australia, she worked part-time in the Human Resource Department in a 4star hotel. After graduation, she worked as a C&B specialist in a Fortune 500 company
until she decided to take the job of teaching in University X.
4.3.1 Beliefs
For Ms Wang, motivation is what “makes you really want to do something”. She also
thought that motivation was closely linked to language attainment. Without motivation,
students couldn’t learn a language well.
Motivation is the urge. You feel you want to do something badly. You enjoy
the process of doing it. (Excerpt 4.3.1)
I’m not saying that if you are motivated, you can absolutely do better than
other students. Some students just have got the aptitude for language
learning. We cannot simply compare the level of motivation among different
students. But the motivated you and unmotivated you certainly make a lot of
difference. (Excerpt 4.3.2)
According to Ms Wang, most students came to the ESP classroom with rather high
motivation as “they need it in their future job”. She believed that with the right strategy,
all students’ motivation could be worked on.
40
Everyone has got his needs. If I cannot motivate a student, that is probably
because I haven’t found what he needs. (Excerpt 4.3.3)
Even if he doesn’t think he needs English, he will need something else. I could
just link English to the thing that he needs, right?! It’s a language. It is linked
to everything! (Excerpt 4.3.4)
She justified her point with an example.
I’ve got this student who doesn’t like English, but I know he likes computer, …
technology stuff. I asked him for help with the translation of the English user
manual of my new laptop. He worked quite hard on it and taught me a lot of
things about my laptop that I didn’t even know. He definitely saw how English
could help him with what he enjoyed doing! (Excerpt 4.3.5)
She admitted, though, that with the huge number of students she couldn’t find out
everything about every student, which made it difficult for her to motivate every one of
them.
My hands are tied, though. I’ve got 308 students this year. I cannot take care
of everyone. … I will do my best anyway. (Excerpt 4.3.6)
As to the role of teachers in motivating students, she articulated her belief as follows:
Teachers are vital, especially in China, I have to say. Students rely largely on
teachers. They trust us. They want to live up to our expectations. I’m not
saying this is right, but they look up to us and sometimes they want to please
us. As a teacher, you have to convey what you believe important to students.
You model for them. You help them grow and become independent. If a
teacher is not passionate and doesn’t enjoy teaching or spending time with
students, students will know and they won’t have the passion to learn.
Teachers, too, are influenced by students. If you students look at you with
41
inquisitive eyes, if they respond actively to your questions, if they … I think a
teacher will be more passionate about teaching too. (Excerpt 4.3.7)
For her, teachers had a vital role to play in motivating students. Students, in turn,
played an important role in motivating teachers.
A strong interest in communicating with the world, different cultures and different
people was regarded by Ms Wang as the most important factor that motivates students.
Besides, a positive attitude towards ESP learning, relevance of the course to students’
needs, autonomy, expectancy of success, and students’ self-confidence were are
thought to be important motivating factors.
An inner interest is the most important. … Students need to dig deeper and
find the thing that interests them. Then teachers don’t need to worry about
them. … Students want a sense of achievement. They are already very
motivated to learn it (this course). We should try to protect this motivation.
Don’t demotivate them. Convince them they are doing great. … Learning this
course can help them, contribute to their success. … (Excerpt 4.3.8)
Motivational strategies she believed effective were all based on these motivating factors.
She believed that the best way to motivate students is to arouse their interest in the
language. Students, however, usually have very limited contact with the native speakers
the real professional in their field. Therefore, she shared her own experience and her
passion with students to broaden their horizons and positively influence them. Besides,
students should engage in active thinking and apply what they’ve learnt to real world
problems, so she gave them “real life cases or examples for them to analyses”. She
emphasized the importance of “being friends with students” so that she could
understand students’ needs better and also created a relaxing class atmosphere for
them.
I’m not in any way implying that my life is perfect. But through sharing my
experience, students may get a bit understanding of that real life is like.
42
That’s something they don’t get from the course book or classroom learning.
In a way, students may see my experience as an extension to theirs. They may
have a vision of what their life could be and see a lot of possibilities. (Excerpt
4.3.9)
Ms Wang strongly objected the use of grades or similar rewards to motivate students.
We are manipulating students, in a very bad way. What does a number have
to do with your life? A better job? A higher salary? Is that what you want for
your life? Then what? At the end of the day, you need something that can
really interest you and satisfy you. This makes your life meaningful. I don’t
think a high GPA can do it for you. (Excerpt 4.3.10)
Ms Wang also mentioned several sources of her beliefs, including her own learning
experience, working experience, and the research in the area of employee
motivation.
I am a very motivated and inquisitive person. I hope my students can feel that
in me and see me as a role model, at least in this respect. (Excerpt 4.3.11)
One important field in Human Resource Management is the management of
employee motivation. I still remember some theories on motivation, like
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Vroom’s Valence-Expectancy-Instrumentality,
Herzberg’s two-factor theory … I think they all help me motivate my students.
(Excerpt 4.3.12)
4.3.2 Practices
Ms Wang came to the classroom rather early every time. She usually had a little chat
with students or discussed with them their portfolios. Ms Wang taught with enthusiasm
and she had a smile on her face during class.
43
In her two observed classes, Ms Wang shared with students her experience twice. One
was a job interview she had, in which she showed students how to respond tactically to
tricky questions; the other was a mistake she made when she worked as a C&B specialist,
in which she emphasized the importance of L2 in the business world.
Like Mr Li, instead of using the listening activity of a job interview in the course book,
she used a video by BBC. The video had subtitles and was easy for students to follow. Ms
Wang frequently used real world examples to either explain or make her point clear. For
example, she quoted Steve Jobs “Stay hungry, stay foolish” to explain the use of “stay”
in “stay alert”. When discussing with students benefits of Mergers and Acquisitions, she
used recent M&A cases in China and abroad as examples.
Ms Wang reorganized the activities in the course book and made minor changes so that
they are more linked to each other. Her students also worked in teams and she provided
them with support during activities. She asked questions which required students to use
analytical skills. When giving feedback, she focused on not only on what they did well
but also pointed out the areas that they could further improve.
She also commented on students’ group jigsaw writing assignments at the end of the 1 st
observed class. The assignments were homework for the previous two weeks and were
all posted on Weibo for other groups to assess. She then assigned them the topic for the
next writing assignment.
An incident, although not directly related to language teaching, deserves mentioning
here. During the 1st observed class, the main computer couldn’t recognize Ms Wang’s
ppt file. She asked for help from a student who sat at the back corner of the classroom
and he helped her convert the file format to make it work. She expressed her thanks and
asked if he could help her with the translation of an English user manual for her new
laptop. The student agreed to help.
Like two other teachers, every student had with them the syllabus for the course.
44
4.3.3 Tensions between beliefs and practices
Little difference has been identified between Ms Wang’s beliefs and practices, except
that although she strongly objected the use of grades as a motivational strategy, in her
class, students were given a very clear assessment system, with every participation,
presentation and activity graded. She explained, however, that this was due to
institutional requirements:
We are required by the School to use the same course book and cover several
core units. Students are all provided with similar syllabuses, which describes
aims, core units, key assignments and assessment in detail. (Excerpt 4.3.13)
She mentioned other contextual factors as well, including mixed-ability students, large
class size, and time pressure, but she added:
There are constraints. I’m quite aware of that. No one operates in an ideal
environment, right? They may have minor influences on my motivational
practices, but not a lot. We can always find a way out. (Excerpt 4.3.14)
4.4 Cross-case analysis
4.4.1 Shared beliefs and practices
As we can infer from their verbal commentaries and classroom practices, the
participating teachers all agreed on the positive link between motivation and L2
attainment and importance of motivation for ESP students. They all stated that most ESP
students had rather high motivation compared with students learning other English
courses and they shared similar views that although motivation could be worked on, not
all students could be motivated.
All three teachers emphasized the importance of motivating factors including relevance
of the course, learner autonomy, and expectancy of success. Based on these factors,
they all believed some motivational strategies to be most effective, including:
45
 developing a good relationship with students;
 creating a relaxing class atmosphere;
 understanding students’ needs
 using authentic materials/activities; and
 encouraging students to contribute.
All three teachers mentioned institutional requirements, mixed-ability students, large
class size, and time pressure as contextual factors that affected their classroom practices.
Table 5 provides a summary of participating teachers’ beliefs about motivating ESP
students.
In terms of their classroom practices, they all offered grades as extrinsic reward and
related the course to students’ subject or future career. The provided similar syllabus at
the beginning of the semester to make the course and assessment criteria clear to
students and gave students some autonomy in deciding the contents of the course. They
all stated clearly goals of each activity during classes and provided positive feedback to
students to boost their confidence. Further similar practices of all three participants can
be found in Appendix V.
4.4.2 Different beliefs and practices
The fact that all participants acknowledged the importance of motivation in L2 learning
does not mean that they had identical beliefs about all dimensions of motivation.
Ms Wang, for example, had quite different beliefs from Ms Zhang and Mr Li about
motivating factors and most effective motivational strategies. For Ms Wang, what
motivated students most was intrinsic motivation, the inner interest students had,
rather than extrinsic factors. Therefore, she regarded broadening students’ horizons and
arousing their curiosity and interest as the most effective strategies. In her classroom
practices, she was also the only one who successfully utilized authentic materials and
activities to engage students in active thinking and analysing.
46
Ms Zhang and Mr Li, however, regarded instrumental motivation as the most important
for students. Although Ms Zhang did mention that “(students) they need to be motivated
from inside … by themselves”, her motivational strategy was still mainly reward-based.
The three participating teachers also had diverse opinions on the role of teachers in
motivating ESP students. Ms Zhang stated that teachers’ impact on students was limited,
while both Mr Li and Ms Wang were very passionate about the huge influence teachers
could have on students. For Mr Li and Ms Wang, teachers can influence students’
motivation through their enthusiasm, their own experience, and their way of teaching,
and teachers worked as students’ friends, their role model, the source of knowledge,
and their mentor. It is also interesting that both of them mentioned the impact of
students’ motivation on themselves, indicating a dynamic and mutually dependent
relationship between teachers and students.
Although all three teachers mentioned their own learning experience as a source of their
beliefs about student motivation, how they were affected by this source was different.
Ms Zhang followed the traditional teaching she was exposed to, while Mr Li acted
against it. Ms Wang, however, different from both Ms Zhang and Mr Li, had very positive
learning experience, which together with her working experience and related research,
led her to believe the importance of teachers’ motivating role as well as effectiveness of
certain motivational strategies.
Among the mutually agreed contextual factors, institutional requirement was thought
by Ms Wang as one that exercised the most influence on her practices. Other factors,
though, were not so important. Ms Zhang, instead, thought the most influential factor
was Teacher Evaluation, while for Mr Li, student expectations. All these factors were
thought to be the most influential because teachers were fully aware that they had to
adopt practices that contradicted their beliefs.
47
With the differences in their beliefs about motivating ESP students, these teachers had
adopted varied motivational strategies in their classes.
Ms Wang, for example, worked more on arousing students interests by sharing her own
experiences and encouraging students to pursue their goal by introducing student
portfolios. She also gave students more autonomy, for them to comment on and assess
each other’s work. Another feature of Ms Wang’s motivational practice was the close
link with what happened in the real world of business, which could be seen as a
technique to both increase relevance of the course to the students and arouse students’
interest in understanding the world.
Ms Li focused more on relating to the students, including getting to know more about
students, trying to suit different learning styles, encouraging students to share their
learning and providing a sense of achievement to boost students’ confidence.
More differences in participants’ motivational practices can been found in Appendix V.
48
Table5: Participating teachers’ beliefs about student motivation and motivational practices
Category
Theme
Ms Zhang
Motivation and What
is Motivation is what
L2 learning
motivation
students to learn
Mr Li
drives “An engine” which “creates the
force for students to move
forward”
Motivation
Most important for students to Without motivation, students
and
L2 learn English
cannot learn a language well
attainment
Ms Wang
Motivation is the urge that “makes
you want to do something badly”
Motivating
Relevance
factors for ESP Learner autonomy
students
Self-efficacy
An interest in communicating with
the world, cultures and people;
A positive attitude towards ESP
learning
Relevance of the course
Autonomy
Expectancy of success
Motivation is closely linked to
language
attainment.
Without
motivation, students cannot learn a
language well.
ESP student Generally very motivated
Most his students were highly Rather high motivation
motivation
Not all students can be motivated
With the right strategy, all students’
motivated to learn English
“Unfortunately, there are also motivation can be worked on
exceptions”
ESP Teachers Teachers’ role Teachers have a limited impact Important role: centre, leader, Teachers are vital
and
student
on students’ motivation.
boss, control
motivation
Impact
of NOT MENTIONED
Strong impact
Teachers are more passionate with
student
motivated students.
motivation on
teacher
motivation
Relevance
Meeting students’ needs
Expectancy of success
Learner autonomy
49
Effective
motivational
strategies for
ESP students
1. Relate the course to their
practical needs
2. Grades as extrinsic rewards
3. Authentic materials and
activities
4. Group work for more
communication
5.
Developing
a
good
relationship with students
6. Making the classroom a
comfortable place for students
7. Empowering students and
letting them decide what best
fits their needs
Objected
Teachers should not focus on
motivational
pleasing the students by giving
strategies
them the fun they need
Sources
of Learning experience
teacher
beliefs about
motivation
Factors
that Contextual
Teacher Evaluation
may influence factors
Large class size
teachers’
Mixed-ability students
motivational
Time pressure
practices
1. Relate the course to their
subject of study and future
career
2. Grades as extrinsic rewards
3. Allow students to contribute
to the course
4. A good relationship with
students
5.
Meeting
students’
expectations
6. Using authentic materials
and real-world activities
NOT MENTIONED
Learning experience
Students’ expectations
Time pressure
Institutional requirements
Mixed-ability students
Large class size
Classroom facilities
Students’ self-confidence
1. Arouse their interest in the
language
2. Teachers share their experience
3. Teachers as role models;
4. Engage students in active thinking
5. Relate the course to students’
needs
6. Provide opportunities to analyse
real life cases
7. Being friends with students
8. Understanding students’ needs
9. Creating a relaxing class
atmosphere
Teachers should not manipulate
students by using grades or similar
rewards to motivate them
Learning experience
Working experience
Research in employee motivation
Institutional requirements
Insignificant factors include:
Large class size
Mixed-ability students
Time pressure
50
Chapter 5
Discussion
5.1 ESP teachers’ beliefs about motivating students and their
motivational practices
This section aims to address research questions 1 and 2:
RQ 1: What beliefs do ESP teachers hold about student motivation?
RQ 2: What are their motivational practices in the classrooms?
5.1.1 General understandings of motivation
Overall, the three participants held similar opinions on what motivation is, although
their exact wording varied slightly. For them, motivation is “the drive”, “the engine”, and
“the urge”, or in other words, the driving force that pushes students to learn.
Participants also agreed that motivation contributed greatly to L2 success. This finding is
in line with what researchers seem to agree that motivation is one of the key factors
that determine the rate and success of L2 (e.g. Csizér&Dörnyei, 2005; Gardener &
Lambert, 1972; Good &Brophy, 10994; Sternberg, 2002).
Besides, all three participants observed a high motivation among ESP students. This is
also what everyone seems to agree with: students are more motivated when the English
course is directly related to their main subject course or professional needs and
researchers include Ushioda (1998), Robinson (1980), Kennedy and Bolitho (1984),
Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) all support that as long as ESP programs take care of
learner needs, motivation will take care of itself.
However, two of the three participants believed that not all students could be motivated
to learn English, which is a more realistic view on the nature of motivation according to
Dörnyei (2001a, p. 118). For him, although most students’ motivation can be “worked on”
and increased, it is highly unlikely that everybody can be motivated to learn anything.
51
Ms Wang, instead, took a more “idealistic” belief (Dörnyei, 2001a, p. 118) which
assumes that “all students are motivated to learn under the right conditions, and that
you can provide these conditions in your classroom” (McCombs & Pope, 1994, p. vii).
However, Ms Wang also admitted that with the contextual constraints creating the right
condition to motivate all students seemed a difficult task.
5.1.2 Teachers’ role in motivating students
As was reviewed in Chapter 2, the teacher is a “powerful motivational socialiser”
(Dörnyei, 2001a, p. 35) for students and has multiple influences on student motivation
(e.g. Ausubel et al., 1978; Christophel, 1990; Brophy&Kher, 1986; Deci et al., 1991;
Oxford &Shearin, 1996, p. 139).
Findings from interviews echo the above studies: both Mr Li and Ms Wang held the
belief that ESP teachers can greatly influence students’ motivation; positive influences
include building rapport, modelling, and promoting students’ sense of self-efficacy.
However, Ms Zhang held a different belief, stating that teachers’ impact on students’
motivation was rather limited. This view was more or less in accordance with Hoy and
Woolfolk (1990) who focused more on the power of negative context and stated that “a
teacher can’t really do much because most of a student’s motivation and performance
depends on his or her home environment”.
The difference between the two views could be explained by teachers’ self-efficacy
beliefs. Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy (2001, p. 783) define teacher efficacy as a
teacher’s “judgement of his or her capabilities to bring about desired outcomes of
student engagement and learning, even among those students who may be difficult or
unmotivated”. Teacher self-efficacy is believed to be an important motivational
construct that shapes teacher effectiveness in the classroom. Teachers with a high level
of teacher self-efficacy are usually more resilient in their teaching while teachers with a
low level of teacher self-efficacy have been found less likely to try harder to reach the
learning needs of all their students. (Bandura, 1997; Tschannen-Moran et al, 1998).
52
Compared with Mr Li and Ms Wang, Ms Zhang demonstrated a lower self-efficacy belief,
as she didn’t think a teacher could help motivate students, which may account for the
less variety in her observed motivational practices in the classroom.
It is also interesting to notice that Ms Li and Ms Wang both mentioned the impact of
students’ motivation on theirs. This finding corroborates previous research by Skinner
and Belmont (1993) in which strong support was found for reciprocal effects between
students and teachers: positive student engagement elicits positive teacher behaviours.
This finding also accords with the model proposed by Tschannen-Moran et al. (1998, p.
228), in which self-efficacy beliefs for the task at hand are impacted by micro-contextual
factors including “the students abilities and motivation” (p. 231).
5.1.3 Motivating factors for ESP students and teachers’ motivational practices
All three teachers emphasized the importance of relevance of the course, learner
autonomy and expectancy of success in motivating ESP students.
5.1.3.1
Relevance
Dörnyei (1994b) states that relevance refers to the extent to which the student feels
that the instruction is connected to important personal needs, values, or goals. He
further explains that at a macro level, relevance coincides with instrumentality (p. 277).
According to Keller (1983), relevance is seen as a prerequisite for “sustained motivation
and requires the learner to perceive that important personal needs are being met by the
learning situation” (p. 406). It can be enhanced by analysing and addressing learner
needs and goals in language study, as well as by addressing such basic needs as the need
for achievement, for affiliation, and for power (Schmidt, Boraie&Kassabgy, 1996).
The present study finds that all three teachers believed that relevance of the course was
an important motivating factor for ESP students. This finding is supported by research
that links ESP with L2 motivation which generally suggests the importance of identifying
learners’ needs (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Crookes & Schmidt, 1991) and highlights
53
the prominence of instrumental orientation (Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Katsara, 2008;
Al-Tamimi and Shuib, 2009; Chen, 2005). It also accords with Zhao’s (2012) study which
finds that Chinese students consider it of vital importance that their personal goals and
needs be met by the teachers in the language classroom.
Based on such a belief, participating teachers found techniques including “using grades
as extrinsic rewards”, and “using authentic materials/activities” effective for motivating
students and they frequently engaged in such motivational practices in their classroom.
 Grades as extrinsic rewards
Ms Zhang and Mr Li both stated the importance of using grades to motivate students,
which, as a motivational technique, has always been an issue of controversy.
Traditionally, grades are considered to have a significant motivational influence on
students and are till today frequently used in school settings all around the world to
measure students’ success and failure. However, more and more researchers have
denied the effectiveness of grades in motivating students to learn, as “grades focus
student attention on performance outcomes, … rather than on the process of learning
itself”. (Dörnyei, 2001a, 136)
However, research (Black & William, 2003; Cauley& McMillian, 2010; Evans,
Zeun&Stanier, 2014) has also shown that the appropriate use of grades when
incorporated into the formative assessment can maximize student engagement and
enthusiasm and thus leads to motivation and achievement.
 Using authentic materials and activities
All three teachers mentioned the use of authentic materials as an effective motivational
strategy for students, although only one of them successfully applied this technique in
the observed classroom practice. This belief, however, is in line with research findings
about the importance of teaching materials: “Materials provide a stimulus to learning.
Good materials do not teach: they encourage learners to learn.”‖ (Hutchinson &
Waters, 1987, p. 107)
54
According to Fiorito (2007), the closer and the more appropriate the ESP materials are to
the field of study of the learners, the more successful and motivated learners will be:
“Students will acquire English as they work with materials which they find interesting
and relevant and which they can use in their professional work or further studies.” The
selection of ESP materials should thus above all depend on the needs of the learners in
relation to their future jobs or current area of study: that is, materials should focus on
the appropriate topics and include ―tasks and activities that practise the target skills
areas (Ellis &Johnson, 1994, p. 115).
Authentic texts have been defined as “…real-life texts, not written for pedagogic
purposes” (Wallace, 1992, p. 145). In addition, Nunan (1989, p. 54) notices that “a rule
of thumb for authentic here is any material which has not been specifically produced for
the purposes of language teaching. “Authentic texts can be motivating because they are
proof that the language is used for real-life purposes by real people”‖ (Nuttall
1996:172).
The specificity of ESP requires the use of authentic materials that are not always created
for the purpose of language learning. However, some factors may limit its application in
the classroom:
 Availability of the right materials. Some materials may not suit students’ language
level and cognitive development. They can contain difficult language points which
can be a heavy burden for both teachers and students. Besides, some materials,
if culturally biased or sensitive (Martinez, 2002) can “distract and decrease
learning” (Berk, 2009, p. 7) and become a demotivating factor.
 As Garrett (2009) warns, the use of authentic materials itself, for example,
authentic videos, does not benefit language learning. Teachers should find ways
to integrate them into the class and develop real-world activities to go with
them.
55
These constraints may have helped explain the failure of the use of an authentic case in
Mr Li’s class and the non-existence of authentic materials in Ms Zhang’s observed
classes.
5.1.3.2
Learner autonomy
In light of the interview data, we can easily conclude that the three participants all
regarded learner autonomy as essential to student motivation.
This belief is well supported by self-determination theory in which Ryan and Deci (2000)
identify the fulfilment of needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence as crucial for
intrinsically-motivated behaviour. A number of recent reviews and discussions (e.g.
Benson, 2000; Dickinson, 1995; Ehrman&Dörnyei, 1998) provide evidence that L2
motivation and learner autonomy go hand in hand, and, as Ushioda (1996) explicitly
states on motivation and learner autonomy, “Autonomous language learners are by
definition motivated learners” (p.2).
Such a belief can also be related to relevant claims made in literature by Meyer,
Haywood, Sachdev and Faraday (2008). This include improved academic performance,
enhanced motivation and confidence, and honing the learning ability of students such as
allowing them to become more aware of and better able to manage their limitation,
which could further result in learners engaging in lifelong learning. Similarly, Little (1991),
Wenden (1991), and Pemberton and colleagues (2009) emphasized that taking an active
and independent attitude to learning, that is, becoming an autonomous learner, is
beneficial to learning.
Ushioda (1996) states that autonomy implies being involved in and taking responsibility
for one’s learning in all it aspects. In an attempt to model levels of learner autonomy,
Benson (2001) comes up with three dimensions of learner control: learning
management, cognitive processing and the content of learning (Benson, 2001).
Key practices that participating teachers engaged in to promote learner autonomy are
all supported by previous studies.
56
 Providing students with a choice over content and learning materials helps them
to take a greater role in the management of their learning (Wenden, 1991; Dam,
1995; Scharle& Szabo, 2000; Benson, 2001).
 Sharing with students’ success criteria (James, Black, McCormick, &Pedder, 2007)
allows students to set their personal goals and have a clear picture of the
learning target. Students can then have a sense of what they can and should do
to make their work measure up to expectations.
 Allowing peer assessment develops students’ own ability to assess how they have
learned (Nunan, 1999; Benson, 2001) and steers them in the right direction in
their learning. This process also raises students’ awareness and encourages them
to think critically and reflect on their own competence (Benson, 2001).
5.1.3.3
Expectancy of success
All teachers mentioned expectancy of success as a vital motivating factor for students
with different wording: “They need to know that they can do it”, “efforts”, and “achieve
their goal” by Ms Zhang, “their effort will pay off”, and “link their grades with their effort”
by Mr Li, and “a sense of achievement”, and “contribute to their success” by Ms Wang.
According to Dörnyei (2001a, p. 21), all these remarks about the expectancy of success
are associated with the question of “Can I do this task?”, which can be linked to
expectancy-value theories such as achievement motivation theory (Atkinson &Raynor,
1974), attribution theory (Graham, 1994), and self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977). If
students believe that they are capable of the tasks or their effort can lead to
achievement, they are more likely to show positive behaviours, overcome obstacles and
concentrate on how to fulfil their goals.
All three teachers’ motivational practices helped to create conditions for students’
development of future positive (or stronger) efficacy beliefs.
 Mastery experiences
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Mr Li allowed students to showcase their work, while Ms Wang encouraged students to
share writing assignments with each other. Besides, all three teachers gave students
prompts to assist students in answering questions. All these practices provided students
with opportunities to experience success through successful task fulfilment in their
classroom teaching.
 Vicarious learning
Both Mr Li and Ms Wang taught with enthusiasm. Ms Wang also shared frequently with
her students her own learning and working experience. These practices can both be
seen as an effort to model positive behaviour for the students so as to arouse their
interest in the ESP course.
 Social persuasion
All three participants used prompts when students answered questions so as to increase
students’ self-confidence in the classroom. Besides, they all gave praises or positive
feedback, so that students could develop a sense of achievement. Such practices are
supported by Wong (2008) where she finds that the Chinese students view their
teachers’ comment and feedback very importantly as they help them to evaluate their
process of learning as well as build their self-confidence in learning English.
Wheldall&Merrett (1984) also show that simple praise an external reinforce can be
motivating especially for underachieving or reluctant learners.
Ms Wang, besides giving positive feedback, focused on students’ progress and
competence as well as the areas that students could further improve. Such a practice is
regarded to be better than a simple praise by Schmidt et al (1996) as “feedback that
provides information for promoting progress and success is motivating, while feedback
that fails to give this kind of information and merely signals failure is demotivating.”
 Physiological reactions
58
Providing positive feedback to students also serves to lower students’ level of anxiety,
which is “the subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness and worry
associated with an arousal of the autonomic nervous system” (Horwitz, Horwitz, & Cope,
1986, p.125) and works as an affective filter, which may prevent students from receiving
input and then make language acquisition fail to progress (Krashen, 1982).
5.1.3.4
Other stated motivational factors
As was discussed in 5.1.3.1, all three participants agreed on the importance of
instrumental orientation for ESP students’ motivation. However, it deserves particular
attention that Ms Wang prioritized a strong interest in communicating with the world,
different cultures and different people and believed that this was the most important
for students’ motivation.
Such a belief in a way reflects the notion of international posture (Yashima, 2002). Her
motivational practices including sharing her overseas learning and working experience
and the use of authentic materials (videos, quotes, cases) in the classroom help arouse
students’ interest in participating in a global community and reaching out toward the
target language and culture and make them more aware of ESP as a medium for global
communication in the workplace.
Such a belief is is also in line with L2 Motivational Self System proposed by Dörnyei and
his colleagues (2005), which suggests that the ideal L2 self is a strong predictor of
motivation and plays an important role in determining motivated behaviour. By sharing
her own learning experience with students, Ms Wang set a powerful role model for
students and engaged them in developing their desired future self-image of being
successful L2 speakers.
5.1.3.5
Other practices
Building a good teacher-student relationship and creating a relaxing class atmosphere
were also mentioned by all participants as effective motivational strategies and
practiced by Mr Li and Ms Wang in the observed classes.
59
A good interpersonal relationship between the teacher and the learners has been found
to pose direct and indirect influences on learning processes (Teven&McCroskey, 1997;
Frymier& Houser, 2000) on the bases that affective learning is shaped by learners’
behaviour toward the teachers’ impact on learners’ cognitive orientations (Ellis, 2000). A
supportive classroom climate also helps to encourage students to learn a language when
they feel they are protected (MacIntyre, 1999; Young, 1999). Both strategies aids
affective learning by lowering learners’ affective filters (specifically anxiety) and
ultimately helps increase learners’ L2 motivation.
Mr Li and Ms Wang used several techniques in the classroom, including teaching with
enthusiasm (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997), talking with students on a personal level (Alison,
1993), and recognizing students’ effort (Dörnyei, 2001a), all of which were proved
effective by previous research.
It is also interesting to notice that although no participant mentioned setting goals for
students as a motivating factor or effective motivational strategy, they all more or less
used such a technique in their classroom practice. Ms Wang was the only one, though,
to encourage students to use language learning portfolios, which is widely regarded as a
tool that helps students manage their goals and increase student motivation (Dynan,
Cate, & Rhee, 2008).
5.2 Relationship between beliefs and practices
This section intends to answer research question 3:
RQ 3: What is the relationship between their beliefs and practices?
The relationship between the participants’ stated beliefs and practices revealed a
combination of congruence and tensions in various aspects. As was demonstrated in
4.4.1, many of the teachers’ motivational practices reflected their beliefs. Relating the
course to students’ needs, for example, was one observed practice which reflected
60
teachers’ beliefs that relevance was a vital motivating factor and that students with
instrumental orientation had higher motivation for L2 learning.
However, this study also revealed that ESP teachers’ beliefs about motivating students in
the classroom were not always aligned with their actual practices. In fact, teachers’
professed beliefs were sometimes in strong contrast with practices observed in their
lessons. Similar phenomena have been widely reported in substantive research (e.g.
Farrell & Kun, 2008; Phipps & Borg, 2009; Basturkmen, 2012).
According to Phipps and Borg (2009, p. 387), tensions between what teachers do and
believe can take different forms. For the present study though, tensions between
teachers’ beliefs and practices manifest themselves in the following two forms:
 I believe in X but I also believe in Y.
 I believe in X but contextual factors require me to do Y.
In a word, most tensions in the present study were caused either by
conflicting/competing beliefs or contextual factors.
5.2.1 Conflicting/competing beliefs
Ms Zhang presented the best case of conflicting beliefs in this study. Three conflicting
beliefs can be identified in the interviews:
 Empowering students can lead to motivation VS Teachers should be the centre of
language classroom.
 Using authentic materials can motivate students VS Only standard English is
authentic (which leads to more constraints for the use of motivational strategies).
 Teachers have to pass teacher evaluation by students VS Teachers not the
students should have the say in the classroom
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In Mr Li’s verbal commentary, similar conflict can be identified between the desire to
maintain control in the classroom and his student-expectation-led motivational beliefs
which was manifested by two incidents:
 Over-enthusiasm of students on certain personalized topic VS Effective classroom
management
 Expectations of easy-to-read materials VS Authentic materials
These findings confirm previous studies which indicate that tensions can be caused by
teachers’ desire for order and control (Andrews, 2003; Borg, 2001), their concern with
classroom management (Richards & Pennington, 1998), and their need to meet students’
expectations (Borg, 1999; Burns & Knox, 2005).
Previous studies have also shown that beliefs exist within a complex network (Borg,
1998; Burns, 2003; Sendan& Roberts, 1998). According to Borg (2006, p. 272), we need
to understand “how the different elements in teachers’ cognitive systems interact and
which of these elements, for example, are core and which are peripheral.”
The teachers’ conflicting beliefs can thus be better understood. For Ms Zhang, her
beliefs about learner autonomy seems to be outweighed by her more fundamental, or
core, beliefs about teacher-centeredness. For Mr Li, however, it is difficult to identify
which belief is core and which is peripheral. The tension, instead, was caused by two
beliefs competing for influence on his practices.
Such tensions could also be explained by Kubanyiova’s (2009) Possible Language Teacher
Self framework. For Ms Zhang, her ideal self, the authoritative figure in the classroom, is
in contrast with her ought-to-self, a teacher who’s recognized by students (manifested
by an acceptable Teacher Evaluation score) and this conflict has led to mismatches
between her beliefs and practices. For Mr Li, his ideal self of being a popular teacher, his
ought-to-self of being an effective teacher in classroom management and his feared self
of being like a clown work together to shape his practices in the classroom. Ms Wang,
62
however, shows less discrepancy between her ideal self and ought-to-self and thus little
tension between her beliefs and practices.
5.2.2 Contextual factors
Some tensions between teachers’ beliefs and practices, however, were caused by
contextual factors. The participants commented on how large classes, time pressures,
mixed-ability students and institutional requirements (e.g. teacher evaluation,
examinations) hindered/forced on them the implementation of certain motivational
strategies which were against their beliefs.
According to Phipps & Borg (2009), contextual factors should be part of any analysis of
the linkage between teachers’ stated beliefs and observed practices. Findings in this
study confirm previous studies that were reviewed in Chapter 2 that contextual factors
and constraints are highly significant in shaping teachers’ actual practices in the
classroom.
What also deserves mentioning is that while the issue of contextual constraints was a
recurrent theme in the data of all my research participants, it affected their motivational
practices quite differently. Ms Wang, in fact, rather than complying with the pressures,
managed to minimize their influences on her teaching. Similar results have also been
found in previous studies(e.g. Walsh & Wyatt, 2014).
5.2.3 Sources of beliefs
Although not a research question, some sources of beliefs were mentioned by the
teachers in the interviews. Two interesting findings will be discussed in this section.
5.2.3.1
Learning experience
Early learning experience is widely recognized by researchers as a key source of teacher
beliefs (Lortie, 1975; Pajares, 1992; Borg, 2003, 2006, 2009; Farrell, 2009).
63
Findings in this study concur with the above research, which acknowledges the lasting
imprint of early experiences on teacher cognition. All three teachers mentioned their
own learning experience as a source of the beliefs they now held about motivating
students in the classroom. However, their learning experience influence them in very
different ways.
Ms Zhang and Mr Li both described their university learning experience. In their
description, they both found classes boring due to the lack of motivational strategies of
their teachers. However, with her own success, Ms Zhang found motivational strategies
not essential for L2 attainment and thus developed the belief that teachers were not
important motivational influences for students. Mr Li, drawing on similar experience,
reacted against the teaching he was exposed to and decided to be a positive
motivational influence for his students.
Ms Wang was in the same school as Mr Li during her postgraduate study (1 year earlier
than Mr Li). However, no negative influence from such similar immediate learning
environment was mentioned in her account. Instead, her learning experience was all
positive to her, which led to her belief about intrinsic motivation and corresponding
motivational strategies.
These findings do not concur with what previous research seems to suggest. Numrich
(1996), for example, suggested that teachers tended to promote or avoid specific
instructional strategies on the basis of their positive or negative experiences of these
respective strategies as learners. The tendency of avoiding practices which caused prior
negative experience was also found in Golombek’s (1998) study.
Based on the findings of Numrich and Golombek, similar learning experience shared by
the three participating teachers should lead to their similar motivational beliefs, which is
obviously not the case in the present study. The researcher would like to propose that
teachers’ individualized cognitive processing may have led to such a difference. However,
this is not the focus of the present study and can be further explored in future studies.
64
5.2.3.2
Cultural background
Cultural background has not yet garnered much attention as a source of belief in teacher
cognition research. However, the researcher has noticed that in the present study it
played a role in shaping teachers’ beliefs, although none of the participants seemed to
be aware of its influence.
Ms Zhang and Mr Li both believed in the control that teachers should have in the
language classroom. Although this belief could result from an influence from their early
learning experience with their teacher as the centre of the classroom, research has
shown that the Chinese culture may have an influence as well (Wang, 2008).
According to Littlewood (1999), the Chinese culture is oriented towards “collectivism” (p.
79), with students using “group” as their shelter rather than standing out as individuals.
With such an orientation, students are more reluctant to participate in classroom
activities and thus give up control over the classroom to teachers. Besides, China rates
high in power distance (Littlewood, 1999, p. 80). Teachers are usually perceived as the
authority figure with superior knowledge and are seldom questioned. Although such a
view is challenged in recent years by other researchers (Cheng, 2000a, 2000b;
Littlewood, 2001; Xiao, 2005), arguing that Asian students now wish to participate
actively in the classroom and the reluctance to participate may be “situation-specific
rather than culturally pre-set” (Cheng, 2000a, p. 435), there is evidence that the teachercentred mode of English teaching still dominates China’s schools at all levels (Zhao,
2012).
Another belief both held and practiced by Ms Zhang and Mr Li is the use of grades as
extrinsic rewards to motivate students. It is the researcher’s speculation that this belief
does not only relates with the power of students’ instrumental orientation (as was
discussed in 5.1.3.1) but is associated with the importance put on assessment in Chinese
culture as well.
65
In China, different forms of assessment have long been used as a means of social and
personal life improvement (China Civilisation Centre, 2007). Strong association has been
made between academic achievement and beliefs about personal worth and virtue
(China Civilisation Centre, 2007; Li, 2009; Niu, 2007; Tsui& Wong, 2009; Brown & Gao,
2015) and examinations and grades are dominating in education in China.
Such a tradition contributes to the perceived effectiveness of grades as a motivating
factor and probably students’ expectations to use grades to prove themselves, which in
a way helps shape teachers’ beliefs.
66
Chapter 6
Conclusion
6.1 Implications
The findings of this research discussed in Chapter 5 have several implications for
language teacher education.
First, findings indicate that although the vocabulary that participating teachers used (e.g.
goal, autonomy, self-efficacy, and achievement) touched on diverse definitions of
motivation and L2 theories, at the centre of their understanding of motivation was still
the instrumental-integrative and intrinsic-extrinsic dichotomies. The theoretical
development in the area of L2 motivation in recent years, however, seemed to have
little influence on them. This suggests the need for teacher education programmes to
introduce latest research on L2 motivation and particularly ESP student motivation to
teachers and help teachers to make connection between L2 motivation theories and
their teaching practices.
Besides, to address the possibility of teachers’ lack of motivational techniques, teacher
education should also provide training in methods that teachers can use to motivate
students. Such training could involve basic motivational strategies and how each
strategy can be applied to students in different contexts. It would also be helpful if the
training can engage teachers in real classrooms so that their motivational practices can
be developed.
Finally, the findings also indicate that teachers were usually not aware of the tensions
between their beliefs and practices. Teacher education programme, therefore, should
also devise awareness-raising tasks and encourage teachers to reflect on their beliefs
and practices. When mismatches are made explicit, teachers’ awareness could be
heightened and their motivational practices can be more effective.
67
6.2 Limitations
Firstly, research methods used in this study have limitations. Interviews provided only
partial understandings of teachers’ beliefs as they relied heavily on teachers’ own verbal
commentary. Classroom observations, too, only provided limited motivational practices
during the observed periods although I managed to observe two lessons for each
teacher. More motivational strategies might have been adopted when teachers were
not observed, but were not included in this study. Besides, classroom observations
might have a reactive effect on participants, which led to behaviours different from
those in unobserved classes.
Secondly, only three ESP teachers were investigated in this study and it is inevitable that
findings related to their idiosyncratic natures. Besides, the study was conducted in an
EFL context with monolingual and monocultural students. Therefore, the study makes
no claims that the participants were representative of teachers elsewhere or the
findings could be generalized to other contexts.
Finally, although teachers’ motivational practices were observed, recorded and
compared with their beliefs in this study, the appropriateness or effectiveness of these
practices on student motivation were not claimed or implied.
6.3 Recommendations for future research
As was mentioned in 6.2, only motivational teaching practices observed in two classes
were discussed in comparison with teachers’ beliefs in this study while other
motivational strategies might have been missed out. Therefore, a longitudinal study
which is grounded on a more comprehensive understanding of teachers’ motivational
teaching practices would seem more
Similar studies to this one could also be conducted with other participants and in other
contexts. The present study only focused on three experienced ESP teachers and a
higher institution in China. This rather narrow focus could be further broadened with EFL
68
teachers in general being investigated in contexts such as primary schools or middle
schools. This will enable us to see congruence or tensions between teachers’ beliefs and
practices can be influenced by different contextual factors.
An interesting finding in this study is that culture can play an important role in shaping
teachers’ beliefs. However, most studies on teacher cognition only see culture as an
element teachers pick up during their previous learning or working experience. More
research could be conducted to investigate how culture works as a major source of
teacher beliefs that impact teacher practices, and how changing culture may have led to
changing beliefs among different generations of teachers.
6.4 Concluding remarks
In an attempt to investigate ESP teachers’ beliefs about student motivation and their
motivational practices, this study bridges the gap between teacher cognition research
and L2 motivation research and highlights how teachers’ beliefs about motivation
influence their pedagogical decision making in adopting motivational strategies. It
confirms findings of previous research that teachers’ beliefs and practices are not always
in line with each other and shows that tensions can result from either
competing/conflicting beliefs or contextual constraints. The study also discusses sources
of teacher beliefs and suggests that teachers’ cultural background might have played an
important role in shaping participants’ beliefs.
(16,454 words excluding tables, figures and excerpts)
69
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Appendices
86
Appendix I
Consent form (Participants)
Project Title:
A Case Study of ESP Teachers’ Beliefs about Student Motivation and Their Classroom
Practices in a University in China
Investigator:
（Kept anonymous for the purpose of this award）
Purpose:
This research project examines ESP teachers’ beliefs about student motivation and their
classroom practices. I am interested in how your understanding of motivation and your
practices interrelate with each other.
Procedures:
By agreeing to participate in this study, you agree to do the following:
1. Participate in 3-5 interviews, with each one lasting for about 60 minutes;
2. Allow the researcher to observe two of your normal classes;
3. Provide any documents and artifacts you see as relevant to this study.
4. All interviews will be audio taped and transcribed as research data.
Transcriptions will be sent to you for verification before used as research data. All audio
tapes, transcriptions and documents will be destroyed in five years.
Confidentiality:
1. Data will be stored and locked in a file cabinet and be kept for five years before they are
destroyed.
2. An anonymous name will be assigned for you and any information that will reveal your
real identity will be replaced with anonymous one at any point of information collection or
presentation.
3. The data collected for this research study may be published in some form such as journal
article or presented in conference.
Contact:
Questions about this research study should be directed to the researcher.
Participant Rights:
I understand that participation is voluntary. There is no penalty for refusal to participate,
and that I may withdraw from this study at any time without penalty by notifying the
principal researcher in writing.
Statement of Consent:
I have read and fully understand the consent form. I sign it freely and voluntarily. A copy of
this form has been given to me.
Signature of Participant ______________________ Date _______________
87
Appendix II
Interview Guide (Semi-structured interviews)
1. How long have you been teaching English?
2. Since when do you start to teach ESP?
3. What course do you teach in this semester?
4. How do you enjoy teaching ESP? Why?
5. Are your students generally motivated to learn ESP?
6. In a few words, how would you sum up your views on what motivation is?
7. What for you are the key characteristics of a motivated learner?
8. Do you think teachers play a role in student motivation?
9. What factors can best motivate your students?
10.How do you motivate your learners in the ESP classroom?
11.How have you come to develop the view your hold today about motivation
and its value?
88
Appendix III
Classroom Observation Sheet
Motivational teaching practice proposed by
Dörnyei (2001b)
Observed motivational
teaching practice
Creating the
basic
motivational
conditions
Appropriate teacher behaviour and a
good relationship with learners
A pleasant and supportive classroom
atmosphere
A cohesive learner group with
appropriate group norms
Generating
Enhancing the learners’ languageinitial
related values and attitudes
motivation
Increasing the learners’ expectancy of
success
Increasing the learners’ “goalorientedness”
Making the curriculum relevant for the
learners
Creating realistic learner beliefs
Maintaining Making learning stimulating and
and
enjoyable
protecting
Presenting tasks in a motivating way
motivation
Setting specific learner goals
Increasing the learner’s self-confidence
Allowing learners to maintain a positive
social image
Creating learner autonomy
Promoting cooperation among learners
Promoting self-motivating learner
strategies
Encouraging Promoting motivational attributions
positive self- Providing motivational feedback
evaluation
Increasing learner satisfaction
Offering rewards and grades in a
motivating manner
Note: this observation sheet is developed based on Dörnyei (2001b) model of classroom
motivational practices.
89
Appendix IV
Interview Guide (SRIs)
1. What were you doing here/at this point? Was this your plan before the
lesson?
2. Do you remember what you were thinking here? Why did you decide to do
this?
3. Were you thinking of any alternative actions or strategies at that time?
4. What were you noticing about the students?
5. How were the students responding to this strategy/activity/…?
6. Did any student reactions cause you to act differently than you had
planned?
7. Did you have any particular objectives in mind at this point? If so, what are
they?
8. Do you remember any aspects of the situation that might have affected
what you did?
90
Appendix V
Participants’ observed motivational practices
Motivational teaching
practice proposed by
Dörnyei (2001b)
Creating the
basic
motivational
conditions
Generating
initial
motivation
Ms Zhang
Appropriate
teacher
behaviour and
a good
relationship
with learners
A pleasant and
supportive
classroom
atmosphere
A cohesive
learner group
with
appropriate
group norms
Enhancing the
learners’
languagerelated values
and attitudes
1. Relate the
course to their
subject/future
career
2. Offer higher
grades as extrinsic
Mr Li
Observed motivational teaching practice
Ms Wang
1. An informal chat with students at
the beginning of each lesson (asking
students about their weekend,
discussing the basketball game on
campus)
2. Teach with enthusiasm
3. Remember most students’ names
1. Provide encouragement and
recognize effort even when students
give a less perfect answer
2. Have a sense of humour
1. Converse with several students before
class (in an informal way)
2. Teach with enthusiasm
3. Show concern about a student who
doesn’t seem well
1. Provide the most recent real-life
cases to arouse students’ curiosity
and attention
2. Offer higher grades as extrinsic
reward
3. Relate the course to their
1. Use videos with native speakers of
English
2. Offer higher grades as extrinsic reward
3. Relate the course to their subject/future
career
4. Reiterate the importance of L2 in the
1. Move around in class and provide
support during group discussions
2. Smile during class
91
Maintaining
and
protecting
motivation
reward
subject/future career
Increasing the
learners’
expectancy of
success
Let students work
in groups so that
they can help each
other
Increasing the
learners’
“goalorientedness”
Provide syllabus at
the beginning of
the semester
1. Move around in class and offer
assistance and guidance during
activities
2. Let students work in groups so that
they can help each other
1. Provide syllabus at the beginning of
the semester
2. State goals at the beginning of the
lesson
Making the
curriculum
relevant for
the learners
1. Choose the right
course book
2. Negotiate with
learners key
contents of the
course
Creating
realistic
learner beliefs
Making
learning
stimulating
and enjoyable
Presenting
tasks in a
motivating
Relate activities to
students’ subject
matter/future
1. Choose the right course book
2. Supplement additional materials
3. Negotiate with learners key
contents of the course
business world
5. Share quotes of Steve Jobs
6. Share with students her life experience
1. Move around in class and offer
assistance and guidance during activities
2. Let students work in groups so that they
can help each other
1. Provide syllabus at the beginning of the
semester
2. State goals at the beginning of the
lesson
3. Use student portfolios
1. Choose the right course book
2. Supplement additional materials
3. Negotiate with learners key contents of
the course
4. Provide situations that students may
encounter in their future profession
Use student portfolios
1. Use auditory and visual modes
2. Use varied activities
3. Use ICT
1. Refer to recent business news
2. Use auditory and visual modes
3. Use ICT
4. Use varied activities
Relate activities to students’ subject
matter/future profession
Relate activities to students’ subject
matter/future profession
92
way
Setting
specific
learner goals
Increasing the
learner’s selfconfidence
Allowing
learners to
maintain a
positive social
image
Creating
learner
autonomy
Promoting
cooperation
among
learners
Promoting
selfmotivating
learner
strategies
profession
State clearly goals
of each task
State clearly goals of each task
1. State clearly goals of each task
2. Use student portfolios
1. Provide positive
feedback to
students who
answer questions
2. Use prompts
when students
answer questions
1. Provide positive feedback to
students who answer questions
2. Use prompts when students answer
questions
1. When ppt file doesn’t work, ask for help
from a student who’s weak in English and
express thanks
2. Provide positive feedback to students
who answer questions
3. Use prompts when students answer
questions
Negotiate with
learners key
contents of the
course
1. Negotiate with learners key
contents of the course
2. Invite learners to bring their own
reading materials
3. Encourage peer teaching
Provide students with the opportunity
to work together towards the same
goal
1. Negotiate with learners key contents of
the course
2. Allow peer-assessment
Provide students with the opportunity to
work together towards the same goal
93
Encouraging Promoting
positive self- motivational
evaluation
attributions
Providing
motivational
feedback
Increasing
learner
satisfaction
Offering
rewards and
grades in a
motivating
manner
1. Provide positive
feedback to
students who
answer questions
Comment on students’ effort-led
improvement
Comment on students’ effort-led
improvement
1. Provide positive feedback to
students who answer questions
1. When giving feedback, focus on
students’ progress and competence and
also point out the areas that they can
further improve
Invite groups to share with other groups
their jigsaw writing assignments
Provide students with an opportunity
to showcase their work
1. Use formative
assessment, which
reflects not only
achievement, but
effort
2. Make
transparent
assessment system
1. Use formative assessment, which
reflects not only achievement, but
effort
2. Make transparent assessment
system
1. Use formative assessment, which
reflects not only achievement, but effort
2. Make transparent assessment system
Note: Practices in red are shared by all three teachers; those in blue are shared only by two of the three participants.
94
Declaration
I hereby declare that the text of this dissertation is
substantially my own work.
Signature:
Date:
95