Introductory description

This optional module is designed for MA TESOL students who wish to develop specialist expertise in understanding and managing language learner motivation in the TESOL classroom.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The module will integrate a focus on theoretical issues and concepts with a focus on practical pedagogical skills and strategies, through a combination of lecture input, seminar discussions and activities, student presentations, independent study and reading, and a personal reflective project in which students will track their own motivation and self-regulation throughout the term.

The key topic areas (roughly in order of focus) to be covered will be:

• Motivational goals, expectations, rewards, values, self-and-identity aspirations
• Role of choice and autonomy: internal versus external regulation; self-determination theory; nudge theory
• Role of success and informational feedback: perceived competence, challenge, skill development, setting short-term goals
• Role of interest: enjoyment, personalisation, relevance, authenticity, intrinsic motivation
• Motivation as a socially mediated process: sociocultural theory; group dynamics
• Motivation as an unstable process: demotivation, self-motivation, motivational self-regulation
• Global English and critical challenges for motivation in TESOL
• Issues for research and professional inquiry: topics and approaches

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of motivation theories and concepts relevant to TESOL practice
• Understand the complexity of individual and social processes shaping learner motivation in the classroom
• Understand critical challenges for learner motivation in own professional and cultural contexts
• Develop principled approaches to supporting and enhancing learner motivation in the classroom
• Develop principled approaches to promoting motivational self-regulation

Indicative reading list

Apple, M. T., Da Silva, D., & Fellner, T. (Eds.). (2016). L2 selves and motivations in Asian contexts. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Dörnyei, Z., & Kubanyiova, M. (2014). Motivating learners, motivating teachers: Building vision in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2009). Motivation, language identity and the L2 self. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Dörnyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (2011). Teaching and researching motivation (2nd ed.). Harlow: Longman.
Lasagabaster, D., Doiz, A., & Sierra, J. M. (Eds.). (2014). Motivation and foreign language learning: From theory to practice. Philadelphia/Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Murray, G., Gao, X., & Lamb, T. (Eds.). (2011). Identity, motivation and autonomy in language learning. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Ryan, R. M. (Ed.) (2012). The Oxford Handbook of human motivation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sampson, R. (2016). Complexity in classroom foreign language motivation: A practitioner perspective from Japan. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Stipek, D. (2002). Motivation to learn: Integrating theory and practice. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Ushioda, E. (Ed.). (2013). International perspectives on motivation: Language learning and professional challenges. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wentzel, K. R., & Brophy, J. E. (2014). Motivating students to learn. New York: Routledge.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Research element

Students engage in a personal reflective project in which they record their own motivational experiences through the term and analyse these in relation to specific theoretical perspectives addressed in the module. In some cases, this personal reflective project can provide the basis for further research inquiry in the dissertation.

International

This module engages students in critical reflection on social and cultural issues in classroom motivation, and on the impact of English as a global language on language learning motivation in different international contexts.

Subject specific skills

• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of motivation theories and concepts relevant to TESOL practice
• Understand the complexity of individual and social processes shaping learner motivation in the classroom
• Understand critical challenges for learner motivation in own professional and cultural contexts
• Develop principled approaches to supporting and enhancing learner motivation in the classroom
• Develop principled approaches to promoting motivational self-regulation

Transferable skills

Key skills

• Participate constructively in collaborative tasks and group discussions
• Structure and communicate ideas effectively both orally and in writing
• Plan and manage time and workload to meet deadlines
  Cognitive skills
• Synthesize information from a range of sources
• Analyse and interpret classroom practices in light of relevant theories and concepts
• Reflect critically on personal experience and relate to relevant theory