Affecting Students’ Motivation to Foster Foreign Language Acquisition: Juggling Pedagogical Tools and Psychological Diagnostics in the University Classroom

Abstract

AbstractGenerating and/or maintaining a certain type and level of motivation by employing pedagogical means can contribute to fostering the process of foreign language acquisition in general and in the university classroom in particular. An overview of the research confirms that motivation can be treated as a promoting determinant in the foreign language classroom. This chapter examines the interconnection between different types of motivation and the rate and success of foreign language acquisition while using pedagogical tools to enhance levels of motivation in the course of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to Russian university students. The study methods include the application of psychological instruments for measuring motivation as applied to the language classroom, pedagogical methods for assessing foreign language communicative competence (FLCC), and the use of paired and independent samples t-tests for analysis. The motivational characteristics assessed included social, learning, and professional factors, in addition to creativity, prestige, avoidance of failure, and communication motivation. Components of students’ FLCC were measured to evaluate their EFL learning effectiveness. The findings revealed that there was a significant direct relationship between the level of components of FLCC and that of students’ learning, creativity, communication motives, and less distinct and more variable relationships with social, professional, and prestige motivation factors. Finally, a negative relationship was found with avoidance of failure motives. The study confirms the positive influence of certain types of motivation on students’ foreign language acquisition, as well as the possibility of affecting motivation by selecting special pedagogical tools that can be applied in combination with a certain style of teaching.KeywordsEFL learning effectivenessForeign language acquisitionMotivation researchHigher educationPedagogical toolsTeaching style