Abstract
This study looked into Saudi female English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ perception of their motivational practices in the actual classroom in public and private schools. Forty (n=40) EFL teachers filled out a questionnaire consisting of forty-four motivational strategies that were based on a five-point Likert scale ranging from "very important" to "not important." Descriptive statistics have been used to determine the most and the least important teaching strategies viewed by EFL teachers in private and public schools. To determine if there was any difference between private and public schools’ teachers on how they viewed each strategy in terms of importance, inferential statistics, t-test has been implemented. The study revealed that participants in both educational contexts indicate that “teachers’ proper behavior” is the most significant motivational strategy while “having an encouraging environment” in the EFL classroom was ranked the least important strategy. The findings show that there existed a striking similarity between the two sets of teachers in regard to their perceptions of the importance of motivational strategies. The study suggests that English-as-a-Second-Language book planners should keep textbook materials in harmony with motivational strategies practiced by EFL teachers.
Highlights
Motivation is a significant factor that affects second\foreign language learning; as such, the role of motivation has been broadly explored in foreign/second language research (e.g., Dörnyei, 1994, 2005, 2010; Dörnyei & Ottó, 1998; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011; Gardner, 1985)
This study explored Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) female teachers' beliefs about the importance of the motivational strategies they use in the actual classroom to motivate their students
Challenges faced by EFL teachers can explain strategies that received lower ranking such as having to deal with a big classroom size, time constraints, or a long textbook content
Summary
Motivation is a significant factor that affects second\foreign language learning; as such, the role of motivation has been broadly explored in foreign/second language research (e.g., Dörnyei, 1994, 2005, 2010; Dörnyei & Ottó, 1998; Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011; Gardner, 1985). Given that motivation is a critical factor that determines success in foreign language learning, teachers' practices for motivating EFL students are deemed as an essential aspect of second\foreign language motivation research (Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007). It is believed that learners' motivation is closely related to teachers' practices in the classroom in which teachers' using different strategies may keep students engaged and motivated (Guilloteaux & Dörnyei, 2008; AlKaboody, 2013; Alizadeh, 2016). EFL Teachers' application of motivational strategies in the actual classroom is one of the critical factors that determine students' success, or lack in learning a foreign language
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