Exploring the Motivational Strategies Practiced by Pakistani EFL Teachers to Motivate Students in Learning English Language

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate motivational strategies which EFL teachers employ to motivate students in learning English language and to determine the significant difference if any across male and female teachers in practicing motivational strategies in an EFL classroom. A quantitative research design was employed. An adopted questionnaire by Cheng & Dornyei (2007) comprising of 48 close-ended items ranging from “Hardly ever” to “very often” was administered among 96 male and female EFL teachers who were teaching in government secondary schools in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. To answer the two research questions of the study, both descriptive and inferential statistics were performed in SPSS (version, 21). The findings of the first research questions revealed that to promote learners’ autonomy emerged as the most influential source of motivational strategy practiced by EFL teachers followed by Familiarization learners with L2-related values as the second most practiced motivational strategy. The findings of second research question revealed no statistical significant difference between male and female EFL teachers in terms of practicing motivational strategies. The findings of the present study have implications on effective English language teaching and enhancing teachers’ experience and knowledge in order to motivate EFL learners by using different motivational strategies in learning English in context of Pakistan.