PREFERENCES FOR MOTIVATIONAL STRATEGIES: A COMPARISON OF STUDENT AND TEACHER PERSPECTIVE IN JAPANESE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (JFL) CLASSROOM IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

This study was aimed to investigate the teachers’ and students’ preference of motivational strategies employed in motivating students to learn Japanese language in General Certificate of Education (G.C.E) Advanced Level classes in Sri Lanka. The sample consisted of 27 Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) teachers and 275 students. An adapted questionnaire with 28 items was used to measure the perception of students and teachers towards using motivational strategies in JFL classroom. Fourteen items in the questionnaire targeted at measuring traditional strategies while the rest of the items measured innovative strategies. Descriptive statistics was used to find out the mean values of both the teachers’ and students’ preference of strategies and to prepare two lists of motivational strategies according to the priority order of rankings rated by teachers and students. The independent samples T-test was applied to determine the significant level of difference between the two groups. The results indicated that both students and teachers agree on the use of motivational strategies to motivate students. Nevertheless, it is statistically evident that students prefer innovative strategies than traditional strategies while teachers prefer both types of strategies equally. The findings revealed that there is a significant difference between these two motivational strategies as perceived by teachers and students. Article visualizations: