Motivation to Learn and Teach English in Slovenia

This study was conducted in Slovenia, and explored the views of a sample of 226 pupils (aged 14‐15 years) regarding their motivation to learn English and the views of a sample of 95 student teachers regarding their motivation to become a teacher of English. The data consisted of two questionnaires. The first questionnaire asked the pupils to rate the importance of each of 15 reasons for wanting to learn English. The most frequent reasons given by pupils were ‘Because English is an international language’, ‘Because English helps me with advanced study’ and ‘Because English will help me with my future career’. The second questionnaire asked the student teachers to rate the importance of each of 20 reasons in influencing their decision to become a teacher of English. The most frequent reasons given by the student teachers were ‘I enjoy the subject I will teach’, ‘English is important to me’ and ‘I want to help children succeed’. The findings are further explored in terms of the relative importance of the different types of motivation involved.     

Learning Motivation and Activity Contexts

Learning motivation has a special explanatory status in educational psychology and educational practice. Motivation and learning often are studied separately. In the achievement motivation tradition, achievement situation is the connecting link between learning process and achievement need. The explanatory power of this link has limitations. The activity concept is proposed as a unit which is able to offer a broader basis for a unified concept of learning motivation.     

Motivation to Learn Among Older Adults in Taiwan

This study analyzed the survey on adults administered by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan in 2008, and logistic regression analysis showed a close relationship between learning motivations of older adults. The finding revealed that the higher age or the lower education attainment of older adults, the lower their learning motivation. The investigation of environmental factors showed that developing a comprehensive learning model boosts the participation of older adults. The study considered both individual and environmental factors, and it found being relatively young, female, and lonely had higher learning motivation. Also, the learning styles involving group activities and online learning stimulated the learning motivation of older adults.     

Young Children's Perspectives on Learning and Teacher Practices in Different Classroom Contexts: Implications for Motivation

Primary studentsa' perceptions of teacher practices and learning were investigated in two different classroom contexts: learner-centered (LC) and non-learner-centered (NLC). Sixty-six children in kindergarten, first, and second grades evaluated and explained teacher practices, reported self-perceptions, and expressed views on good teachers and learning in school. Results indicate that primary students value similar characteristics in teachers regardless of differences in classroom contexts or grade levels. In general, students reported that good teachers are caring, helpful (responsive), and stimulating. Furthermore, results showed that young children's interest in schoolwork and learning was lower in NLC classrooms than in LC classrooms, particularly for students who perceived their teachers as not being supportive and stimulating. Children's views of how learning occurs tended to be consistent with the practices in their classrooms (i.e. self-directed and process-oriented versus teacher-directed and basic skills-oriented). However, children who held contemporary views of learning that were inconsistent with practices in their NLC classrooms showed signs of becoming alienated from school. These results are interpreted in terms of self-determination theory, learner-centered psychological principles, and developmentally-appropriate practice. The importance of considering young children's perspectives for continuing motivation to learn is highlighted.     

Student Motivation to Learn via Computer Conferencing

This study investigates why some university students appear motivated to learn via computer conferencing (CC) whereas others do not, exploring the correlations of three key aspects of student motivation—reasons for engaging in academic learning (goal orientation), beliefs that they can acquire the ability to use CC (self-efficacy), and beliefs that learning to use CC will help them learn the course material (outcome expectations)—with satisfaction and with the frequency of CC contributions. Participants (n = 79) came from 4 graduate-level face-to-face courses and 1 undergraduate DE course. The results suggest that students who believe that CC will help them learn the course material are more likely to express satisfaction and to be active online, that students who believe that they are capable of learning how to use CC are more likely to be active online, and that students who are concerned about their relative performance compared to others tend to send fewer messages to conferences where online activity is not graded. Practical implications for instructors and suggestions for future research are described.     

Opportunities to Learn in the Budapest Mathematics Classroom

This paper examines the nature of the problems posed, the processes by which their solutions were made public, their structural contribution to a lesson and the opportunities they offered for the learning of mathematics in Budapest, Hungary. The problems were derived from observations, the processes of which were informed by various comparative studies, of 94 mathematics lessons in the 10–14 age range. Problems, the analysis and categorisation of which were informed by the literature, tended to fall into two categories – single response with high levels of cognitive demand and multiple response with high levels of cognitive demand. Structurally lessons fell into a well practised pattern of classroom behaviour. They began with a public review of homework, comprising two or three multiple response problems which were solved collaboratively. This was followed by a warm-up period involving the oral setting and mental solving of a few single response problems. Lastly, the main body of the lesson involved several cycles in which a multiple response problem was posed, attempted individually before solutions were shared publicly. Lessons ended with homework being set. The discussion of the findings is framed by Hungary's variable performance on recent international tests of mathematical attainment.     

Preschoolers Use Emotion in Speech to Learn New Words

Two experiments examined 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds' use of vocal affect to learn new words. In Experiment 1 (n = 48), children were presented with two unfamiliar objects, first in their original state and then in an altered state (broken or enhanced). An instruction produced with negative, neutral, or positive affect, directed children to find the referent of a novel word. During the novel noun, eye gaze measures indicated that both 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds were more likely to consider an object congruent with vocal affect cues. In Experiment 2, 5‐year‐olds (n = 15) were asked to extend and generalize their initial mapping to new exemplars. Here, 5‐year‐olds generalized these newly mapped labels but only when presented with negative vocal affect.     

论小学生学习动机的激发

小学教师在课堂教学中过分注重知识的授受,忽视了小学生的主体性。据此提出在课堂教学中教师要接受小学生的情绪,融入小学生的世界;优化教学,是教师激发小学生学习动机的主阵地;运用强化原理,有助于激发小学生的学习动机,并起到巩固学习效果的作用。     

学习动机的引发与课堂管理

课堂管理是作为一名教师为建立和维持一种有效的学习环境所采取的一系列行动,它是有效课堂教学的一个极为重要的方面。因此,课堂管理也是教师所面临的较为困难的挑战之一。本文主要从学生学习的动机引发角度对课堂管理进行探究,试图寻找建立有效课堂管理的方法和途径。     

Computer Self-Efficacy and Motivation to Learn in a Self-Directed Online Course

Despite the increased use of new learning technologies, there is still much to be learned about the role of learner characteristics in online learning. The purpose of this study was to examine how subjects' characteristics normally associated with effective training (i.e., initial motivation to learn and self-efficacy) related to learning in a self-directed online course. From an analysis of 190 respondents, computer and Internet usage prior to the start of class were positively related to individuals' computer self-efficacy and computer self-efficacy was positively related to learning. However, contrary to expectations, computer self-efficacy was not related to initial motivation to learn and motivation to learn was not related to learning in the class. Post hoc analysis of qualitative data enabled a rich explanation of the findings, including an evaluation of the unexpected relationships among the variables of interest and the nature of self-directed courses in virtual learning environments.     

A Holistic Approach Toward Motivation to Learn in the Workplace

The purpose of this study was to identify key variables within and outside the learning context that could affect motivation to learn during training. Aside from research on motivation to learn, the theoretical framework of this study was also based on sociotechnical systems, total quality management, and training transfer theories which in turn furnished the training and organizational variables projected to have an influence on employee and organizational performance. Task autonomy, extrinsic rewards when applying newly learned skills and knowledge, organizational orientation toward quality improvement, and a work environment within which people live up to high ethical standards were found to be the most important predictors for motivation to learn during training.     

在课堂实践活动中教师要学会“隐藏”自己

教师在课堂实践活动中,要善于隐藏自己。在组织、激励、评价和点拨等环节,充分闪现教师高超的智慧和引导艺术。     

论动机在英语学习过程中的重要作用

动机在英语学习过程中起着十分重要的作用,从表层动机、深层动机两个方面分析了如何提高学生学习英语的兴趣,教师如何围绕提高学生动机水平而组织教学,从而提出了旨在全面培养学生英语应用能力的有效方法.     

职业培训中成人学习动机的培养和激发

借鉴成人教育界对成人学习动机的研究成果,梳理了具有代表性的成人学习动机理论,包括成人学习动机的指向理论、影响成人学习动机的因素以及成人学习动机的形成理论,并结合职业培训中成人学生的学习特征,提出职业培训中成人学习动机的培养与激发策略.     

激发内在学习动机提高英语教学效果

动机是影响学习效果最主要的非智力因素之一,是激发人们行动的主观原因,是人们行动的内部动力.在英语教学中,激发内在动机,发挥学生的主体作用,将是英语教学的主流.     

构建课堂的交往模式实践学会学习的教育

以“完全接受式”为主的传统教学模式所带来的直接后果是，学生是知识的“容器”，是教师的“仿制品”，学生自我“造血机能”(会学习的能力)严重缺乏。依据现代教学理论和教学实践而创设的课堂交往教学模式，能够使学生在获取新知的同时，亲身体验学习，探索学习，合作学习，促使学生个体从自我的角度出发探索学习策略，有效地激发学生的内部动机，有效地发展学生的社会化学习方式，从根本上保证学生对提高学习素养的持续追求，为学生建构个性化的学习能力创造条件。     

课堂教学中美与情的渗透

美与情的渗透是课堂教学中不可缺少的环节。美的教学内容和教学语言可以陶冶学生的情操 ,有助于发展学生的完美人格 ,培养学生的创新精神。同时教师的爱与真情又可以满足学生在学习中的情感需求 ,激发学生的求知欲 ,坚定学生的自信心 ,从而有效地提高基础教学的质量 ,促进学生素质的全面发展 ,达到教育教学的目的     

Measuring Motivation to Learn Chinese and English Through Self-Reported Feelings and Behaviours

The socio-educational approach to measuring language motivation has its focus on social attitude rather than language-relevant feelings and behaviours in the classroom context. The development of two scales for measuring elementary students' motivation to learn Chinese and English reported here is an exploration of a psychology-based approach which may be more meaningful to language teachers. The scales share common items and cover both affective and behavioural aspects of language learning. Very high internal consistency was found for both scales. Discriminant validity was established with reference to student backgrounds, including overall academic performance, gender, language examination grade, home language, and self-evaluation of language ability.     

EFL课堂的动机与策略研究

外语学习动机 (motivation)与学习态度、学习策略、学习成绩有着千丝万缕的关系。根据语言学家Brown和Gardner等关于动机研究的成果 ,提出EFL课堂的动机类型 ,动机养成和策略对学习者课堂表现的互动与促进 ,探讨进一步提高课堂教学效果的途径