The subject of motivation is a very hard one to tackle in educational theory and research.  For starters, it is hard to define; and, once defined it is often impossible to discuss unless classified into various types, each very different from the other.  Secondly, it is hard to measure.  How can we tell whether students are motivated or not?  It doesn’t always show in behavior or outcomes (Brown, 2000).  Fortunately, as a teacher, I don’t have to concern myself with producing quantitative data on my students’ motivation.  I do however, need to pay attention to their behavior and reflect on what I see.  As a teacher, I have to consider what factors are influencing my students.  And motivation, whatever it may be, is definitely one of those factors. 

            Perhaps one of the biggest shockers for me coming into high school teaching is the apparent lack of motivation in some of my students.  In some of my other jobs, I had some very motivated students.  Now that I am a High School teacher some of my students just sit there.  They don’t do homework, don’t take notes, don’t try to participate positively in class, and don’t study for tests.  It appears as if some of them are very unmotivated.

It would not be fair to focus only on those students who appear to be unmotivated though; we ESOL teachers are blessed with some of the most motivated students that ever cross the thresholds of the U.S. public school system.  It is necessary for second language learners to be extremely motivated.  Given the difficulty of the task they are faced with, how could they succeed otherwise?  Second language learning takes many years of hard work and effort.  I’ve tried to learn a second language and I know how hard it is and how easy it is to give up. 

ESOL students often need pep talks, as silly as it might seem.  When my students complain that I am giving them too much work, I tell them that learning English may be the hardest thing they will ever try to do.  I tell them that it takes a lot of hard work, more so than other subjects.  I tell them that I appreciate their struggle and I admire them.  Then to help them feel better, I tell them that if they can master English, then they can do anything else they set their mind to; they can become doctors, lawyers, teachers – anything.  I don’t know if this pep talk works, but I feel something like this is necessary because a lot of what causes language learners to slack off is the disillusionment and frustration.  They sometimes feel they are losers simply because they are second language learners.  That and the fact that they are often overwhelmed by what they are expected to do sometimes makes some of them appear unmotivated.  But are they really unmotivated or just overwhelmed?  We must be careful about judging who is motivated and who isn’t.

Some students appear to be very unmotivated because they don’t engage in the behaviors that we as teachers expect of them.  I contend that they are not necessarily unmotivated though; they simply don’t know what to do.  In ESOL, some of our students come to us with little or no prior experience in formal education.  They don’t know how to take notes, how to study, how to look like they are paying attention, how to contribute appropriately to class – all the behaviors that we often attribute to motivation.  I have found that it is my job to teach students these behaviors in much the same way as I teach them the language – patiently and respectfully.  Many teachers try to teach these behaviors simply by enforcing them.  I find that, while it is necessary to make the rules and expectations explicit, enforcing them is not enough.  I am currently working on two Latino students who just came in from Miami and apparently didn’t get what they needed there.  Currently, I am trying to patiently work with them to start class silently sitting with their books open and writing what is on the board in their notes.  I go step by step, telling them to take out their three-ring binders, modeling note taking, showing them what their notes should look like, and discussing how their notes could be useful later.  Furthermore, I am trying to refrain from scolding them for their apparent irresponsibility and misbehavior; instead I simply tell them what is appropriate and what is not.  Although I have only been doing it for a short while, it seems to be working.  They have started to take notes and keep them in three-ring binders.  In this sense, I am teaching behaviors that are often attributed to motivation.

Appropriate classroom interaction is also considered to be a show of motivation but can be taught just the same.  I encourage students to raise their hands and speak one at a time.  I have even modeled the act of hand raising and had them practice it.  I also teach them how to ask questions by modeling and having them follow the model.  For example, if one student is speaking too quietly I’ll ask another to ask her to speak louder or repeat what she said.  If one student says something that the others don’t understand, I’ll ask one of them to ask her to explain.  From only a short time with this approach, I can already see differences.  They really want to know what to do and really want to do what’s right.  They appreciate my giving them feedback about what they are doing without yelling at them or scolding them.  And, they appreciate when I comment on their progress and tell them that it makes me very happy.  For ESOL students, learning how to look motivated is actually part of culture and language learning. 

Besides the teaching of classroom behaviors, I have also found that the so-called unmotivated students really appreciate my having gotten them some one-on-one time with an instructional assistant.  They make the most out of it.  When working with her, they ask questions and seem generally interested in what they are learning.  Perhaps the problem all along was not a lack of motivation, but simply that they didn’t know how to engage in formal learning, especially when it involved reading and writing.  It is necessary to support some learners by allowing them enough time to learn by speaking and listening and by negotiating meaning one on one with a tutor until they learn to read and write better.  What could have been mistaken for misbehavior and a lack of motivation may in fact have been a response to a frustrating and overwhelming situation. 

Besides being overwhelmed or frustrated, some ESOL students’ response to an uncaring, hostile, insensitive, disempowering, or authoritarian situation can also look like a lack of motivation.  In teacher-fronted classes in which the teacher inputs and the students respond, these students might have their head on a desk or worse might start acting up to get attention or show resistance.  My cooperating teacher and I had this problem to an extreme with one class in particular.  It was hard to teach them anything from the front of the room.  There was an intense negativity among the students evident in their mistreatment of each other and many students had obviously set themselves to be as uncooperative with the teacher as possible.  My cooperating teacher reacted well however.  Instead of clamping down on them, she implemented a cooperative learning structure that gave the students a great deal of responsibility away from the teacher, Jigsaw Learning.  To our surprise, the Jigsaw went extremely well.  Not only did the students take responsibility for their own learning, but they also took responsibility for the learning of their peers.  We had never seen them so well behaved and so self-motivated.  Other cooperative learning structures worked well too, like Round Robin and Think-Pair-Share (Kagan, 2002).  Students who have issues with authority or others who simply don’t want to be in the U.S. also respond well to the cooperative learning and the positive interdependency it involves.  From this example, it can be seen that motivation is sometimes connected to the style of classroom management

One of the most important factors affecting students’ motivational outcomes is whether they believe their teacher cares about them.  This notion is supported by research (Wentzel, 1997)( Lee and Yang, 1999).  This has also been part of my approach in my class and I think it works.  High School can be a very rough place.  Kids put each other down and teachers often join in.  They come to school feeling bad and leave feeling worse.  I try to treat my students with some respect and I try to teach them to treat each other with respect.  I also regularly tell them that I like them, I appreciate them, I am proud of them, and I know how difficult it is to learn a language.  I try to appreciate my students’ contributions and value each one of them, even when they don’t meet my expectations.  My students seem eager to please me in return.  Once this climate is established discussion about what is appropriate often effectively takes the place of punishment when there are transgressions. 

Some teachers rely heavily on extrinsic motivators, but I think we need to be careful about this.  I don’t include a teacher’s genuine expression of appreciation for the students as extrinsic motivation.  Genuine caring and valuing is different.  I’m talking about tests, candy, and other such motivators.  They can offend students who are striving for autonomy.  For example, I have one student who refuses to cooperate and participate in his own in-school learning because he doesn’t want to be here in the U.S. and he is angry.  His parents sent him away to keep him out of trouble but he doesn’t like the home he is staying in and is fighting back by using passive resistance.  He won’t even touch a book or hold it in his hand.  Telling him that something will be tested only makes him more adamant about not learning it.  In his case, extrinsic motivators could be a recipe for failure.  Other means are necessary.  Fortunately, he gets interested in what is being discussed and wants to participate if it is interesting and if he is treated with respect.    

On the other hand, it is often necessary to use tests and grades as extrinsic motivators for the reputedly “motivated” students who do well under “normal” circumstances.  It’s all part of meeting their expectations.  If there are no tests, some may think it is not a serious class.  Besides that, in order to get good grades, this type of ESOL student must make choices for the sake of time management.  They choose to study what will be tested and if pressed for time will neglect what isn’t.

All of these different factors involved with motivation and outcomes make it very hard for teachers to make decisions.  What works for one student sometimes doesn’t work for the others.  There is no simple motivator, but treating students with respect, showing concern and caring, and giving them interesting lessons and materials will help for sure.  On the other hand, teachers should not be so quick to assume that what they are seeing is actually a lack of motivation and not a lack of some sort of academic cultural-behavioral competence.

Brown, H.D. (2000).  Principles of language learning and teaching.  White Plains, N.Y: Pearson Education 

Kagan, S., and J. High (2002).  Kagan structures for English language learners.  ESL magazine.  Vol. 5, No. 4, (p.p. 10-12)

Lee, K.Y., and L. Yang (1999).  Teacher’s role promoting active participation.  Paper delivered at the 33^rd annual TESOL convention, March 13^th, 1999.

Wentzel, K.R. (1997).  Student motivation in middle school: the role of perceived pedagogical caring.  The journal of educational psychology, Vol. 89, No. 3, (p.p. 411-419)