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Essay: ESL learner’s motivation and task engagement in technology-enhanced language learning contexts

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Working Title

The extent to which ESL learner’s motivation and task engagement in technology-enhanced language learning contexts improves the student’s ability to acquire the target language, with a focus on Chinese L2 students using Weclassroom tools.

Rationale

I have a strong motive for investigating this particular topic, not only because it is precedence in my professional field, but because I believe it truly is a national priority in the modern world of today. Especially this year, 2020. Why? Well because of the worldwide pandemic. Education and teachers all over the world have been forced to adapt, and fast. I am an ESL Teacher, this year, amidst all the chaos, I began teaching online. Although I did not only become an online teacher, I also became an online student. This year, the definition of ‘classroom’ I thought I knew, changed dramatically. As I began training for teaching online, I realised that a classroom does not have to always be confined to the realms of four physical walls and a teacher standing at the front. In February I was introduced to software called ‘’Weclassroom’; a Chinese online classroom software. This software provides great prosperity of courseware forms, complex classroom interaction, all-round data learning display, safe and monitored home school communication, which leads to a stimulating, informative, and inclusive online classroom. Before being introduced to these kinds of software, I was sceptical about online teaching, I felt it would never suffice to in-person teaching interaction. However, I was proved wrong.

Thus, online teaching and learning have become an important aspect of everyday life as we know it. This is why, using Weclassroom and Chinese language learners, I have chosen to investigate L2 learner’s motivation and task engagement in the online classroom, and how online classroom tools play an essential role in improving the student’s ability to acquire the relevant target language. This year humanity has been impacted more than ever by the overflowing demand of students needing to be taught English, amidst this pandemic. With all the dangers of meeting in person and challenges of restrictions and health, how else than in an online environment? Online language learning has truly become an exceptionally useful and sizzling sensation all over the globe.

Within my research on this topic, I discovered that the ‘online classroom’ is a relatively new concept. But of course, researching student motivation and task engagement in language teaching are not. Hence, I found a gap in research literature in L2 learners’ motivation and task engagement in the online classroom. Having said that, I did find a few articles online which touch on the subject, which I will include in this research study, but I believe the topic has not been delved into extensively. Hopefully, my proposed study can create a small contribution toward closing this gap.

Significance

This proposed study is increasingly significant in the evolution and advancement in technology and how powerful a tool it is in the world today, especially during a global pandemic. In addition, determining how and what can motivate or demotivate language learners online, can only be tremendously beneficial for teachers and students everywhere, using an online classroom or analogous platform.

Research Questions

  • What kinds of motivation do my students bring to the online classroom?
  • How can motivation be measured in the online classroom?
  • How do I know if my students are motivated online?
  • How does intrinsic and extrinsic motivation play into the online classroom?
  • What methods does the teacher use in the online classroom to instil motivation in their students?
  • How does the online teacher tackle unmotivated students?
  • What digital tools can be used to improve student motivation?
  • How can feedback in the online classroom be given in a way that improves motivation?
  • How do motivated or unmotivated students respond to feedback in the online classroom?
  • How is discipline used in the online classroom? Does this affect motivation?
  • Are motivated students more likely to take risks than unmotivated students?
  • Does the online classroom deter students from taking risks? How does this affect their ability to obtain the target language?
  • How cans students be encouraged/motivated to take risks?
  • Is it easy for students to become distracted in the online classroom?
  • To what extent can the teacher control the online classroom environment and mitigate distractions?

Research Aims

  • To highlight the importance of motivation in young learners in the online classroom.
  • To investigate how the teacher motivates the students and the effect this has on the online classroom environment
  • To investigate student’s reaction to teacher feedback online
  • The extent to which digital tools on Weclassroom helps motivates students and keep them engaged
  • The extent to which analogue tools used by the teacher can help to motivate students and keep them engaged in the online classroom
  • The importance or unimportance of the award system when using Weclassroom
  • The extent to which students exercise risk-taking in the online classroom
  • To investigate the power of distraction in the online classroom

Links to Literature

Keywords – Motivation, Interest, intrinsic, extrinsic, energy, direction, activation, intention, online learning, Technology-enhanced language learning, second language learning (L2) Cognitive and motor processes, engaged

So, what is motivation, how can we define it?

Motivation is an abstract construct (Dornyei 2001) adds that the meaning of the term ‘motivation’ concerns direction and magnitude of human behaviour, that is: the choice of a particular action, the persistence with it, the effort expanded on it, in other words, he writes that it is responsible for why people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity and how hard they are going to pursue it. Motivation has been defined in a number of ways. Dornyei and Otto (1998) define motivation in second language (L2) learning as “the dynamically changing cumulative arousal in a person that initiates, directs, amplifies, terminates, and evaluates the cognitive and motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritised, operationalised and (successfully or unsuccessfully acted out” This definition captures various influential factors that drive learners’ desire to arousal to acquire an L2. (Paige and Turner 1994) describe motivation as the ‘engine’ of learning. Motivation concerns energy, direction, persistence and equifinality–all aspects of activation and intention (Richard Ryan & Edward Deci 2000) Motivation can influence what we learn, how we learn and when we choose to learn. (Shunck & Usher 2012) Learner’s motivation is a key variable that frequently concerns and challenges practitioners in language classrooms (Cheng & Dornyei 2007, Scheidecker & Freeman, 1999) Of course we can also refer to the dictionary, which tells us that there are two facets to motivation, as a noun. 1. the reason why somebody does something or behaves in a particular way i.e., motivation (behind something) or motivation for (doing) something. 2. the feeling of wanting to do something, especially something that involves hard work and effort (Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary 2020 )

Differentiating intrinsic and extrinsic motivation

Why is motivation important when it comes to language learning?

Research shows that motivated learners are more likely to undertake challenging activities, be actively engaged, enjoy and adopt a deep approach to learning and exhibit enhanced performance, persistence, and creativity (Ryan & Deci 2000) Motivation is, without question, the most complex and challenging issue facing teachers today. (Scheidecker & Freeman 1999:116)

Which literature has focused on motivation in online language learning?

Given the important reciprocal relationship between motivation and learning (Brophy 2010), it is not surprising that motivation has been actively researched across a wide range of traditional educational settings (Schnuk, Meece & Pritchard 2014) Despite this, studies that explore motivation to learn in online contexts are limited in both number and scope, as others have noted. (Bekele, 2010)

How can we motivate the student and what factors play an important role in doing so?

Effective learning in the classroom depends on the teacher’s ability to maintain the interest that brought students to the course in the first place (Erickson 1978) Unfortunately there is no single magical formula for motivating students. Many factors affect a given student’s motivation to work and learn (Bligh, 1971, Sass 1989): Interest in the subject matter, perception of its usefulness, general desire to achieve, self-confidence and self-esteem, as well as patience and persistence.

Research Design

To conduct my research and investigate my aims, I will be using a Quantitive approach in order to collect relevant information for my study. I will use homogeneous questionaries in which I will send out to participants who are my current colleagues in the English Teaching field, teaching online using Weclassroom, to respond to a set of questions which will help me to address my research aims and the questions within these aims; as listed above.

I have chosen to use a Quantitive approach, by use of questionnaires, as opposed to any other type, for a multitude of reasons.
Firstly, using the questionnaire I can use open responses to ask my colleagues to give responses in answer to questions regarding their experiences in using Weclassroom as an online classroom and how they use tools within the programme to motivate and attain student task engagement. I will also ask them questions in relation to student motivation online, student distraction in the online classroom, student reaction to teacher feedback online, risk taking in the online classroom, teacher control in the online classroom, and so on.

Secondly using online questionnaires to send to online English teachers will be inexpensive, not too time-consuming, reliable, and easy, giving the current situation of the pandemic. As appose to using an interview technique, which I find can be labour intensive and time-consuming. Also, some people may find the interviews intimidating, and also if it is recorded, they may be worried the information will be leaked. Whereas a questionnaire can remain anonymous.

Thirdly, for the type of information I am looking for, I would prefer to collect the different data in terms of text in order to better analyse and compare with other teachers’ responses in order to receive an overall picture. I fear that with a qualitative technique such as using interviews, myself and the participant may become distracted and deviate away from the question being asked. I do not feel it is necessary to receive a massive amount of information in response to my investigation. I am aware that a drawback to using questionaries may be that people may not give extensive responses, but I feel just a few sentences will be enough for the type of responses I am looking for.

2020-12-7-1607346865

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