Unmotivated Secondary School Students in English Language Lessons: An Overview of What is Beyond This Disruptive Situation

Unmotivated Secondary School Students in English Language Lessons: An Overview of What is Beyond This Disruptive Situation    

According to Copland et al. (2013) over the years, students’ motivation in English language lessons at schools has been a challenging topic for educators around the world. Teachers are constantly trying to provide their students with entertaining and original ways to introduce topics and do engaging activities in class. However, that does not seem to work at all since there is still a growing number of unmotivated learners in almost every class. Consequently, unmotivated pre-teenage learners' performance might be affected. To carry out research about this topic, the following issues are going to be addressed in this research paper: the techniques that teachers might put into practice to improve their pre-teenage students’ motivation in their English language class and the ways in which teachers might support unmotivated students at work. All in all, this research will intend to provide a clearer perspective for teachers dealing with uninterested students in their English Language classes.

The purpose of this research work is to determine whether unmotivated secondary 4^th year students might improve their performance if they are given trust and support by their teachers by providing concrete strategies. 

Regarding authors who support this topic about uninterested students in class, there is a great variety of them. However, two works have been selected to contribute with this research paper.

Johnson, D. (2017). The Role of Teachers in Motivating Students to Learn. BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1230415.pdf

In this article, Johnson (2017) delves into the topic of the factors that may motivate students to learn and the role that teachers possess in this process.  The author states that motivation contributes to increasing students’ learning. He continues by stating that learners are affected by external factors such as a reward or an accomplishment by the educator. Johnson (2017) suggests that teachers should create an environment which may help learners to be motivated in class. What is more, the author emphasizes the fact that teachers need to know about students’ personal interests and choices to plan classes taking those interests into consideration. By doing that, students will start getting involved in their classes. He adds that positive feedback is another constituent for students to gain control over their own learning. He closes by highlighting the importance of teachers’ interest in their subject for students to contribute with their motivation in class. 

Legault, L., Green – Demers, I. & Pelletier, L. (2006). Why Do High School Students Lack Motivation in the Classroom? Towards an Understanding of Academic Amotivation and the Role of Social Support. Journal of Educational Psychology.  98. 567–582.  DOI: https://doi.org/c44945

In this paper, the authors pinpoint the reasons that contribute to academic amotivation by investigating their origins and consequences in learners. The authors carried out three studies to find answers to this issue about amotivation. The authors close by highlighting that the results of the three studies provided a thorough understanding of the topic of lack of motivation in learners.

 Reference

Copland, F., Garton, S., & Burns, A. (2013). Challenges in teaching English to young learners: Global perspectives and local realities. TESOL Quarterly, 48(4), 738-762. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.148

Johnson, D. (2017). The Role of Teachers in Motivating Students to Learn. BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1230415.pdf

Legault, L., Green – Demers, I. & Pelletier, L. (2006). Why Do High School Students Lack Motivation in the Classroom? Towards an Understanding of Academic Amotivation and the Role of Social Support. Journal of Educational Psychology.  98. 567–582.  DOI: https://doi.org/c44945