[LET SCI - 5] Motivation Regulation

In Week 4, our instructor Tatiana Shubina required us to interview two to three members of my group regarding the topic motivation regulation.

My questions are: 1) Describe a time when you realise that the current learning environment at that time was not good for your students' motivation and then you decided to change that environment. How did you feel about those changes? Were you satisfied? 2) Tell me about the last time you modified the task to make it more interesting to your students. Did it work? and 3) How many stars will you give yourself in terms of improving motivation for your students? Why do you mark yourself like that?

1. The interviews

My interviewees are Bill Komansilan and Steponas Dabuzinskas. I also want to put myself on this list. Our answers are summarized in the below table: (you can read a more easy-to-read version here):

2. Comparison

I compare the answers to find some common/contrasting trends. Here they are:

In the first question, all three teachers agree that the change in the learning environment can affect learning motivation. For Bill, they are the hand signals and the light. For Step, it is the Whatsapp and Padlet Wall. For me, they are the reading corner and the way I arrange tables. One difference is that the ‘learning environment’ in the case of Step is the online environment.

In the second question, all three teachers did some changes in their task so that their children can feel more motivated. For Bill, they are language games and examples from senior students. For Step, it is reducing the number of statements so that his children have the opportunity to choose. For me, they are the challenging level of the tasks as well as the materials I used (digital to physical). This is a familiar question because as teachers, our work is to observe students’ reaction and find ways to change our lessons to fit them better.

In the third question, Bill and Step all give them 3 out of 5 stars. I give myself 4 out of 5 stars. It means we all feel that we did try our best to change the different elements to make students more motivated however we know that there is still lots of work to do in the future. For me, 1 more star compared to my peers is to emphasize that I prioritize my students’ motivation as well as their learning joy and happiness than ever.

3. Summary

Motivation is something very significant in learning that we as teachers need to pay adequate attention. My peers gave me very useful examples from their own experiences. It is a valuable occasion for me to learn from other educators and education systems.

Back to the teachers’ lesson this week about motivation. There are at least six different ways to impact students’ motivation regulation, they are: 1) Situational interest enhancement; 2) Situational significance enhancement; 3) Environmental control; 4) Self-talk; 5) Proximal goal setting; 6) Self-consecrating. These are very detailed and interesting tips that I will keep in mind to adapt to my teaching.