Motivating Young English Language Learnerslan1.uot.edu.ly/upload/1543010722-d87b8.pdf · Motivating...

Sumaya hussein el-ageli

2018رسبتمب 18العدد 88 مجلة كلية اللغات |

Motivating Young English Language

Learners

Sumaya hussein el-ageli Faculty of education / Janzour - Department of English

University of Tripoli [email protected]

الملخصعند تدريس اللغة االنجليزية فان المضمون اللغوى هو نفسه لجميع الفئات العمرية، انما االختالف

عابية يكمن في الطرق التي تُدرس بها اللغة لمختلف هذه الفئات. ومع ذلك فان القدرة االستمي لها، تعتمد على مدى تحفزه على تعلم توالتطبيقية لمتعلم اللغة، أيًّ كانت الفئة العمرية التي ين

المتعلم الصغير عادة ما يكون ذو تحفز خارجي، بمعنى ان يكون تحت ضغط من االهل او اللغة.في الِحفاظ او زيادة ، وبذلك فانه يجب على مدرس اللغة االنجليزية المحاولة المدرسة لتعلم اللغة

هذه الورقة ستحاول لفت انتباه مدرس غار.مستوى التحفيز لظمان افضل اداء من قِبل الطالب الص ِ اللغة النجليزية للصغار لبعض الجوانب والعوامل التي في مقدورها ان تحث ُمتعلم اللغة االنجليزية

وستعرض الورقة ايضا بعض االنشطة الصغير على االقبال واالجتهاد في تعلم اللغة واستعمالها. .في مقدورها ان ترفع من درجة تحفزالطالب الصغار التى

1. Introduction

In teaching English to adults and children, the input or the target language, in either situation,

is the same; however, the methods and techniques used to accomplish this task differ.

Nevertheless, the actual comprehension and application of the language tasks depends

tremendously on the learners’ willingness to learn, or in other words, their motivation. This

paper will help raise awareness to aspects, factors and activities related to increasing the

motivation of young learners to ensure the best possible outcomes.

2. Background research

3. Young learners

The term Young Learners (YLs) is broadly used to cover a large selection of youngsters

belonging to different age groups. The point at which a Young English Language Learner

(YELL) progresses from being a YL to the adult classification differs according to the person,

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country and cultural background. According to Puskas (2016), the term YL refers to children

aging from pre-school to primary school level; and “even within this definition there are

differences from country to country” (ibid)

4. Motivation

Motivation is the enthusiasm one feels once indulged in doing something. Mahadi (2012)

explains that motivation in language learning is the force that causes the learner to produce

the effort needed to learn a foreign language.

Motivation can be divided into two types according to the inner-will: intrinsic, the personal

will and desire to learn with no “external pressure” (Thompson, Teaching Young Learners :

Adapting the classroom for YELLs), and extrinsic, the existence of external pressure to learn

the foreign language. A further division is based on the purpose or intent of the learning and

which can be integrative or instrumental. Integrative motivation relates to the student’s need

to gain better understanding of the L2, the speakers, and culture of the foreign language.

Instrumental motivation is the need to learn a language in order to accomplish a certain task.

YELLs are usually extrinsically motivated, either by their parents in language courses, or in

school as part of their curriculum. In both cases, their purposes of studying a language are

purely instrumental, as their need to learn English is either to move on to the next level of the

language course or pass their English exam at school.

5. Motivating YELLs

Adult learners are mostly intrinsically motivated whether they have an integrated or an

instrumental motive. Their presence in the English classroom is initiated from their own will,

which gives them an advantage as opposed to YELLs.

6. What motivates young learners?

A fun lesson with games and competitions is always the ideal situation with both learners,

adults and YELL. However, the definition of games differs when it comes to the age

difference. Young learners have the advantage of being more kinesthetic than adults,



meaning that they have the will to stand up, move around and even run in the classroom and

are not conscious or shy to carry out tasks with other children, often further imposing an

element of their active imagination when carrying out tasks. These games, tasks and activities

should be based on real-life situations as children relate to everyday experiences of the

physical world they know (Scott & Ytreberg, 1993).

Praise is also another aspect that will help motivate YELLs, they like to be acknowledged for

their participation or behavior. Oxford University Press Journal (OUP, 2013) stresses that

students should be praised “for their effort and not knowledge”. Praise has the power to

positively stimulate and motivate YLs to take part in their learning process as it helps to build

their confidence.

7. Factors which affect motivation

Knowing, studying, and understanding your learners are the main aspects in any English

language classroom. For example, adhering to the different personalities of the YELLs by

understanding their individual needs can help the teacher build a positive rapport. Burden &

Byrd (1999) states that:

“Knowing the needs of students can help teachers make suitable decisions when

planning their lessons and deciding on the best materials, strategies and activities to

be used in the classroom which in turn can help the teachers motivate their learners

and draw attention to their strengths.”

Also, knowing which learning style is most adequate to the YELLs - visual, auditory or

kinesthetic - may help in designing specific materials or activities for those YELLs.

However, most YLs tend to use a mix of learning styles when learning a language “most

people use all three styles while learning foreign languages” (Dubovičienė & Gulbinskiene,

2014) with YLs, the priority of any activity is to have kinesthetic (hands-on) characteristics,

addressing the YLs’ energetic and active nature.

Teachers play a main role in affecting the motivational atmosphere in the classroom. ḉakir

(2004) explains that teachers’ sensitivity and consideration can positively affect the

motivation and attitude of the YLs inside the classroom because “if they feel at home in the

classroom, they are more likely to participate and take risks”. (ibid) .



8. Issues

9. Young Learners

One issue is related to the attention span of YL. When learning a language, adults tend to be

more focused and critical of what is being taught, and thus, their attention span is longer as

opposed to YL, who are easily distracted and their string of thoughts is randomly organized.

Young learners tend not to “follow the activity if it’s too long and complicated.” (Puskas,

2016). For example, while in class, if children are only given the task of listening to what was

being said to them, after 2 or 3 minutes, the slightest external interference , such as a

classmate borrowing a pencil or a bird on the window ledge, is bound to transform their

attention off the task or topic.

10. Motivation

Extrinsic and instrumental motivation combined, as pointed out by Brown (2007), have been

considered the least effective types of motivation when learning a language. Such motivation

might be an issue because YELLs will focus on the reward or outcome using minimum effort

(e.g. passing a test) rather than striving for excellence. From my personal experience, when

YELLs are given their exam papers back, they are more interested in finding excuses for their

mistakes in an attempt to increase their grades rather than focusing on their errors and

learning from them.

11. Motivational praise

Praise makes students believe in their learning abilities. YLs in general aim to please the

teacher, either by taking an active part in the classroom or doing their homework, and

therefore being praised for their actions. It can also intimidate shy students. Less confident

YLs will fear making a mistake and consequently will not be praised, leading them to feel

embarrassed and shy.



12. Factors that affect motivation

The main issue here is in the strategy of learning itself. For example, unlike adults, YELLs

are unable to easily learn the language directly “…do not comprehend abstract ideas such as

grammar” (Thompson). They are unaware of abstract concepts related to phonology and

grammar, such as parts of speech (nouns/ adjectives/ verbs …etc.), and teaching such

theoretical concepts, at this age, might lead to their confusion, and decrease their motivation.

Furthermore, a teacher’s attitude towards YELLs plays a major role in increasing or

decreasing motivation. Violetta-Irene (2013) explains that teachers’ reactions within the

classroom have a major effect on students and can either enhance or hinder the language

learning process.

13. Solutions and application

When planning practice activities for young learners, teachers must take into account the

factors that might hinder their motivation. Teachers have to realize that classrooms are a

foreign environment for their YL, where they are subjected to a foreign language that they

might only slightly understand. Thus, they need to create an atmosphere where their YL can

feel safe and comfortable. Young language learners are not able to learn under stress or from

activities which are too difficult or simply uninteresting (OUP , 2013). Creating a relaxed and

comfortable learning atmosphere may be achieved by establishing a routine. For example, by

singing a ‘welcome’ song every morning, or sitting to listen to the teacher read a story every

Thursday; this way YL will feel “secure and prepared” (ChildCare, 2007)

Personalization of the activities can also build YELLs confidence when producing the foreign

language, and thus, positively affect their motivation. Maley (2010) explains that when

teachers personalize activities for EFL students, they will “foster a sense of security and

belonging” in them. By choosing topics from the YLs’ own environment to practice the

foreign language, YL will relate to the learning environment and apply the new language.

Also, you can create the motive for the YELL to learn the target language by involving their

parents. For instance, when they need to practice the past tense, ask them for their parent’s

opinion about a story they listened to in class. By doing this, they will need to re-narrate the



story, attempting to use the past tense of most of the verbs the heard from their teacher, and

thus, practicing the target language.

14. Activity ideas to motivate YLs in the production of the foreign language

Children are easy to please, once you are able to grab their attention. Therefore, plan a fun

and enjoyable lesson and enjoy it with them (OUP , 2013).

15. Activity 1

Focus Pronunciation

Language point practiced Past tense suffix [-ed]

Type of interaction Team work

Type of activity Dominos

Learning styles targeted Kinesthetic, visual, and auditory

-Description

Adult learners, are more than happy to play at their table with their groups using a set of cut-

out domino cards. However, with YLs, this will be boring and they will soon loss interest in

the activity. A variation for this classic activity is to use big domino cards with the

classroom’s wall as your board. You will have to divide the YLs into groups of 3 or 4, giving

each group a set of 6-8 domino cards with the target pronunciation point on them. This way,

they will be working in their teams against the other groups, taking turns putting their cards

with the matching sound on the wall. The other groups are responsible of making sure that

opposing teams have made the correct choice; if a wrong choice is made by a team, they will

lose their turn. The first team to finish all their cards are the winners. By doing so you will be

practicing and making them aware of the difference in pronunciation without subjecting them

to the abstract aspects of this phonological point.



-Strengths and weaknesses for the YLs’ motivation

This hands-on activity targets the YLs’ kinesthetic nature (2.4 above). It requires the YLs to

stand up and move around the classroom to hang their domino cards on the wall. Working in a

team will also help take the pressure off them as individuals which is in the benefit of the shy

and less confident YLs. In addition, this activity will keep each team focused and on the alert,

as they must make sure that the other teams are making the right choice. On the other hand,

this activity might drag on for a long period of time, as each team of YLs decides on their

answers, and as a result, they will grow bored and loss interest. Though team work has its

benefits, it can also harm the weaker and less confident students as they will be reluctant to

make their voice heard.

16. Activity 2

Focus Listening & Grammar

Language point practiced Past tense verbs

Type of interaction Individual/ group

Type of activity 1. Basketball 2. Acting


-Description

This game can be used as a warm-up activity at the beginning of the class. You will divide the

class into two groups. Each YL will work individually to collect points for his/her group. Ask

the YLs to stand in a line, so that members of each group will take alternate turns when

playing. The teacher will read out the present form of the verb and the students will need to

give the past form or vise-versa. The teacher can read them in a sentence, to emphasize how

they are used, and distract them away from the theoretical aspect of this language point. The

YLs need to answer correctly to earn their team 5 points, for example, and to throw the ball in

the basket to gain an additional 5 points.



In case a wrong answer was given, the teacher has the choice of giving a chance to another

student from the same team or turning to the opposing group.

Another affective way is by using songs. Depending on the age of your YLs, the song can

vary. For example, for very young students, you may choose the nursery rhyme “Miss Polly

had a Dolly” or “Jack and Jill”. These songs can be acted out by the teacher or shown on a

video to help the YLs understand. After listening and watching the teacher/video, students can

take part in the acting or preform a role-play, for instance, student a: Miss Polly/ student b:

the Dolly/ Student c: the Doctor. Carrying out this activity can differ according to the degree

of difficulty intended for the YLs. After listening to the song a few times, YLs can be

presented with the lyrics either on the board (group) or on a piece of paper (individual) where

they need to recall the verbs used and acted out by the teacher. The teacher may scaffold this

activity by providing them with the ‘present tense’ form of the verbs or simply providing the

first letter of the verbs used.


Being a competition, the first activity will build their motivation, as the learners will be eager

to get 5 points for the correct answer, and involving a sport while learning is a bonus.

Nevertheless, shy or doubtful YLs will feel under the spot-light and will be scared to answer

incorrectly and cost their team 5 points.

The strength of the second activity is that all three learning styles are equally involved. It will

have a direct link between the vocabulary used (verbs and nouns) and their interpretation, and

since these nursery rhymes carry vocabulary from a familiar context to the YLs

(personalization), e.g. dolly, doctor, hat, bag, called, knocked…etc., they will be easier to

comprehend and thus will aid motivation. The disadvantage, however, is the repetition of the

song. Teachers must be careful to repeat it enough times for the YLs to learn it, but not too

much that they would lose interest. In this case, teachers may involve the parents, by

providing the students with the lyrics to take home and act-out the song for their parents as

they fill in the gaps.



17. Activity 3

Focus Vocabulary & Speaking

Language point practiced numbers

Type of interaction Individual/ pair

Type of activity Find someone who….


-Description

The ‘Find someone who…’ activity is classic. It is very useful to use, even in adult

classrooms, especially after explaining a lexical or grammatical point which needs to be

practiced. To pair the YL, you will need to divide the class into two groups. The first group

will have cards with numbers (digits) on them (red cards), and the other group will have the

numbers written in letter (blue cards). The YLs with the digits on the cards will need to ask

the other group (blue card) if they have that number, while mingling around the class. By

doing so, teachers are able to detect if there are any problems with reading the number, for the

learners with the red cards, and problems of recognizing the numbers when hearing them, for

the YLs with the blue cards. Once they are paired, students will sit down, and will be given a

paper with questions, such as: “Find someone who has ……. pencils.” “Find someone who

has …… cousins.” “Find someone who has ……..pairs of shoes.” Students at this stage will

need to work together and write sensible numbers (digits) in the spaces before standing up

again and finding their person. This activity can also be used to practice writing sentences.

For example, the YLs will need to write sentences using the letters to write the numbers “Ali

has read twenty-one books” “Mariam has fifteen cousins”…etc.

This activity can be done with a variety of topics, for example, action verbs (the verbs & an

illustration of the action), adjectives describing feelings, or jobs.


Because activity 3 is a mingling activity, students will feel more at ease when asking each

other. Their mistakes will be confined to only their colleague who is standing in front of them,

rather than making a mistake and being corrected in front of the whole class.



The downside of this is that students might end up using their L1 when the teacher is not near

them. Also, slower students, will feel under pressure and stressed to finish the questions,

which might cause frustration and decrease motivation.

18. Activity 4

Focus Reading & Writing

Language point practiced Detailed & speed reading

Type of interaction Groups/ teams

Type of activity Running dictation


-Description

In a running dictation, students need to race the other YLs, and thus, a sense of competition

rises among the groups as in ‘activity 2’. A running dictation can be broken down into many

steps. For instance, the teacher may choose any paragraph or short story to be the target for

the running dictation. The teacher may keep the reading passage intact or separate it into

sentences and shuffle these sentences in the process. Hanging one copy for every two groups

on the far end of the classroom, the teacher gives his/her instructions to the YLs to read and

remember the sentences, then race back and dictate it to their teammate. The first group to

finish are the winners. The second stage is to reorder the shuffled sentences to form a

comprehendible reading passage. They may switch papers to check each other’s answers. The

final stage involves the teacher pointing out a certain writing characteristic, such as

transitional or concluding signals, or the strategies of writing a topic sentences or certain type

of paragraphs, or simply make them aware of the tense used in the passage.


Any competition carried out among the YLs, guarantees the YLs motivation to participate in

the production of the target language, and the involvement of the racing aspect will appeal to

their energetic nature. Yet, the transformation from such an active task to a pure academic



point is bound to lower their interest in the topic, and negatively affect the motivation that

was created. A possible way to overcome this is by separating this activity to two different

part of the lesson or even two different lessons all together, that way when the writing

characteristics are brought up they are familiar with the texts but with a different context and

different motivation.

19. Conclusion

This paper aims to raise the awareness of the importance of motivation, that the success or

failure of a YELL is most significantly dependent on how high his stimulation towards

learning English is. Mahadi (2012) declares:

“Paying attention to the role of motivation in teaching process and developing, enforcing, and

strengthening it, can be some effective and helpful factor in the process of learning language”.

Teachers are the lead contributors to the YELLs motivation. They will first need to set a

friendly environment where the YLs are comfortable to express their thoughts using the new

language, in order to introduce a solid base on which their motivation can be built. Then, by

selecting appropriate material and adapting them to the YLs’ specific needs, considering their

different learning styles, preferences and cultural background, they will ensure the increase in

motivation and thus create an intrinsically motivated YELL.

References

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Dubovičienė, T., & Gulbinskiene, D. (2014). Learning/Teaching EFL to Language Learners

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