Teacher understanding and implementation of motivational strategies in ELT

Abstract

This article explores how teachers understand and implement motivational strategies in an ELT context. A qualitative study was carried out with 26 experienced in-service primary school teachers. The study identified initial understandings of the concept of motivation and specific ways in which teachers aimed to implement motivational strategies in their classrooms. The findings verified the hypothesis that teachers’ understandings of motivation were limited and did not reflect the theoretical advances made over recent decades in ELT-related motivational research. The study traced the changes in understandings resulting from a 30-hour, in-service staff training programme developing a process-oriented approach to motivation. The results show that significant changes in understandings can be achieved through focused training activities, with participants expressing clear intentions to apply their new understandings in their classrooms in a way which will shift the emphasis from current teacher-centred approaches to more learner-sensitive environments