Feedback： An Influence on Students’ Motivation

Wenjing+Song

ⅠIntroduction

Asian students are always regarded as passive， quiet ones by Western scholars. （Samuelowicz， 1987）. Chinese students， implanted in the teaching of Confucius （Jin， 1998）， show great respect to authority and prefer to listen， to rote learn， to respond only to direction and to be reactive rather than pro-active. （Bamber， M， 2014） This is especially true for English major students in the course of “Integrated English”， a compulsory one taking four semesters. The teaching of each unit is quite fixated， consisting of “warming-up”， global reading， structural analysis， language difficulties and extended language exercises and teachers main goal is to instill language points of the text into the mind of students. This textbook-orientated， teacher-dominated teaching style is often severely criticized as putting total power in the hands of teachers and demonstrating large social distance. （Oxford， 1998） In addition， this “autocratic approach” （Oxford， 1998） preventing students from converting long-accumulated inert knowledge （Larsen-Freeman， 2005） into language competence， which may leads to their sharply declined motivation. Unfortunately， students low motivation may in turn result in “low performance”， and “low motivation” thereafter， forming a vicious circle. The main element of students performance is closely linked with the teacher （his or her personality， commitment to teaching， attention paid to the students， competence， teaching method， style， rapport with students）. Therefore， one way to switch those demotivated students to highly motivated ones for teachers is to change their languages and behaviors in classroom context， especially the interaction with students. This paper， aim to explore how feedback would promote students motivation.

ⅡLiterature Review of motivation

Motivation represents an intensively studied issue in psychology， generating a variety of theories and research over decades. Its importance has been justified by many scholars， as a main determinant in learning a foreign language. Some teachers and students credit the success of language learning to motivation， claiming that the motivation is the difference between success and failure. This paper adopts its definition from a social constructivist approach， believing motivation is derived as much from our interaction with others as it is from ones self-determination. （Williams & Burden， 1997）

Influenced by the work of Wallace Lambert and Robert Gardner， L2 motivation research differentiated its focus from mainstream cognitive theories by analyzing from a social psychological perspective， which has been prolific and fruitful. Then the study in the light of cognitive perspective initiated by D?rnyei in the 1990s revitalized the L2 motivation research， embarking cognitive-situated period. Of course， this stage was characterized by its shift on focus， instead of complete rejection of the social psychological dimension of language learning， which continues today. During this phase， a conceptual distinction of successive stages of the motivational process was clarified in terms of motivation for engagement and motivation during engagement （Williams and Burden， 1997； Ushiodo 1994； D?rnyei and Otto， 2001）. It further gives rise to the process-oriented period， characterized by an interest in motivational change. Now the study of L2 motivation is evolving into the new phase： socio-dynamic phase， defined and shaped by the work of a person-in-context relational view of motivation， （Ushioda， 2009）， the L2 Motivational Self System （D?rnyei， 2005， 2009a） and Motivation from a complex dynamic systems perspective. （D?rnyei， 2009b）

Ⅲ Feedback in Motivational strategies

Much as they want， students are not fully involved in classroom activities. More often than not， they prefer to take notes passively than to participate actively， or answer questions voluntarily. It is then hoped that the findings of motivation research could benefit language teachers in their classroom teaching. Therefore， our study go beyond the mere theories of motivation to the application of its use in classroom. Williams and Burden （1997） once mentioned the teachers effort in generating and enhancing students motivation in their framework of L2 motivation in 1990s. Analyzed in a social constructivist perspective， motivation， was classified into internal factors and external factors. The later ones included significant other-parents， teachers and peers， who may promote or hinder learners motivation through interaction. The reciprocal action was specified as “the nature and amount of feedback， rewards， the nature and amount of appropriate praise， punishments， and sanctions.”（Williams and Burden， 1997） D?rnyei （2001） identified teachers personalities， commitment， competence， and methods as highly influential factors in student motivation， but his work was more process-oriented. He classified these practices into four main dimensions， ranging from creating intrinsic motivation， generating initial motivation， maintaining and protecting motivation， to encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation.

Instead of intuitively presented， the links between teachers motivational strategies and increased students motivation has been empirically tested by Guilloteaux and D?rnyei （2008）. They conducted a large-scale investigation to support the claim that the teachers use of motivational strategies could enhance the students motivation. The students' motivation was measured by a self-report questionnaire and a classroom observation instrument specifically developed for this investigation， the motivation orientation of language teaching （MOLT） For the sake of convenience， their research examines the quality of the teachers overall motivated data， rather than the impact of specific strategies used by a specific teacher. But it still poses difficulties for teacher to take advantages of the finding results for the following three reasons. Firstly， in his investigation， there are all together 35 techniques for teachers， some of which have been woven into curriculum design and textbook materials. However， not all these elements could be in controlled or modified by teachers at their will. Secondly， this research was based on the rather comprehensive motivational strategies， for these 35 key techniques were then broken down into a number of more specific sub-strategies. This extensive techniques would be a heavy burden for teachers to implement， if not a mission impossible. Thirdly， with regard to the data evaluation process， some motivational strategies （like to create a personal relationship with students） are less observable， and thus difficult to be analyzed statistically.

For these reasons， it seems sensible and realistic to begin with a smaller scope of “core” strategies， rather than an indiscriminate application of all strategies. In this regard， it is worth focusing on the impact of specific teaching techniques used by specific teacher in the content of classroom activities. When complementing class activities， the teachers behavior most related to motivational teaching practice is to encourage positive retrospective self-evaluation. To achieve this goal， the teacher should promote students motivational attributions， provide motivational feedback， increasing students satisfaction， and offer rewards and grades in a motivating manner.

Feedback is widely accepted as an interlocutors reaction to a learners non-target-like utterance and is a source of negative evidence for the learner. It may take many forms. According to Brophy and Good， feedback includes informational feedback， which comments on progress and competence， and controlling feedback， which judges performance against external standards （Brophy and Good， 1986）. Gauged by Self System， the former should be dominant since it help students understand the distance between their current performance and desired one in achieving goals.

Feedback can also be classified based on its nature of explicitness in identifying the error. Implicit feedback does not overtly present the error， taking the form of recasts or clarification requests. Explicit feedback identifies the error by can be realized by giving explicit correction or providing metalinguisitic information.

Effective feedback can also contain a positive persuasive element. Students can be highly motivated if the teacher tells them that they are capable of reaching certain predetermined goals. Students in general experience high efficacy when told they are capable of attaining success by a trustworthy source such as the teacher. A further important component of effective teacher feedback concerns information about how well learners were applying strategies and how strategies use is improving their performance. Various learner strategies help students to attend to tasks， focus on important features， structure ones activity， organize materials and maintain the productive psychological climate of learning.

ⅣConclusion

Motivation concerns human behavior in general， and with human behavior being as complex as it is complex as it is， the number of motivational strategies is rather extensive. The complementation of all these would pose a heavy burden on teachers， if not a mission impossible. Besides， what we need is quality rather than quantity， and some of the most motivating teachers often rely on a few well-selected techniques. Therefore， teachers could start to develop a motivation-sensitive teaching approach by paying particular attention to feedback they give during class. Once techniques have been sufficiently internalized and automated， teachers would certainly help student become a more-motivated learners.

Reference：

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