Discrepancies between Rural Students’ and English Teachers’ Perceptions of Motivational Strategies
ABSTRACT
This study examines the differences between first-year junior high school students from rural areas and their English teachers regarding beliefs about the importance of motivational strategies and perceptions concerning frequency of use. Eighty-nine students and their three English teachers from a rural junior high school located in central Taiwan participated in this survey. The study employed the same sets of questionnaires for both students and teachers. The questionnaires were designed to elicit the importance of 28 motivational strategies and the frequency teachers use each motivational strategy. Descriptive statistics was performed to report the mean values of students’ and teachers’ preference and frequency for motivational strategies. The results indicate that these rural students and their teachers had different perceptions of the ten domains of motivational macrostrategies, elaborated in Dörnyei and Csizér’s survey. The results also show that the rural students are fond of learning in a pleasant environment, whereas teachers consider recognizing students’ effort as the priority. Concerning frequency, students and teachers had similar perceptions of the motivational macrostrategies teachers used. Findings also reveal that strategies regarded as important are underutilized in the classroom, though there seems to be a slight difference between what teachers believe and what they actually do. This casestudy suggests a necessity for flexible curriculum to include environmental features for rural school students. Teacher training and related support are also needed for rural school teachers to promote student motivation. More implications and suggestions for motivating learning are articulated in this study for the rural EFL teaching and learning contex.
KEYWORDS
Rural High School, EFL, Student Motivation, Motivational Strategies