Ulrike Bavendiek: Changes in the Learning Situation and their Impact on the Motivational Profiles of First-Year University Students

Learning and Teaching Conference23 June 2009

The Impact of Changes in the Learning Situation on the Motivational Profiles of

First-Year University Students

Ulrike BavendiekSchool of Cultures, Languages and Area

Studies

• Language learners progress less in their first year at university than before or after. (Coleman 1996)

• Some students are not well prepared to benefit from independent learning opportunities in university (Bavendiek 2006)

Motivation

• In language learning, motivation involves the ‘attitudes and affective states that influence the degree of effort that learners make to learn an L2’ (Ellis 1997:75)

Motivation is• a multidimensional construct. (Reductionist

models of motivation)• influenced by a broad range of variables

(Dörnyei 2005; Ushioda 2001)• dynamic (Dörnyei and Otto 2000; Dörnyei 2005

for an overview; Ushioda 1996; Ushioda 2001)• affected by, among other factors, the learning

situation (Shoaib and Dörnyei 2005)• open to intervention

The investigation aims to• explore the changes experienced by language

learners through the transition from school to university

• describe how the identified changes affect selected motivational factors

Research design and methodology

• exploratory study, focusing on the qualitative aspects of motivation

• based on self-report data collected through in-depth, semi-structured, constructionist interviews (Silverman 2001:95)

• pilot study and main study

Research question (pilot study)

What changes and challenges do the students perceive after the transition from school to university? (report: http://www.llas.ac.uk/projects/2631)

The pilot study• In-depth interviews with 6 students at the end of

their first year in the Modern Languages department.

• The students were selected based on programmes of study and first-semester language marks.

• All interviews were transcribed.• A change was recorded each time the

interviewee introduced it as a topic in the conversation.

• The changes were grouped under key points and their total number of occurrences noted.

Results of the pilot study Ilearning content teaching processes

and activitiesaffective social

amount of learning 7 different teaching style and learning activities 7

peer group (competition) 8

living away from home 6

literary, historical and linguistic content 6

required amount of independent learning 4

feeling of guilt / not working hard enough 7

teacher-student relationship 5

need to set priorities 3 lack of encouragement to participate 4

degree of ‘mollycoddling’ 5

motivation of peers/other learners 3

difficulty of topics in language classes 2

(lack of) direction for independent learning 3

self-discipline 4 balancing interesting social life and studies 3

lack of relevance of topics 1

number of contact hours 3

experience (not) meeting expectations 4

parents don’t help with time management 1

not prepared, e.g. for learning grammar 1

feedback and guidance 3

atmosphere in classes 3

assessment (essays) 2 self-determination 3

learning based on note taking 1

lack of external pressure 2

relevance of activities 1 lack of practice (confidence) 1

class sizes 1

Results of the pilot study IIlearning content teaching processes

and activitiesaffective social

amount of learning 7 different teaching style and learning activities 7

peer group (competition) 8

living away from home 6

literary, historical and linguistic content 6

required amount of independent learning 4

feeling of guilt / not working hard enough 7

teacher-student relationship 5

need to set priorities 3 lack of encouragement to participate 4

degree of ‘mollycoddling’ 5

motivation of peers/other learners 3

difficulty of topics in language classes 2

(lack of) direction for independent learning 3

self-discipline 4 balancing interesting social life and studies 3

lack of relevance of topics 1

number of contact hours 3

experience (not) meeting expectations 4

parents don’t help with time management 1

not prepared, e.g. for learning grammar 1

feedback and guidance 3

atmosphere in classes 3

assessment (essays) 2 self-determination 3

learning based on note taking 1

lack of external pressure 2

relevance of activities 1 lack of practice (confidence) 1

class sizes 1

Results of the pilot study III• The highest number of changes and challenges

is reported on the affective level.• Three main areas of change:

learner independence (need for cognitive, metacognitive and affective/social language learning strategies)

learner confidence teacher-student relationship

The main study

16 variables were selected which have the potential to

• influence language learner motivation and to• be influenced by the changes identified in the

pilot study.

Research questions (main study)

• What impact do the changes have on the selected motivational factors/variables?

• Does the motivational force of each variable increase or decrease after the transition?

The main study II

• Two in-depth, semi-structured interviews each with eight randomly chosen British home students

• One interview at the beginning of their university studies and one after the first semester

• Rank order questionnaires for the motivational factors in both interviews, discussed during the interviews

For your day-to-day motivation to learn the language in University, how important are the individual factors listed below? Please rank them by writing a number from 1-16 behind them, with 1 = most important and 16 = not important.

• The lecturers are very strict ___• Good lecturer / good relationship to the lecturer ___• My parents encourage me ___• My friends encourage me ___• Language classes are more stimulating than other classes. ___• We are set a lot of work ___• I enjoy learning the language independently, i.e. doing work that is not set by the

teacher ___• I enjoy learning the language/languages ___• I am good at learning the language/languages ___• I want to be able to use the language/s fluently and efficiently ___• I am happy/satisfied when I receive good marks ___• I like the target language country/countries and its speakers ___• I need a good mark ___• I want to keep up with or be better than the other students ___• I don’t want to disappoint my parents ___• I don’t want to disappoint my teachers ___

The main study III• The interviews were recorded and transcribed.• The data was grouped according to individual

variables.• The data was analysed regarding the impact of

the change on each individual motivational factor.

Results

The three variables with the strongest motivational force:

1. enjoyed / enjoy language learning2. Wish to be able to use the language fluently and

efficiently3. Good at learning languages

The variables most affected by change are:

1. Good teacher / relationship to teacher

(Loss of motivational force)• They [the teachers] knew you as people and they knew

what you were all about'. (2:4, ranks 3-9)• In school and college my teachers were very supportive

and very nice and friendly and… - but however, because you've got a good relationship, if you've done something wrong, if you haven’t handed your homework in, you felt a bit guilty because you got on with them so […] it would make you do better the next time, really. (2:1, ranks 3-8)

1. Good teacher / relationship to teacher II

• I think because it's your responsibility to learn more now, because then it was the teacher's responsibility to make sure you learn whereas now it's your own choice. (3:8, ranks 2-7)

• It is a lot about independent learning at university. […] It is also, I don't have my parents here, so I don't need a lot of mothering any more. I'm very much on my own. (3:1, ranks 3-8)

1. Good teacher / relationship to teacher III

(Gain in motivational force)It was a good teacher [in school], but she was absent a lot

of the time, so we had a lot of substitute teachers which I found quite difficult. […] I didn't like the inconsistency of not knowing who was teaching me. The fact that we would dart from one topic to another without any structure. (2:2, ranks 10-8)

2. Strict teacher

(Loss of motivational force)• Yes, I think that was important, because this is probably

one of the main reasons why I'm doing this. Because of my teacher, she was extremely strict, which is also a reason why I got a high A*. [...] Retrospect I suppose it made us work hard and we learned more. I think another teacher would have been more laid back and not put as much effort in. But I learned a lot. It was all I did I did to the best of my abilities. That way I realised how much I could do in this subject. (2:3, ranking 2-15)

2. Strict teacher II• That [the change] has a lot to do with the situation

changing. Because the lecturers here aren't particularly strict.

[I: So what happens if you don't do the work?] Not much, really.

[I: Would you be more motivated if it had more of a consequence?] I think so, yes. It would be more, just to sit down and do something. (3:3, ranking 2-15)

2. Strict teacher III

(Gain in motivational force)• And although I can motivate myself, obviously you lose

interest and you lose motivation if the teachers aren't strict with the deadlines. Because there is no point in doing it, if they don't take it in and mark it and give it back. It was not worth the effort. (2:4, ranking 9-7)

• So I think if it's set, like written down helps a lot, but if they directly say 'you've got to do this for that, you've got to be prepared by this day', I would definitely follow that rather than choose to do it. (3:4, ranking 9-7)

3. Enjoy/ed independent language learning

(Gain in motivational force)• I think if you are motivated enough to learning outside of

what you're supposed to, then I think that's when it will help you more [...]. It's kind of proof that you want to do it, because you are learning outside, when you're not told to. So I think that is when you improve the most as well. (3:8, ranking 8-5)

Bibliography• Bavendiek, U. (2006) Portfolios and Learner Autonomy:

the case of undergraduates learning German Unpublished PhD Thesis, The University of Liverpool.

• Coleman, J. A. (1996) Studying Languages: A Survey of British and European Students London: CiLT.

• Dörnyei, Z. (2005) The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition Mahway, N.J.: Erlbaum.

• Dörnyei, Z. and K. Csizér (2002) 'Some dynamics of language attitude and motivation: results of a longitudinal nationwide survey' Applied Linguistics 23:421-462.

• Dörnyei, Z. and R. Schmidt (eds) (2001) Motivation and Second Language Acquisition. Honululu: University of Hawai'i Press.

• Dörnyei, Z. and I. Otto (2000) Motivation in Action: A Process Model of L2 motivation CiLT Research Forum Motivation in Language Learning. Lingu@NET. <http://www.cilt.org.uk/research/resfor3/dornyei.htm> (last accessed 22 April 2006).

• Ellis, R. (1997) Second Language Acquisition Oxford: OUP.

• Shoaib, A. and Z. Dörnyei (2005) ‘Affect in life-long learning: Exploring L2 motivation as a dynamic process’ in Benson, P. and D. Nunan (eds) Learners’ Stories: Difference and Diversity in Language Learning Cambridge: CUP.

• Silverman, D. (2001) Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction Second edition London: Sage Publications.

• Ushioda, E. (1996) The Role of Motivation Dublin: Authentik.

• Ushioda, E. (2001) 'Language learning at university: exploring the role of motivational thinking' in: Dörnyei, Z and R. Schmidt (eds) Motivation and Second Language Acquisition. Honululu: University of Hawai'i Press.