https://splice.gopro.com/v?id=DPeMxr
Mrs. Nossa, my interviewee is very unique because she has been an ESL teacher in both Columbia and America. In my interview with
Mrs. Nossa, I found it interesting that in her experience most of her ELL students struggle the
most with vocabulary in both academic and social situations. “Language teachers
across institutions all over the world hotly debate whether students in their
classrooms need to be directly taught grammar and vocabulary in order to get
the basic building blocks of a language first, or whether it is better to
somehow approximate in their classroom the richness of natural language
meaning-making processes” (Ortega, 2013, p. 8). Mrs. Nossa uses both methods because she teaches the
students regularly and then pauses to teach them the new vocabulary words only
when they ask. This shows that she takes both approaches to teaching the
vocabulary because she does it in a natural setting by allowing them to just
listen and learn, and also directly teaches new words when the students ask. I
think using both methods is the most beneficial. When asked why her ELL
students want to learn English, it sounded like she was describing
intrinsic motivation. "The more individuals wish to learn a language
because it is interesting and enjoyable, and because the activity has value to
them personally, the more they are likely to learn the language because
they wish to have interactions with members’ of the L2 community " (Ortega,
2013, p. 178). This shows to be true in Mrs. Nossa’s class because she says
that her ELL students are motivated to learn English because they want to fit
in with their peers and be able to communicate with them. She says she has not
seen a motivation to want to succeed in school or communicate with the teacher
until later on in the school year. She says their main motivation at this time
of the year seems to just be to talk and connect with peers because that is a
natural human instinct. This is why her students are succeeding, because they
have a motivation that gives them persistence to keep trying despite the
challenges they face throughout the day.
Hey Tori,
ReplyDeleteI think intrinsic motivation is exactly what ELL students have! They want to be able to understand their L2 so that they can interact in school and speak to their peers. “When individuals engage in behavior that they understand as self-initiated by choice and largely sustained by inherent enjoyment in the activity (that is, as an end in itself, for the sheer sake of learning), they are said to be intrinsically motivated” (Ortega, 2013, p. 176). Although ELL students have their teachers trying to motivate them to learn the L2 it’s the student’s internal motivation that really kicks in for these students. “Without contact, they cannot form strong attitudes towards L2 speakers or harbor intense desires of integrating or being ‘like them’. He reasoned that, at least in the beginning stages of L2 learning, instrumental types of orientation (wanting a good grade, passing university entrance exams, and so on) and classroom attitudes (towards the teacher, curriculum, materials, and so on) may influence the motivation of foreign language learners more heavily” (Ortega, 2013, p. 178). With that being said, I strongly agree with you and your interviewee, ELL students have a great amount of intrinsic motivation.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hello Rachel, I am glad you brought up ELLs motivation to learn their L2. In your comment I noticed you included a quote from Ortega about ELLs wanting to be like the L2 community. Gass and Selinker refer to this as integration, “Which refers to an individual’s disposition toward the L2 group and the extent to which he or she desires to interact with and even become similar to that group,” (Gass and Selinker, 2008, p. 426). This desire would be apart of their intrinsic motivation because they are motivated by an internal desire for something that will make them feel included and accepted in the L2 community. My interviewee told me that this is what her ELLs desire from early on in the year. They want to connect with their peer more so than the school and their teacher.
DeleteHi Tori,
DeleteI think that social interaction is a great way to learn a new language! This teaches them social norms that they can’t gain from just sitting in an ESL class. Even though being in that class is important, they won’t learn those little things that they would in a classroom compared to that through social interaction. These ELLs acquire their L2 from “fostering general friendships with members of the target language” (Ortega, 2013, p. 173). Once they have the desire to fit in, their intrinsic motivation grows. They are intrinsically motivated because they want to fit into the social norm and make friends who speak their target language.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hello, Rachel. You made some great assertions about motivation. Integrative motivation being more so intrinsic, feeding a want to integrate into the L2 community. While tangible rewards, like grades and jobs, are causes of extrinsic motivation. This process of determining and claiming motivators is defined by Gass and Selinker (2009) as the preactional stage. “This is the stage during which motivation is generated. This leads to the selection of the goal that will be pursued” (p. 429). Regardless of the goals of L2 learning, it is important for students to stay positive about learning and not neglect the importance and skills of their L1.
DeleteGass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2009). Second language acquisition: An introductory course. New York: Routledge.
Audrey,
DeleteWhile I agree with you that intrinsic motivation is important, I do believe that extrinsic motivation is also important too. While we do have students who do have intrinsic motivation to do better and learn what they should learn, we should also have in mind that not every child is the same. For example, in my classroom I have many students who have the intrinsic motivation to learn and do better, but then I have those who do not have that intrinsic motivation so we have extrinsic motivators for them to want to do better and learn. I believe that both equally play a role in learning and especially learning a new language.
Hey Audrey,
DeleteI completely agree that students must stay positive and on top of their L1 and L2. This is why motivation is so important, so these students can stay on top of all that! I like the quote you used by Gass about where motivation comes from. Students must see the importance of learning their L2 and have that drive to want to learn it in order to reach the preactional stage. As teachers, we must ensure our students reach this stage, so they can be motivated to learn their L2.
Hi Tori,
ReplyDeleteI think of integrativeness, which “is an attitude defined as ‘a genuine interest in learning the second language in order to come closer to the other language community” when your teacher said that her ELL students are motivated to learn English because they want to fit in (Ortega, 2013, p 170). I do think that fitting in is a strong investment in most ELL students, but I also think that there other desires for they are motivated. The ELL students that I have interacted with have a strong work ethic and they tend to strive for success so that their parents can be proud of them. Ortega mentions that there are 3 dimensions of which motivation is quantified: effort, enjoyment, and investment (Ortega, 2013, p169). Of those three, I think that investment is usually the one that is easily identifiable and occurs regularly.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hello Lam,
DeleteYou mentioned that along with ELL students wanting to fit in, you also notice that they have a strong work ethic. I agree with you that they want to make their parents proud as part of their extrinsic motivation. I also believe they have a strong work ethic due to being intrinsically motivated as well. According to Ortega (2013), “When individuals engage in behaviour that they understand as self-initiated by choice and largely sustained by inherent enjoyment in the activity (that is, as an end in itself, for the sheer sake of learning), they are said to be intrinsically motivated” (p. 176). I believe ELLs make their parents proud by succeeding in school and they succeed in school because they do their homework and study because they want to learn the new language! ELLs typically score higher on state exams as well due to this intrinsic motivation of being engaged in their learning and choosing to do the work necessary to learn.
Hey Tori, thanks for responding to my comment. I agree that intrinsically motivate, not just ELL, students do well. Intrinsic “motivation is considered optimal because it has been experimentally shown to be consistently associated to higher levels of achievement” (Ortega, 2013, p 176). Aside from making parents proud, ELL students also feel the need to assimilate to their community, because they need to communicate their wants and needs, as well as make friends. Thanks for your time!
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Tori,
ReplyDeleteIt is evident that Mrs. Nossa does her very best to ensure her students are intrinsically motivated. Ortega states, “When individuals engage in behavior that they understand as self-initiated by choice and largely sustained by inherent enjoyment in the activity (that is an end in itself, for the sheer sake of learning), they are said to be intrinsically motivated” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 176). As an ESL teacher, it is important to extrinsically motivate your students, but even more important to ensure they are intrinsically motivated. Students may be working to fulfill a grade requirement, but later in life may not be able to apply it to real world situations. Learning a second language must feel meaningful to the students in some compacity or they will retain little information.
Thank you for sharing! I enjoyed watching your video!
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Hey Melissa! I had an interesting time reading your comment, because even though I know that extrinsic motivation is important I always put that second to intrinsic motivation. Ortega would agree, seeing as how she states extrinsic motivation is “is a less ideal quality of motivation that is associated with externally regulated actions” (Ortega, 2013, p176). Extrinsic motivation has a ‘end,’ and can cause demotivation and make students discouraged to keep going. Thanks for such an interesting turn to thinking.
DeleteOrtega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.