Enhancing student motivation in the classroom: strategies for educators

ENHANCING STUDENT MOTIVATION IN THE CLASSROOM: STRATEGIES FOR EDUCATORS

Assem Sazanbayeva

Alikhan Bokeikhan BINOM school-lyceum

Student motivation is a key factor in academic success, and as educators, it is essential to create an environment that fosters enthusiasm for learning. Motivated students are more likely to actively engage in lessons, participate in discussions, and excel in their studies. This article explores effective strategies to increase student motivation in the classroom. The aim of this article is to enable teachers of secondary schools to create a motivational classroom environment and recognise the qualities of a motivational teacher and the benefits of having motivated learners in the classroom. It covers classroom strategies to create a motivational atmosphere and the role of feedback in motivation.

Motivation can be defined as a concept used to describe the factors within an individual which arouse, maintain, and channel behaviour towards a goal. Another way to say this is that motivation is goal-directed behaviour [1]. Teachers play a vital role in increasing students learning through motivational support. Let us consider the qualities of a motivational teacher. Think about your best teacher from your school days:

What was your teacher's name?

What did you like about them?

What were their classes like?

What did you learn from them?

How did you feel in the classroom?

Why do you think learning with them was successful?

Now think about your worst teacher: What didn't you like about their classes?

What didn't you like about them?

How did you feel in this teacher's classroom?

What were the main differences between the two teachers you just thought about?

It's likely that the person you identified in the first section as your best teacher is someone who was enthusiastic and able to motivate the class. Effective teachers know and love their subjects, and their enthusiasm is contagious. They love Learning, and they are not afraid to admit they do not know all the answers. They encourage students to question constantly, to search for answers, and to learn for the pure joy of learning [2]. It helps to think about these and other qualities, to better understand what's useful in your teaching.

Three types of quality of a motivational teaching are: skills, attitude, and knowledge.

Skills in teaching encompass the teacher's capacity to employ specific techniques within the classroom. This involves providing ample support to learners, employing diverse materials and methods to enhance lesson engagement, adjusting the lesson pace as needed, and maintaining discipline and order.

Attitude pertains to how teachers express their emotions in the classroom, with examples such as showing interest in learners as individuals, understanding their unique needs, being patient and encouraging, and fostering a friendly and helpful demeanor towards colleagues.

Knowledge pertains to the teacher's grasp of their subject and its application in the classroom. This includes understanding challenges related to learners' first language, adeptly responding to language-related queries from students, providing clear explanations, and staying current with the latest developments in the field.

There are many simple ways to making learners want to participate and interact with each other can create a motivational atmosphere in your class. If they're curious to find out about each other, then there's a natural motivation to participate and use more language.

In-class techniques for increasing motivation in the classroom:

Know the learners' names – to show you know and value them.

Ask learners for answers if they don't normally respond or put their hand up – to encourage participation.

Tell learners what they'll be learning at the start of each lesson – so they know what to expect.

Establish class rules and routines that learners agree with – to create a secure environment.

Assign seats for learners -to show straight away who they’re working with.

Put learners in new groups regularly -to provide variation.

It can be very effective to write a brief lesson plan, or a 'class menu', in one corner of the board so that learners can see what they'll be doing right from the start of a lesson. If done regularly, they'll begin to expect it and look for it as they come into your class.

Throughout the class you can tick off what you've done and show learners what they've achieved. If the order of some of the things is flexible, you can make it a menu by pointing to it and asking learners what they'd like to do next.

Looking through the syllabus or curriculum with learners at the start of the course shows them what's coming up over a series of lessons. This can motivate learners to find out about topics that they're going to study. They might become interested in them before they get to those classes.

Make sure you show learners what's going to happen in future lessons. If they start talking about a topic that you're going to cover in a later class, for example, let them know so that when you come to it you can use the previous motivation for that topic.