Autonomy in studying
"Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education."
Autonomy in studying
-- Bertrand Russell (Mathematician/ Philosopher)
"Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire."
-- William B. Yeats (Poet)\
"A liberal education... Frees a man from the prison-house of his class, race, time, place, background, family and even his nation."
-- Robert M. Hutchins (Educator)
"The aim of education is to enable individuals to continue their education. The object and repaymen of studying is continued capacity for growth."
-- John Dewey (Philosopher/ Educator)
Abstract
The purpose of this article is to provide the foreign language (Fl) instructors with assorted productive methods on how to motivate their students, engage them in studying and originate an enjoyable classroom environment in which every pupil can effect and achieve higher proficiency. The paper is framed with the Self measurement system (Sdt) and its implementation in the Fl classroom (Deci& Ryan 2002). Recommendations will be provided to the Fl teachers on how to withhold the students' three psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness (Connell& Wellborn 1991), in order to originate enjoyable and relaxed classroom environment that can withhold the students' studying and promote the top level of academic achievement in Fl instruction.
The point of teaching culture and using authentic materials in teaching Arabic as a foreign language (Afl) will be discussed wholly within this paper. The" Ten Commandments for motivating language learners" (Dornyei & Csizer, 1998, p. 215), and the disagreement in the middle of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Fisher 1978) will be discussed. I will give a specific example of how implementing Sdt motivated the students of class# 108 and helped them to effect and achieve higher proficiency levels in Afl education at Me Ii at the Defense Language develop (Dli).
Introduction
The word motivation is derived from the Latin verb "movere" which suggests the idea of movement. Motivation is something that keeps us entertaining and helps us to complete tasks according to Pintrich and Schunk (2002). according to Ryan and Deci (2000), to be motivated means to be moved to do something. Motivation plays a crucial role in the students' learning. It can lead students to growth their effort and energy to learn and to heighten their performance. It also leads students to be persistent and take initiatives. Many educators agree that motivating the foreign language (Fl) learners is extremely significant and significant in the studying process. Many studies found that there is a strong direct correlation in the middle of motivation and academic achievement. From my contact as a Fl instructor, I've found that a great deal of the students' success in studying the language is due the motivational strategies adopted by the instructors not the teaching strategies. I believe that all Fl instructors should take motivation in their consideration when they instruct and when they plan for instruction. Throughout this paper, I will discuss distinct methods to motivate Fl learners and engage them in learning. The main focus of this article will be on teaching Arabic as a foreign language (Afl) as it is one of the most needed languages nowadays although it is one of the less ordinarily taught languages (Lctl) in the United States.
Significance of This Article
In January 2006, President Bush introduced the "National safety Language Initiative" aimed at increasing the whole of American students studying foreign languages, particularly "critical need languages" such as Arabic (Taha, 2007). Molloy (2007) indicated that there is a huge shortage and deficiency of Arabic linguists within the Us federal agencies. The federal government invests thousands of dollars in every pupil who is studying Arabic language within 63 weeks of education at the Defense Language develop (Dli); in return to meet the big examine of proficient Arabic linguists who can safe U.S. From terrorism. The Afl agenda is qualified with the newest technologies in the world, such as a tablet Pc and an I-pod provided to each pupil and each educator in increasing to providing each classroom with a smart board, as technology is considered an productive mean of motivating Fl learners. The Dli adopts the most modern educational trends. The Dli are trained on the heist levels and encouraged to pursue their higher educational degrees.
In spite of all the efforts of the allocated to the Afl program, there are still a significant whole of the students who fail to complete the course and are placed to earlier units, drop out or are removed from the program. A significant whole of the students, who complete the agenda successfully, still can't achieve the Dli target of 2+, 2+, and 2, Ilr proficiency levels, on Listening, Reading, and Speaking skills. The median attrition rate at Afl is considerably high compared to other Fl programs. Many findings in the literature attributed the high attrition rate in Fl programs, in general, to the lack of the students' motivation. Motivation has been reported to be an influential factor in the rates of attrition that are experienced within language departments (Joynt, 2008). academic amotivation, the inverse of academic motivation, is a suited and whole question that can contribute to adverse educational results such as dropping out (Frederick, 2009, p. 2). Creating a classroom environment that is enjoyable to students and supports their studying can be entertaining for instructors (Jones, Llacer& Newbill, 2009). I think that writing a paper to address collection of ways to motivate the Afl students would give insights to Afl and other Fl teachers on how to motivate their students and engage them in learning.
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Motivation was identified by many educators and psychologists as extrinsic motivation (Em) and intrinsic motivation (Im). Em occurs when students are compelled to learn because of external factors such as money or grades; Gardner (1985) named it as instrumental orientation in which language learners emphasize job or educational opportunity. Im occurs when students are internally motivated to learn because studying brings them pleasure or because they feel that studying is leading for them; Gardner named it integrative orientation in which language learners emphasize either meeting or conversing with a more diverse group of people, or as a means of good comprehension other citizen and their way of life.
In order to elucidate the disagreement in the middle of the Em and Im, the following examples will be provided on each of them in the field of language learning. The immigrants who flow and start to live in a new society such as the United States are intrinsically motivated to learn English as a second language (Esl) because they feel it is leading for them and it will make them feel competence when communicating with members of the new community. They would like also to feel part of this new community. In this case, English is considered a second language, not foreign language, to immigrants. Some citizen in the Us are intrinsically motivated to learn a Fl because they are planning to travel for vacation or firm trips to the country of their target language or because they are curious in studying more about the citizen of that language and their culture. The Dli students are extrinsically motivated to learn foreign languages for incentives, rank or occupation advancement, or because it is a part of their duty. Learners, in general, are extrinsically motivated to receive good grades in the monthly or final exams, or to avoid failure; especially if failure can cause them any harm such as being removed from the course. I would like to take the occasion to elucidate very briefly, the disagreement in the middle of teaching a foreign language and teaching a second language. A good example of teaching a second language is teaching Esl to the immigrants in the Us and a good example of teaching a foreign language would be teaching Afl to American students at the Dli. The disagreement in the middle of the two cases is that the second language students are more motivated to learn the target language because they have the privilege of using the language they learn at school in the real world outside of school. The Fl learners don't have that occasion of utilizing what they learn with native speakers outside of school in real life.
Extrinsic motivational factors are, in fact, not motivating because they cause anxiety which, in turn, can cause lower proficiency or failure. Al-Aeraini (2004) conducted a illustrated study on 266 students to peruse the association in the middle of motivational factors and language proficiency of learners of Arabic in superior American universities over the Usa. Al-Aeraini found that the Im factors are more motivating than the Em factors and there are relationships in the middle of language proficiency and both the Im and Em factors. Intrinsically motivated students share in activities because they enjoy or become curious in these activities. They also seek out challenges and novelty in studying and increasing their knowledge (Ryan and Deci 2000). In contrast, extrinsically motivated students share in activities to receive grades or because they are afraid of failure.
After pointing out the disagreement in the middle of Em and Im, the examine merged on the outside was which of the two theories of motivation need to be implemented in the classroom to engage the students in studying and to help them achieve higher proficiency, Im or Em. Threatening the students of failure or low grades can't bring good results. In the contrary, it causes anxiety. entertaining activities have to be designed to engage students in learning. Teaching in a welcoming, not threatening, attitude that can originate enjoyable and relaxed class environment can achieve the goal of motivation and, in turn, higher proficiency. The idea of creating a relaxed and enjoyable classroom environment led me to shed the light on the Self measurement system (Sdt).
Motivating Fl Learners Using Sdt
Although there are many theories of motivating Fl learners, researchers have found that autonomy is the most productive system to motivate Fl learners (Deci and Ryan 1985, 1991). It is Deci and Ryan's Sdt that will serve as the theoretical umbrella for this article. Implementing Sdt can motivate the students intrinsically by meeting the students' psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Jones, Llacer, Newbill, 2009). Implementing the Sdt can originate a relaxed classroom environment in which every pupil can heighten and achieve a higher proficiency level in Fl learning. Often connected to the phenomenon of motivation is the area of self-directed learning. In many cases the intrinsically self motivated language pupil is the one who seeks opportunities outside of the classroom to custom his or her skills (Joynt, 2008).
The teachers can withhold the students' autonomy by reducing the teachers' control, holding the students accountable and responsible for their own studying and giving the students the freedom of choice over the classroom activities and materials that meet the students' needs, preferences and studying styles in order to help all students with all distinct studying styles and preferences to effect (Jones, 2009). Supporting the students' competence is achieved by providing the students with productive delineate before tests, with clear and productive feedback, and with entertaining tasks that are thorough to the students' level and that can meet the students' psychological needs for competence. Supporting the students' relatedness is carried out by creating an interactive, enjoyable and relaxed environment in Fl classrooms (Jones, Llacer, Newbill, 2009).
The Sdt was tested in many fields along with education and proved to be the most productive system of motivation. Unfortunately, some instructors don't accept this system because they prefer to effect the original way of teaching with the educator as the center of education and the only decision taker. In my opinion, if we've kept teaching the students on our way and they are still not learning, we can try to give them more freedom to learn the way they believe it works for them. Off course, this doesn't mean that we will stop teaching, instructing or give guidance. I will elucidate more about this point later in this article when I talk about my classroom. Supporting the students' autonomy will help these students to acquire, also the language, the studying skills and strategies that will help them to effect in the course and become self independent after completing the course. One of the responsibilities of the Students studying center (Slc) at the Dli is meeting with the students upon graduation to teach them how to become self independent learners and continue studying the target language. Slc equip the students with the significant strategies and website that can withhold the students' studying autonomy. I recommend strongly bridging in the middle of the students studying center (Slc) and the classroom teachers. This will help the teachers to identify the point of supporting the students' autonomy throughout the course by helping the students to develop their studying skills that would help them to become lifelong learners of the target language. I've used the term "autonomy" as an equivalent for all the sides of the "Sdt" as autonomy is the center of this theory.
Motivating Fl Learners Using Authentic Materials and Culture
Culture plays an leading role in language learning. The 2007 article from the contemporary Language association (Mla) recommended that the goal of Fl education should be trans-lingual and trans-cultural competence. The article highlighted the point of both the cultural knowledge and linguistic competence to understand citizen and their communities.
Hussein Ali (2006) believed that seeing out the orientations (initial motivation) of the Afl learners is very helpful and significant for teachers, material designers, and agenda coordinators. according to Hussein Ali, orientation is the reckon for studying a Fl and motivation is a aggregate of effort plus desire to achieve the goals of studying the language plus convenient attitudes towards studying the language. It is leading to think of the orientations as a prerequisite for motivation. Activating the preliminary motivation prior to studying the language makes the students responsible for their own learning.
Hussein Ali conducted a quantitative study study to study the preliminary motivation (orientation) of the Arabic language learners. The study was conducted on 120 students who enrolled in first and second year of Afl. The students were divided into two groups according to their heritage background. One group included the students of Arab and Muslim heritage backgrounds and the second group included the students of all the other heritage backgrounds. The results indicated that the Afl learners have three distinct orientations: instrumental orientations, identification orientations and travel and culture orientations. The study found that there are significant differences in the middle of heritage and non-heritage learners on instrumental and identification orientation. These results gave suggestions for course offerings, classroom instructions, holding and maintaining the students' motivation throughout the course. It was recommend that teaching the students about the Arabic culture from the first day or before the first day of education would motivate the students to learn the language. In addition, many educators agree that culture is one of the tools to understand the language. My suggestion is teaching the students something about culture before they start studying the language.
Joynt (2008) conducted a qualitative study that aimed to gift the students' beliefs about the role that culture plays in language studying and to understand the students' responses towards the use of authentic multi-media materials. The study presented a relation in the middle of authentic multi-media materials and motivation based on Ryan and Deci's Sdt (2000). Based on the results of the study, the authentic multi-media materials have a great impact on the students' cultural knowledge and their whole language studying experience. The results of the study recommend the point of using authentic materials in the early stages of education (Joynt, 2008).
Culture and authentic multi-media materials need to be incorporated in any Afl program. The deficiency in Afl textbook at the Dli, in my opinion, is that it doesn't introduce the students to anything about the Arabic culture before Unit four, 5 months at least, of the beginning of the course. The role of the instructors is to merge authentic multi-media materials and Arabic culture from the first day of the program. A greater emphasis should be given to cultural knowledge in the beginning of the course (Joynt 2008).I recommend surrounding the students, since day one of the program, with pictures, real conversations, video clips from distinct Arabic sublime cities and capitals. I believe that doing so would motivate the students to persist in studying Arabic.
Looking at distinct Fl text books, I've found that most of them introduce culture and authentic materials from the first page. For example when I studied French as a second language at the high
school, the first picture was Eiffel Tower and the first dialogue was in the middle of a tourist who is visiting France and a guide who is showing the places of interest in France.
One day, I had a argument with my colleagues at Me2 about motivating the students using authentic multimedia materials and teaching about Arabic cultures. Some teachers said although there are no authentic materials or any mention about the Arabic culture through the first few units, they let their students listen to Al-Jazeera for 15 minutes in the morning beginning from day one. Well, there is nothing wrong with that but this is not the perfect clarification for a whole of reasons. The first reckon is that 15 minutes exposure to authentic materials per day is not enough time. Second. Al-Jazeera focuses on reporting and analyzing news which is considered the proficiency levels 2 and 3 according to the Ilr, which is not thorough to the students' level while semester one. Third, the news reports focuses on clear topics that might not be entertaining to every student. The students, in fact, need to watch videos of the group patterns of daily living of the target language. These videos are what I mean by authentic materials because they motivate the students to learn the language and enrich their cultural knowledge. In my opinion, students should watch authentic movies, real life situations, advertisements, television shows and real conversations among native speakers. The multi-sensory input generated by examples of authentic, native speech combined with the visual imagery of gestures and facial expressions typical of real-life communication are entertaining and motivating to learners which, in turn, facilitates students' comprehension of the language used (Ishihara & Chi, 2004). I believe that giving the students the occasion to watch these kinds of authentic materials, not just the reporting facts, at least one class session every day, would motivate the students intrinsically and engage them in studying the language.
We have a great occasion now at the Dli with one tablet Pc for every student. This luxury will give the occasion for each pupil to watch and listen to the topics of interest to each of them. In my classroom, I am keen to allow my students one of the afternoon sessions on daily basis for free study or study to expose the students to the authentic materials and Arabic culture. The students are provided with a list of websites and instructed to write reflections on what they watched while the free study hour. I would like to elucidate something here. Free hour doesn't mean free of the teachers' advice or help. It is free of the teachers' control over education and over the choices of the teaching materials. Off course, the students can do that by themselves at home but having this session at school, close to the help and advice of native teachers will be more effective. The students will benefit from the teachers guidance, experience, knowledge of the culture and language. Reflecting on what the students watch and receiving feedback from the teachers will add more benefit to this free hour. This session will also meet the students' need for autonomy. Encouraging the students to be autonomous learners from the first day in the course will be beneficial for them in the future because they will learn how to be lifelong learners of Arabic language. The free session will also give each pupil the occasion to work at his or her own pace and according to their own studying strategies if they have ones; and to develop new studying strategies and skills with the scaffolding of teachers. In addition, my students are encouraged to take over the materials and activities provided by the teachers. My suggestion is simply to provide the students with distinct activities, distinct role plays for instance, and ask them to do the one that matches their interest, preference or studying style. Psychologically, once the students choose the activity, material, or the task, they will be obligated to complete it, simply, because they've chosen to do so. This will promote accountability and the sense of autonomy in the students.
Before I shift to someone else point of my paper, I would like to summarize that increasing the Fl students' knowledge about the target culture via authentic multi-media materials would motivate the students intrinsically. And, giving the students the freedom of choice over the classroom activities and teaching materials will motivate the students intrinsically by meeting the students' psychological needs for autonomy and will help them developing studying strategies and skills that will help to achieve higher proficiency rates and become self directed learners, and in turns, lifelong learners. All those plans mentioned above were used with class# 108 graduated in February 2009 with 100% success rate. What made me believe that those strategies could be flourishing is that the students of that class praised those strategies in the end of course questionnaire and indicated that they succeeded due to those strategies. This convinced me to adopt the Sdt with my current team (809) that will graduate in June 2010.
Using Technology in Fl Classroom
Using technology in the classroom is in accordance with Sdt because it allows each pupil to work at his or her own pace and gives more freedom over choosing the material of interest. Using technology in teaching Fl, in general, motivates the learners, engages them in studying and helps them to be autonomous learners who take the lead of their own learning. Klassen and Milton (1999) conducted a mixed recipe study study to rate the effectiveness of a multimedia-based English language program. The results of the study study indicated that the students who completed the course using the multimedia mode achieved significant revision in listening skills compared to those who completed the course using the original classroom mode. The results of Klassen and Milton's study demonstrated clear attitudinal changes for the students who completed the course in a multimedia-enhanced mode of learning. I think that kind of attitudinal convert is certainly needed in the Afl programs. someone else effect of using multimedia in teaching languages, according to Klassen and Milton, is that the classroom became more students' studying center and the role of the educator became more facilitator than a center of the classroom instruction. The students became more responsible for their own studying and they were able to conduct their own time. The students chose when and how often to take breaks.
The Afl programs are in a strong need for educational software and games to motivate the students to learn the language. One of the good software we have at the Dli is "Tell Me More". I encourage every Arabic educator to instruct every pupil to use it, especially in semester one. Unfortunately, it is ready only on the classroom computer not on the personal tablet computer so my students used to take turns to use the classroom computer to learn with this entertaining and productive software. Shaalan (2005) described the amelioration of similar and productive software that is used in studying Afl. The software is called entertaining Computer Assisted Language studying system for Arabic Learners (Icall). The use of techniques, in studying Arabic language named Natural Language Processing (Nlp), was explored in Shaalan's study. The techniques motivated the students intrinsically by encouraging them to furnish language in assorted situations.
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