ISBN: 978-607-9136-88-8

“How can the teacher’s selection of materials motivate or demotivate

students?”

Citlaly Alejandra Ontiveros Vazquez

Margarita del Rosario Sandoval Vazquez
NormaCecilia Guzman Guzman

UNIVERSIDAD JUAREZ DEL ESTADO DE DURANGO

INTRODUCTION
The researchers have noticed that some English teachers do not prepare their classes
according to students´ needs and wants when teaching a second language. It is essential to
mention that some educators do not take into consideration the students´ characteristics
when adapting materials that they are going to employ. Students´ characteristics that have
to be taken into consideration are: students´ background likes and dislikes types of learning
and other similar characteristics. Due to this situation, the question that was chosen to
research was “How can the teacher’s selection of materials motivate or demotivate
students?” In certain cases some teachers who work with teenagers do not use the correct
material to engage pupils to learn the target language. The only resource for the class is the
course book or in many cases the use of webpages which are not interesting for learners and
as a result they lose their interest to learn, improve the skills and be able to communicate.

LITERATURE REVIEW
The aim of each language teachers is to engage students into the language and encourage
them to work hard in order to reach teachers and students expectations. Teachers must
identify the needs and wants of pupils. Motivation plays an important role in the classroom
and is influenced by many factors during the process of language learning. In this section
we will provide general factors concerned with motivating or demotivating students during
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the process of learning a second language. As well as explaining the meaning of motivation
and covering the most important aspects of it, which includes the types of motivation
(intrinsic and extrinsic).In order to develop motivation in the classroom it is essential to
encourage students to do quality work, learn and behave responsibility. It makes teachers
aware of the importance of adapting materials when teaching. This section contains specific
information helpful to minimize demotivation when learning a second language and the
factors to be considered when adapting materials or when creating material to increase
motivation. Teachers can identify what is helpful when motivating and what affects
students in their learning process. The creation of materials must be based on what makes
students be motivated and interested to learn. In fact educators see motivation as a goal in
which they can develop skills by creating and adapting material useful for students
learning, which includes realia, personalized material according to students´ level. In order
to stimulate the interest of students in the subject matter adapted material and techniques
are employed to achieve the needs and expectations of both teachers and students.
The following concept is an adapted definition of motivation from:
In educational psychology, the definition of what it is to be motivated is quite simple:
“To be motivated is to be moved to do something” (Ryan & Deci, 2000, p. 54).
The factors influencing on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are presented on the chart 1.1
from Abrudan Caciora S. V. (n.d. Motivation in language learning pp.559 University of
Oradea).

1.1.

Intrinsic Extrinsic

Preference for challenge Reference for easy work

Curiosity/ interest Pleasing a teacher/getting grades

Independent mastery Depending on teacher in figuring out problems.

Independent judgement Reliance on teacher´s judgments about what to do.

Internal criteria for success External criteria for success

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The role of Motivation in the classroom

Motivation is one of the most important factors in the classroom which teachers recognize
as a significant aim or goal on second language teaching According to (Abrudan Caciora
Simona V. (n.d.) pp 559-561). There are many characteristics which influence in order to
engage students when learning a second language such as: personality, attitude of the
learners, the relationship between teacher students, learning styles, motivation and
feedback, the failure syndrome and the rewards to motivate students. In terms of
Personality it refers to students characteristics that can influence on language learning.
Some of them are passive, active, independent, introvert or shy. And some others have self
-confidence. As a result students are confused or afraid to express their own opinions in the
group and motivation helps them to develop in a better way their language learning.

The attitude of the learners is another important factor. Most people think attitude and
motivation are related in language learning. If a student has good attitude during the
language learning process the course and the students´ grades will have better results. The
attitude of students is very important in learning process because includes the educational
factors (educational aspects) and social factors (cultural aspects) which influence in
learning process. This explains why some people learn easily than others in the same
environment with the same resources, because the attitude to learn of each one is different.
However the Relationship between Teacher and Students (T-Ss) or rapport is an
important feature of unconscious human interaction. It plays an important role in the
language learning environment because teacher and students need to have good interaction
in order to make a friendly environment.

Furthermore the Learning styles of each student can differ according to their learning
outcomes. Teachers have to find the way in which student learn in the classroom. Students
should not be force to learn in a specific technique. Motivation and feedback can be
useful to motivate students. Through Academic feedback the student will be motivated to
improve their performance. If the student is intrinsically motivated to learn the language the
teacher will maintain the student engaged. But if the student is extrinsically motivated
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academic feedback is a way to demonstrate the student how important is his development to
the teacher. When the student receives a simple comment from the teacher such as: "good
job", "well done" or just a happy face the student feels motivated to learn because he knows
he is good at it. It is important to give back graded papers for feedback because the student
will know how he is doing and what he needs to improve.

According to (Andmaerh A. E. 1994 (pp.186- 216) The Failure syndrome is when

students tend to quit at early signs of difficulty. The syndrome has tendencies to appear
either in emotional immaturity kids or in adults as a reaction to stress. Most of the time
students think that they cannot do the job or that it is too hard for them. Most children begin
school with enthusiasm, but over time many children find it difficult when they are exposed
to public humiliation, bullying or being judged. Therefore teachers should prevent this kind
of behavior by making the students comfortable and engaging them to learn. Additionally
rewarding students in order to engage learners by using prizes such as candy or stickers is
certainly a way to motivate them or is it just a way to recognize students for what they must
do. Educators often mention that a good way to motivate their learners is just by giving
them positive feedback. This way you do not spend your money and you are helping the
students to continue improving their knowledge.

It is very important to identify that motivation can help or affect the learning process. There
are many studies related to how the teachers can motivate or demotivate student
performance. More recently (Hobson (2002) has revealed the most powerful positive and
negative motivators for students. These are the teacher’s attitude and behaviors. The
relevance of the course content and student’s prior interest in the material can motivate
students to learn the language. Consequently the most potent demotivating factor is the
instructor’s negative attitude, behavior and a disorganized course structure. A demotivating
teacher also creates a poor learning environment, a boring or irrelevant course and feed into
student’s prior disinterest in the subject matter. But it is also true that better teaching
generates more rewarding learning experiences, which means more motivation to learn.
Also is important to identify what teachers think about motivation. Most teachers have a
different idea about the term motivation. In this context setting is defined as stimulating
student’s interest (Intrinsic motivation), yet doesn’t seem to be applied in the correct
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manner. Furthermore motivation seems to be a primary goal for teachers to reach as a

personal aim. Therefore learning is “an inside job” but motivating students is the primary
task.

How teachers can promote motivation in the classroom

The teacher is the role model in the classroom, hence he needs to engage students´ interest
in learning and to express enthusiasm when teaching a second language. There are
distinguishing features which each teacher has to take into account to encourage students
when learning another language such as: Appearance, Language use, Materials in ELT,
Authentic, Personalized, Realistic, Appropriate and Purpose. In terms of Appearance, the
teacher has to project responsibility in front of the group because students can acquire a
wrong idea about the relationship between them and they would not consider a Teacher as a
role model. Another important factor is language use. Teachers have to keep in mind that
they could be the only English source that students have, and therefore they should model
the language.

Materials in ELT are very important in the language learning process, because they are
essential to motivate the students learning. Some of them have to be Authentic. This is
when the teacher uses realia (Realistic material) in order to contextualize the language and
make it meaningful for the learner. The personalized material is important when the
teacher needs to make changes on the lesson plan according to the syllabus. In order to
create adaptable material for the students for example creating own worksheets. One of the
most important features which teachers have to keep in mind in language teaching is the
appropriate material for the learners. Because most of the time teachers need to adapt
material according to the age, level, needs and wants in order to design useful material for
them.

In ELT materials is essential have a purpose. There are two kinds of aims personal aim and
sub aims. The personal aim is the teachers´ aims. It is when teachers need to improve some
things as their own goals for example create a friendly environment and another one could
be when teacher provides students more opportunities to speak and practice the target
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language. On the other are sub aims these are the goals that teacher wants that students are
able to do at the end of the class.

Adapting materials in the classroom

There are two kinds of ways to adapt material: consciously or subconsciously. In
educational contexts teachers need to adapt materials to develop and improve the students
learning skills. The material designed has to be developed for a specific context where
students are involved (environment). As a result teachers need to adapt the material either
consciously when using a course book or subconsciously when making changes to the
syllabus. They are many Factors to be considered in the process of adapting materials. First
of all the material must stimulate students´ interest. It should motivate the learner to
perform a better outcome. The teachers need to identify the students´ needs and wants,
because they are tough to take into account when creating material in order to archive the
students´ personal goal and expectations. Moreover the environment in the classroom helps
when defining a material, if you have students who do not get along well, it is important to
create material to promote interaction patterns. Furthermore teachers should consider the
age and level of the students in order to create fulfilling material, which means that it is
useful and interesting for the student. When adapting material teachers must think of the
lesson goals and the material must engage the students. In addition teachers need to think of
the students´ production /efficiency when choosing the correct material.

Techniques to adapt materials

A good teacher is constantly adapting materials because he is taking into account the
students´ needs and wants using some factors such as: such as: activities, text, clear
instructions and some other characteristics which engage students learning. In other words,
they include the requirements that materials need. Furthermore this section contains
important techniques such as: adding, deleting, modifying, simplifying and reordering,
which explain a procedure to adapt material in order to help teachers develop an authentic
and personalized material. First of all adding includes changes which make material more
detailed such as: expanding and extending. Moreover in terms of deleting this includes
subtracting. It means making changes in things that do not have importance in the learning
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process. Also to design the lesson plan easier because learners are not adequately
proficient enough. Modifying is a term which refers to applying any kind of change. It has
two types: rewriting and reordering. Rewriting is to make the material more communicative
and restructuring which applies to classroom management. Simplifying refers to a type of
modification because it includes the instructions (clear and understandable) and
explanations (grammar point). Finally reordering it is the last technique which teachers can
develop in order to make changes on the syllabus for example when teacher write part of
the course book in a different order.

Framework for adapt and create material in ELT Adaptation is essential in second
language teaching. It is an important task that teachers need to develop in order to make
their work more relevant and interesting for the learner
learners.
s. The objectives for adaptation are:
localize, individualize and personalized the materials in order to make them useful for
learners.
ADAPTING MATERIALS

Framework for adaptation from (Donough, J. M.andShaw, C. (2003). Materials and

methods in ELT(2nd.) Adapting Materials, (Chapter 5.1 pg. 73-86.)

Strategies to engage students´ motivation

Some factors could influence with motivating or demotivatin
demotivating
g during the learning process.
First of all teachers have to take into account error correction, because it could motivate or
demotivate students. Teachers need to encourage students to correct their own mistakes in
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order to let students identify their own performance. Additionally homework, punishments
or other sanctions are not good strategies to engage students they get an opposite effect of
motivation.

METHODOLOGY
When learning a second language students might lose the interest to improve their learning
skills because of the teacher’s selection of material, because sometimes the material is not
created according to the learners´ needs and wants. As a result a research was develop
according to the stated question “How can the teacher´s selection of materials motivate or
demotivate students?”. Motivation is an important factor when learning a second language.
Some aspects to take into consideration when motivating students in a second language
learning process are the students’ academic factors such as: students´ background, teacher
knowledge, teacher attitudes in front of the group, the students´ feelings toward the target
language. Also the social factors which include the way people think the use of the
language and beliefs. In order to interact with others, be able to communicate and express
their own ideas.

To gather information in order to answer the stated Quantitative and Qualitative methods
were used. According to (Anderson John D. (2006).
“Qualitative Research is collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data by observing
what people do and say. Whereas, quantitative research refers to counts and measures of
things, qualitative research refers to the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics,
metaphors, symbols, and descriptions of things.”
(Anderson John D. (2006). COE Imperial Superintendent of Schools. Retrieved from
http://www.icoe.org/webfm_send/1936)

The Qualitative method was used because is more concerned with understanding why
people behave as they do: their knowledge and attitudes on the society. Also the
Quantitative method was used because it is based on something that can be expressed
numerically such as: graphs and a chart to compare some features and present the analyzed
results.
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The sample was in an opportunity way because:

It consists of taking the sample from people who are available at the time the study
is carried out and fit the criteria you are looking for. ..

Anonimous (n.d.). Selecting sampling

Retrieved from: http://www.holah.karoo.net/sampling.htm
[Access 6 November 2012]

INSTRUMENTS
The collected data was composed by important gathering instruments such as: two
questionnaires (closed ended questions) which characteristics are:

• The respondent is asked to select from a fixed list of replies

• Responder has to choose any one of the options given or multiple options
• This facilitates coding and helps in quantifying the answer to the questions
• Respondents don’t have to think much and answer within the options given.

Anonimous (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/18132256/Types-of-

Questionnaires [Access 6 November 2012].
The questionnaire was used to understand the type of motivation that students could have
Intrinsic or extrinsic. It was applied into Spanish because students do not understand the
language. This tool is so useful because it allows recognize what students think and believe
in order to get specific information that after was interpreted in graphs question by question
according to the students´ replies. The questionnaire was about 10 yes/no questions. The
second questionnaire was used to identify the students’ needs and wants and it was made of
9 yes/no questions. (Appendix)

Taylor – Powell E. Steele S. (n.d.). Collecting Evaluation Data: Direct observation

Retrieved from: http://learningstore.uwex.edu/pdf/G3658-05.pdf
[Access 6 November 2012]
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Moreover an observation format was created to collect evaluation data and to identify the
teachers and materials role in the classroom. It has 20 observed questions in a liker scale.
Additionally to know the students´ interaction in the classroom an observation format was
used it was about 10 questions also in a like scale (Appendix). To conclude an interview
was used (Appendix). According to Kvale (1996, p. 14) “Interviewing is a way to collect
data as well as to gain knowledge from individuals”. It was useful to obtain information
about what type of material the teacher uses in the classroom, the kind of learning style of
the students and the strategies used by the teacher in order to engage students into the
language.

RESULTS FOR INTRINSIC AND EXTRISIC MOTIVATION

In order to identify the type of motivation that students have when learning a second
language (English). A close questionnaire was applied because was more objective when
collecting data. The following graph projects the results of type of motivation.

TYPE OF MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS

37%
63%

INTRINSIC 63%
EXTRINSIC 37%

1.0 Type of motivation of students (Number of students 30 of 50)

As a result was identified that the 67% of 30 students have intrinsic motivation because
they see their English class as an interesting subject. Also they wish to learn a second
language for their own initiative but they do not have the opportunity to communicate and
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practice the target language in the classroom . The other 33% (11 students) have extrinsic
motivation because most of them are studying English just as another subject in school and
for other reasons not to reach their own goals such as: to please their parents, because they
need to have a good grade, and some other reasons. Also students feel disappointed when
going to their English class, since the teacher does not use material that can be engaging for
them.

NEEDS ANALYSIS RESULTS

One of the most important factors for educators when motivating when teaching a second
language is to identify the students´ needs and wants. To motivate learners is very
important to identify what learners´ like in order to improve their learning skills. Therefore
to identify the role of the material in the classroom a questionnaire was designed. In
addition each question was analyzed and interpreted. It is very important to mention that
the question number 4 was eliminated because a keyword was missing and in order to have
validity was eliminated.

RESULT FROM THE INTERVIEW

The results of the interview identified some relevant factors such as: the teacher has the
knowledge about the language but she does not know different strategies to transmit it to
students. Another important feature is the use of the material in the classroom, teacher is
only focusses on the course book and some webpages which is not adequate to engage
students. According to the ET, students are more interested in the language using the
computers and the internet. In general students think that the teacher uses the correct
material to teach English but when the observation was carried out was identified that the
teacher does not know strategies to motivate students. And when she was discussing about
the material that she uses was recognized that she does not know anything about students´
needs and wants.

DISCUSSION

The research was developed in order to identify the materials role in the classroom when
teaching a second language especially in high school learners. It is because is one of the
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most difficult stage to engage students into the academic development. It was identify that
the 63% of students have intrinsic motivation and the other 37% have extrinsic. As can be
seen students are motivated to learn a second language but the methods and material that
their English teacher uses are not interesting for them. The teacher mainly focusses on the
course book (Upload Express publishing students´ book and work). It is based on the
students competences but is not functional for them because they are visual learning and
she does not use visual material such as: flashcards, posters, and some other aids. The
teacher does not create material just uses the course book exercises and different webpages
from internet.

The majority of students want to learn English in order to have interaction with people who
speak the second language and allow people know their personal thinking and opinion,
beliefs, likes and dislikes in general they want to speak the target language to communicate
with society. Also students are motivated to learn English to understand multimedia (songs,
videos, movies, videogames, and some other ways to entertain) it is because nowadays they
are more familiar with the technology. Students want to enrich their own goals. As a result
they are motivated to learn the target language. It was identified that 19 students wish to
speak in another language (English). The rest of learners, are not motivated to learn because
they find their English class as an obligation to get good grades Moreover was
distinguished that students want to reach their own goals not just to please their parents. It
is very important to mention that the majority of them are engaged to produce the language
but they are limited to do it in the classroom. Additionally the 50% of students (15) find
their English class as a good instrument for their future and they are studying because is
important for their final grade. The students think that speak in English is useful for them to
get a good job and salary in their future employment. It means to have more opportunities
in the society. Finally students are interested to improve their learning skills. The rest of
them do not want to improve them. It is because they are not motivated by their ET.

The students find the material as a useful tool to learn another language because is easy to
understand and is modified to the students´ English level .Also now a day technology plays
an important role in education because is a good way to motivate students learning and
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engage their interest in a second language. The results obtained shows that 23 students are
motivated because the teacher uses the technology during the class.

Realia is an important feature to take into account when teaching a second language. It
plays an important role when eliciting students and to meet the established goal on
competences. The 83% of students find the material used by the teacher in a familiar
context which means that teacher uses material related with real life situations.

Additionally listening is a receptive skill which leaners need to improve to be able to

produce the target language. The majority of students said that the teacher uses listening
material. This result is confusing because students have an English lab and there, they find
technological resources and they can improve abilities. The 76% of students find the
material as a useful aid to reinforce their abilities. The other 24% do not see the material as
a beneficial support.

To conclude the researchers identified that students are certainly motivated. They want to
learn another language by their own initiative. Some of the methods and material that their
English teacher uses are not attractive and useful for them. It is essential to mention that
they must have a certain English level according to their high school syllabus. Yet they do
not have the as many opportunities to produce and acquire the language as they need.

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Anderson John D. (2006). COE Imperial Superintendent of Schools. Retrieved from

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Anonimous (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/18132256/Types-of-

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Taylor – Powell E. Steele S. (n.d.). Collecting Evaluation Data: Direct observation

Retrieved from: http://learningstore.uwex.edu/pdf/G3658-05.pdf
[Access 6 November 2012]
 ISBN: 978-607-9136-88-8

Kvale (1996, p. 14)

Anonimous (n.d.). Selecting sampling

Retrieved from: http://www.holah.karoo.net/sampling.htm
[Access 6 November 2012]