Demotivation-影响及结果.doc

Demotivation: Affective states and learning outcomes Joseph Falouta, , , James Elwoodb, and Michael Hoodc, aNihon University, College of Science and Technology, 7-24-1 Narashinodai, Funabashi, Chiba 274-8501, JapanbTsukuba University, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukaba, Ibaraki 305-8577, JapancNihon University, College of Commerce, 5-2-1 Kinuta, Setagaya, Tokyo 157-8570, JapanAvailable online 23 June 2009. AbstractDemotivation can negatively influence the learners attitudes and behaviors, degrade classroom group dynamics and teachers motivation, and result in long-term and widespread negative learning outcomes. 900 university EFL learners were surveyed to investigate the demotivating factors in learning English as a foreign language (EFL) in Japan, and the relationship between past demotivating experiences and present proficiencies. Affective states and capacity to self-regulate learning were compared among learners with varying academic interests, experiences, and proficiencies. Demotivating factors were grouped into three categories: external conditions of the learning environment, internal conditions of the learner, and reactive behaviors to demotivating experiences. Internal and reactive factors were shown to correlate with long-term EFL learning outcomes. Findings from this study indicated that beginning, less-proficient learners in non-English majors were least likely to control their affective states to cope with demotivating experiences. Finally, this paper discusses steps that might prevent or minimize demotivation and facilitate remotivation.Keywords: Motivation; Demotivation; Remotivation; Self-regulation; Grammar-translationArticle Outline1. Introduction 2. Literature review 3. Research questions 4. Methodology 4.1. Participants 4.2. Materials 4.3. Procedure5. Results 6. Discussion 6.1. Which demotivating factor has the most negative influence on EFL learning in this context? 6.2. To what degree do past demotivating experiences correlate with present proficiency? 6.3. Do lower proficiency learners show less capacity to self-regulate when experiencing demotivation?7. Conclusion Acknowledgements Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C References1. Introduction“Motivation to tackle assignments voluntarily and willingly is lacking,” responded 85% of the 362 deans surveyed at ninety-five national universities in Japan, accounting for the nationally-perceived drop in academic performance at the tertiary level (Suzuki et al., 1999, p. 51). In a follow-up survey of 33,432 learners from 335 public and private universities, the average respondent reported a lack in motivation to study across all academic subjects (Yanai et al., 2003). Demotivated learners are a recurring topic in academic conferences and teachers rooms across Japan, particularly regarding the learning of English as a foreign language (EFL). Teachers recognize that motivation is co-regulated among all the people in the classroom. They realize how one highly motivated learner can positively influence the classroom experience and how one demotivated learner can have an opposite effect. Through the interpersonal processes of group dynamics, one subgroup affects another, efficiency decreases, and the purpose of lessons becomes obscured (e.g., Drnyei and Ehrman, 1998 and Drnyei and Murphey, 2003). Soon the motivation of the entire class is at stake, including the teachers motivation to persist in such an adverse environment (e.g., Ames and Ames, 1984, Grayson and Alvarez, 2007 and Skaalvik and Skaalvik, 2009). Consequently, the quality of education deteriorates.Learning environments that require high-stakes testing and provide inappropriate level of courses may further exacerbate motivational problems. Secondary and tertiary school entrance exams generate a washback effect of exam-centered syllabi and curricula. The term “exam hell” (Amano, 1995) commonly describes the period when learners struggle to pass these exams. High-stakes, performance-based testing continues into adulthood as scores from the standardized Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) play a key role in job placement and promotion. Students are not usually streamed by ability level in Japan, with just 12% of public junior high schools and 60% of universities streaming students for EFL courses (MEXT, 2007). Compulsory EFL education begins in the first year of junior high school. Most lower proficiency learners are demotivated by their second year in junior high school, with their motivation continuing to drop throughout high school and into university (Falout and Falout, 2005 and Falout and Maruyama, 2004). Matching student abilities by class levels would especially benefit the motivation of lower ability students by providing them a better chance to experience competency and thus improve their self-confidence toward learning EFL.The Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) has announced that English classes will become compulsory for younger students, starting in primary schools in 2011 (MEXT, 2008), mirroring a trend worldwide (e.g., Honna, 2002, Nunan, 2003 and Otani et al., 2004). Thus learners who become demotivated earlier in formal schooling might suffer a longer term of negative affect, low proficiency, loss of self-confidence, self-blame, and a more difficult struggle to remotivate while learning EFL (Falout and Falout, 2005, Falout and Maruyama, 2004, Ushioda, 1998 and Ushioda, 2001). While this scenario is somber, a positive note is that teachers can make a difference in the motivation of their learners through motivational practices (Drnyei, 2001a and Guilloteaux and Drnyei, 2008). The purpose of the present study is to investigate the underlying processes involved in demotivation to help guide policymakers, administrators, and teachers toward preventing or minimizing its harmful effects on learning.2. Literature reviewDemotivation, as defined by Drnyei (2001b), is a decrease or drop in level of motivation. It does not result from (a) distractions of a more attractive option, (b) a gradual loss of interest across a period of time, or (c) internal triggers. Demotivation starts from an external locus, a demotivating trigger, before it becomes an internalized process, and motivation must exist before there can be a subsequent decrease. Absence of any motivation is the state of amotivation, marked by passivity. Amotivated people feel a lack of competence or control over their external environments, a feeling of helplessness caused by lack of contingency between behaviors and outcomes (Vallerand and Ratelle, 2002). They “go through the motions with no sense of intending to do what they are doing” until they quit the activity (Ryan and Deci, 2002, p. 17).Gorham and Christophel (1992) cataloged what learners perceived as causes of their demotivation in university classrooms in a variety of academic subjects. In comparing learner attributions of demotivation and motivation, they found that the absence of demotivators in the classroomsuch as unenthusiastic teaching, dissatisfaction with grading, and boring subjecthad a more positive influence on motivation than the presence of motivators such as an enthusiastic and inspiring teacher. The researchers concluded that teachers could promote learner motivation simply by preventing demotivation.Second language (L2) researchers have sought to identify attributions of demotivation specific to L2 learning across wide contextslearning English in Japan (Falout and Falout, 2005), Hungary (Drnyei, 1998), and Vietnam (Trang and Baldauf, 2007), and learning French in Ireland (Ushioda, 1998 and Ushioda, 2001)yet the results are remarkably similar, with external attributions most often found to influence internal conditions of the learner in the demotivational process. For instance, one consistently top-ranking attribution was a boring teacher due to monotonous instruction. Demotivators identified in Japan include a heavy focus on translation, grammar, rote memorization of vocabulary, and a lack of practical application (e.g., Arai, 2004, Arai, 2005 Arai, K., 2005. Why do learners lose their motivation? Paper presented at the 31st JALT International Conference on Language Teaching and Learning, October 10, 2005, Shizuoka, Japan.Arai, 2005, Falout and Maruyama, 2004 and Miyata et al., 2004). These are the applications of the dominant pedagogy across secondary and most tertiary English education in Japan, often referred to as grammar-translation (e.g., Gorsuch, 2000, ODonnell, 2005 and Taguchi, 2005). Another common attribution of demotivation was an inappropriate level of class activities and courses (Arai, 2004, Falout and Maruyama, 2004 and Miyata et al., 2004).Disagreeable teacher behaviors and personalities also ranked among the highest in attributions of demotivation in the US (Kearney et al., 2002 and Millette and Gorham, 2002) and Japan (Potee, 2002). The interrelationships between teachers and learners are important to the development of learner motivation and for better learning outcomes (e.g., Chesebro and McCrosky, 2002, den Brok et al., 2005 and Noels et al., 1999). However, teachers in various contexts are often unaware of how their behaviors and methodologies demotivate learners (Arai, 2006, Gorham and Millette, 1997 and Potee, 2002). Teachers and learners attribute learner demotivation differently, with teachers underestimating their own influence on student demotivation. Teachers were more likely to attribute student demotivation to factors other than the teacher (i.e., learner performance or total curricular load) and give themselves credit for motivating learners (Gorham and Millette, 1997). However, learners perceived motivation as a learner-owned state and demotivation as a teacher-owned problem (Christophel and Gorham, 1995 and Gorham and Christophel, 1992).Learners perceptions of their external environments are processed internally, where further psychological factors contribute to the demotivational process. Reduced self-confidence was identified by Drnyei as an internal factor. He reasoned that it can be a factor of demotivation if it extends from the experience of failure or lack of success in response to an external element, such as grades (1998; reported in Drnyei, 2001b). Reduced self-confidence showed the largest statistically significant difference in means in two studies that compared lower and higher proficiency university EFL learners (Falout and Maruyama, 2004 and Tsuchiya, 2006). Christophel and Gorham (1995) identified antecedent conditions that learners bring into the classroom at the start of a course. These internal conditions can negatively influence motivation, and they involve general achievement orientation, self-concept, attitude toward the subject and learning environment, learning goal orientation, and expectations of success.Using data collected from of 164 university freshmen, Falout (2006) extracted antecedent conditions of the learner, as well as the factors of teachers and course pace. Teachers contained items about personality and pedagogy, the latter of which consisted of demotivators particular to the grammar-translation methodology. Course pace relates to whether learners found the pace or lev