Eight Ways To Help English Language Learners Feel Motivated To Read & Write
By Larry Ferlazzo
In this post, Ferlazzo offers several ideas to enhance self-motivation in students. His suggestions are based on a study of internal and external motivation, and the conditions that can foster the former. These are listed in four categories.
Autonomy gives students some control in what they need to do.
- Offer a variety of options for reading, including graphic novels, or online reading with audio, video, or animations.
- Give students different writing prompts depending on their interests.
Competence refers to students’ perception of the possibility of success.
- Similar and frequent “low stakes” formative assessments can help students track their progress.
- Scaffolding using writing frames and, as students progress, writing structures, which can give students the support they need for success.
Relevance is how students feel about the importance of a task to their current or future lives.
- Reminding students about how learning English along with their home language can provide advantages for their future. Funny videos can help.
- Having an authentic audience besides the teacher could promote motivation for higher quality work.
Relatedness is about how assignments might help students feel connected to those who are important in their lives.
- To increase motivation, students may read together in pairs, or try a jigsaw activity that adds explaining what they read to other students.
- Students might also work on writing assignments together.
Ferlazzo closes with the caveat that, “None of these strategies are guaranteed ways to help every student in your class feel motivated to read and write in English, but they are certainly unlikely to make them feel less energized to do so!”
Eric Gómez Burgos teaches English as a Foreign language in Chile and instructs aspiring English teachers there. His focus is on the value of the home language and culture for students as they try to improve their skills in writing. His suggestions are based on research and his classroom experience with MLEs (Multilingual Learners of English).
