How can we harness the power of motivation to improve learning? Dr Claire Dembry from our Language Research Team gives us an exclusive look at our very latest research project – find out how you can help.
As the sprinter waits in the blocks to hear the starting pistol, she imagines herself running the race and cruising to victory. As the footballer steps up to take that penalty kick, he imagines placing it perfectly in the top corner and beating the goalkeeper. In sports psychology, visualising yourself achieving your goals before you begin is a commonly used technique , but can this be applied to language learning? And what effect will it have?
In our latest project, Cambridge University Press is working with Nottingham University to find out. We already know that a sustained level of motivation is key to the successful mastery of a second language (L2). While there has been a great deal of research emphasising the role of motivation in L2 learning success, researchers have been divided on how best to conceptualise the motivational capacity that distinguishes high and low achievers. As a result, there are limited practical resources based directly on L2 motivation research that can help increase or maintain motivation during the language learning process.
Our research project will explore the psychological impact of communication in a second language (L2) by examining which aspects of successful communication leave a lasting impression in the participants, and how. More specifically, this links the desire that learners have to master an L2 to their own individual “ideal self” image . It’s proposed that the long-term commitment to study a foreign language is associated with the learner’s vision of him/herself as a successful L2 user in the future, that is, with the ability to imagine oneself effectively using the language that they’re studying.
In order to investigate this, we’re running a large-scale study to look at who learners’ role models are. In psychology, ‘modelling’ – that is, setting a concrete example that learners find worthy to follow – is seen to be one of the most powerful ways of instruction in a variety of areas and subject matters. The need for role models is also often cited in the media – correctly we believe – as a key factor in a range of educational and social contexts. While growing up, many people experience watching some influential student or sibling just a few years older and modelling their behaviour, and, in a similar way, if teachers can find productive behaviours, roles and beliefs present in some respectable peer, and highlight these for emulation by others, this can become a powerful means to encourage students to follow the example.
By asking learners of English to complete our survey about what their language aims and ambitions are, we hope to be able to learn more about who and what motivates them. With the results we’ll explore whether there are any patterns in the types of ideal self contexts that learners identify as being relevant to them, and work out how we can use this information to improve learning and teaching.
So get your students to tell us – who is their English language idol? Perhaps they want to give speeches as well as Barack Obama, speak in front of a class like their favourite teacher, or sing on TV like Adele? Encourage them to complete our survey and tell us more about what and who motivates them to improve their English, and contribute to our research!