An Investigation of Teachers’ Use of Motivational Strategies in Written Expression Classes

Abstract

The teacher’s use of motivational strategies is generally believed to enhance students’ motivation. Therefore, the ultimate goal of this exploratory study is to investigate teachers’ motivational strategies in written expression classes, and the link between the teachers' motivational practice and their student's language learning motivation; particularly, in relation to writing for being the most complex productive skill. Henceforth, the basic hypothesis adopted in this research set out that students may find learning the writing skill more stimulating if teachers incorporate motivational strategies in written expression classes; the second hypothesis states that students may also be motivated and develop their writing skill if teachers use motivational activities in their teaching practice. To test these hypotheses, an observational study and two questionnaires have been used. The classroom observation took place at the Department of English, University of Mohammed Seddik Ben Yahia, Jijel. The first self-report questionnaire was designed and administered to a sample comprising ten teachers; the second questionnaire set to sixty students from the aforementioned university. The method of this research work is quite descriptive; both quantitative and qualitative research paradigm proceeded in order to gather data. Accordingly, the analysis of the results generated by the two research instruments confirm the first research hypothesis; that teachers use motivational strategies in their teaching practice; the second hypothesis shows that teachers do not use motivational activities in written expression classes and that the research hypothesis is not confirmed. Finally, the obtained results should be taken into consideration in both fields of teaching and research.