Motivating Learning

While there has been a lot of discourse at an academic level about various approaches to motivation, there have, to date, been few resources for the language teacher / teacher-trainer with their finger on the scholarly pulse.  This book aims to provide the link between theory and practice, with plenty of suggestions for innovative classroom exercises and assignments that take into account students with different levels of proficiency, different age groups, and different learning styles.

Motivation is a vital element in learning, and the most commonly cited explanation for success or failure in language learning. Jill Hadfield and Zoltán Dörnyei present a new theory of motivation centred around the notion of the "˜Ideal Future Language Self", arguing that if students have a rich and inspiring vision of themselves as successful future language learners and users, they will be motivated to work hard to actualise the vision and become that learner. This book:

• integrates the latest research in language teaching with innovative classroom practice
• offers suggestions on how the various components of the theory could be structured into a teaching sequence
• includes a variety of imaginative classroom activities designed to aid both student and teacher in creating and actualising the Ideal Self through visualisation, goal setting, task identification and planning, and a selection of appropriate learning strategies
• shows how teachers can undertake motivation-related research in their own classrooms

This is an ideal guide to and activity book for the theory and practice of motivation in language learning for students and teachers alike.