Effect of teacher motivational practices and student demotivation on request and refusal speech acts produced by Iranian EFL learners

Abstract

This study aimed at examining the possible effects of teacher motivational practices and student demotivation on the way Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners produce request and refusal speech acts. Subsequently, four instruments were selected and administered to the participants under scrutiny. They were: (a) a Quick Placement Test, (b) the Motivational Orientation of Language Teaching classroom observation scheme, (c) the Post-Lesson Teacher Evaluation scale, and (d) a Discourse Completion Task. The analyses of the related data obtained from the targeted participants revealed significant differences between students in high and low motivation groups with respect to the production of request and refusal speech acts on the post-test scores. It was observed that various levels of demotivation dramatically influence the quality of request and refusal speech acts produced by the learners in their English classes. Alternatively, the findings demonstrated that teachers' motivational practices had a direct bearing on the learners' productions of the targeted speech acts. Notably, the results of the study may offer insightful benefits to textbook developers, EFL teachers, and stakeholders involved in the language teaching profession.