Task-related motivational strategies in efl classrooms: A glimpse into teachers’ and students’ perceptions

Abstract

This mixed-method study investigated teacher and student perceptions of the importance of task-related motivational strategies (TRMS) in English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom instruction. A 48-item Likert scale questionnaire covering seven domains of TRMS were electronically delivered to teachers (N = 96) at different institutions in a large city in southern Vietnam and their students (N = 220). Concurrently, thirty-four written reflections were obtained from the teachers (N = 17) and the students (N = 17) to shed further light on their perceptions. Examining the participants’ central tendencies showed that they agreed on the motivational value of task nature, task relevance, task materials, task-related feedback, and during-task teacher behavior, but not on task presentation and task level. Item analyses further revealed statistically significant differences in the participants’ perceptions of as much as 23 percent of the TRMS. Recursive content analysis of the journal data corroborated a substantial part of the quantitative results and offered explanations for why each specific difference occurred. These perceptual mismatches provide important pedagogical implications for how teachers can design and implement tasks in the way that is motivating to students whose English learning is entirely confined within classroom walls.