Bernaus & Cardner 2008

Teacher Motivation Strategies, Student Perceptions, Student Motivation, and English Achievement
MERCÈ BERNAUS, ROBERT C. GARDNER

The Modern Language Journal
Volume 92 Issue 3, Pages 387 - 401
Published Online: 28 Aug 2008

ABSTRACT

This study investigated language teaching strategies, as reported by teachers and students, and the effects of these strategies on students' motivation and English achievement. The participants consisted of 31 English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and their students (N= 694) in Catalonia, Spain. The teachers and students rated the frequency of use of 26 strategies in their classes. In addition, the students were tested on their attitudes, motivation, and language anxiety with the mini-Attitude Motivation Test Battery (AMTB; Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993) and completed objective tests of English achievement.

The results indicated that the teachers and students agreed on the relative frequency of some strategies but not on the frequency of other strategies and that, although the teachers' reported use of motivational and traditional strategies was not related to the students' English achievement, attitudes, motivation, or language anxiety, the students' perceptions of these strategies tended to be related to their attitudes and motivation at both the individual and class levels. In addition, when the students were the unit of analysis, there was a negative correlation between the students' ratings of the frequency of traditional strategy use and English achievement. Path analysis indicated that integrativeness, attitudes toward the learning situation, and instrumental orientation predicted the motivation to learn English and that motivation was a positive predictor of English achievement, whereas attitudes toward the learning situation and language anxiety were negative predictors of English achievement. Hierarchical linear modelling analysis confirmed these findings but indicated that the effects of strategies are much more complex than previously thought. Strategy use as reported by the teachers did not influence the regression coefficients for any of the predictors, but strategy use reported by students had a positive effect on the predictability of motivation on English achievement.