PAC7 at JALT2008 Proceedings Article Data

Article title, keywords, abstract, and writer profiles

Title:
Motivating non-English majors in English classes

Keywords:
Motivation, ESP, university, non-major, English

Abstract:
Most Japanese tertiary students studying English are not English majors but students of other undergraduate disciplines required by the Ministry of Education, and thus their university, to pass a general English course prior to graduation. However, the motivation of these students to attend frequently and participate actively in the learning process can often be significantly lower than for their English major counterparts due to their perceptions of English as, among other things, irrelevant or impossibly difficult. Faced with such a negative mindset, EFL teachers sometimes have great difficulty in motivating their non-English major students during English classes. This paper first identifies and briefly discusses some of the symptoms of low intrinsic motivation among non-English majors, then examines the underlying causes for those symptoms. For each cause discussed, practical solutions are suggested which may help to resolve or at least ameliorate the problem so as to improve student intrinsic motivation. These suggestions relate to issues of classroom management, methodology, materials design, course contents and activity type, examples of which are provided.

Writer profiles:
Paul Moritoshi has been teaching in Japan since 1996 and gained his MA in TEF/SL in 2002. He has been teaching at various universities since 2000 and is currently a full-time lecturer at Himeji Dokkyo University. He is particularly interested in the application of English for Specific Purposes within general English courses for the purpose of improving student motivation, perceptions and rates of acquisition.

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