PAC7 at JALT2008 Proceedings Article Data

Article title, keywords, abstract, and writer profiles

Title:
Helping students repack for remotivation and agency

Keywords:
motivation remotivation agency student voice

Abstract:
This exploratory study invited 286 Japanese university students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) to reflect on what demotivated and remotivated them. Students charted the ups and downs of their English learning histories and then completed a questionnaire in which they explained the causes of their demotivation and the pathways, unintentional or intentional, by which they became remotivated. This data was analyzed in terms of the affective and attitudinal conditions which students brought with them into the classroom. Students with positive antecedent conditions were found to have experienced fewer periods of demotivation in the past and exhibited more dynamic use of a wide range of strategies in their attempts to remotivate themselves. There is evidence to suggest that these learners also had more exposure to such strategies in use. Based on this hypothesis, we compiled and returned the strategies they reported to seed their agentive motivational practices.

Writer profiles:
Christopher Carpenter is a lecturer in the Interdepartmental English Program at Dokkyo University. His research interests include learner and teacher development.

Joseph Falout teaches at Nihon University and researches various aspects of learner motivation.

Tetsuya Fukuda is interested in the study of World Englishes and English learning in the context of Japanese society.

Maria Trovela studies at Temple University. Her research interests are motivation and collaborative learning.

Tim Murphey teaches at Kanda University of International Studies and researches applications of sociocultural theory.

All materials on this site are copyright © by JALT and their respective authors.
For more information on JALT, visit the JALT National Website