Module 3: Discussion: Reading Reflection
I’ll admit that I just went down a rabbit hole of new research based on a single paragraph in Bateman’s whitepaper titled Promoting Openness toward Culture Learning: Ethnographic Interviews for Students of Spanish (2002).
Bateman’s study on ethnographic interviews was intended to tout the importance of an openness toward culture learning and I jumped into this article with joy because I can’t wait to interview my EB peers this semester. But, because of this article, I became fixated on the results of the postquestionnaire which, “indicated that the requirement-only group, in comparison with other students, was significantly less likely to report an increased desire to study Spanish as a result of the project” or that the project “improved their understanding of and respect for Spanish speakers” (Bateman, p. 324). Truly, the result of reading the paper, or my defiance towards those who were credit-only seekers, is that I now want to learn Spanish more than ever. I can’t relate. Proximity gets me every time but we all have different motivating factors in learning.
So that’s the rabbit hole I went down. How do we motivate our students to learn? Here are some key points related to both adult and youth learners:
Using the Funds of Knowledge approach and incorporating the social, economic, and productive activities of people in a local region, how about an integrated language curriculum at a job site? Would it not be a value-add to a socially entrepreneurial-minded large employer to offer language classes connected to the workplace that could also help in upward mobility and employee retention? And for our young learners in the K-16 space, as educators, we need to provide them with more choice in subject matter. That we all have to learn the same things, outside of math and literacy, seems antiquated when you realize we don’t do the same things with what we learn. Filgona (2020) points out that “students’ mere presence in the class is, of course, not a guarantee that students want to learn.” This is more reason to make the school-community connection strong and personal. To find out what motivates our young people and to respond accordingly.
References
Aljohani, O. H., & Alajlan, S. M. (2020). Motivating Adult Learners to Learn at Adult-Education Schools in Saudi Arabia. Adult Learning, 104515951989965. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159519899655Links to an external site.
Bateman, B. (2002). Promoting openness toward culture learning: Ethnographic Interviews for students of Spanish. The Modern Language Journal, 86(iii), 318-331.
Filgona, J. (2020). (PDF) motivation in learning. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344199983_Motivation_in_LearningLinks to an external site.
Zajda, J. (2021). Motivation in the Classroom: Creating Effective Learning Environments. Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, 25, 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71575-5_2
Reply Michelle Johansen
Hi Melinda, thanks for sharing the extra research you did about what motivates students to learn. I agree that adults learners are "problem-centered." The population of students that I primarily work with are super motivated international students in college. The problem they are solving is that a U.S degree is seen as a guaranteed better future for them and their families. Because of the great lengths many of them have to go to for an education in the United States, they are among the most motivated college students I have ever seen. Our graduating students always talk about the sacrifices their families have made to make an education in the U.S. possible. One student who graduated in December 2023 had not been home to Nigeria in four years (he did have some relatives in the United States) because of the cost of airfare. This is not to say that there are not motivated American students at my institution because there are and I have taught many of them. I also agree with your idea that employers should offer language classes. It would be a huge benefit.
Reply Eric Wolford
I mentioned this in my autobiography, but I personally can attest to the idea that when someone is learning a foreign language as a requirement for something, the motivation to continue to learn that language dwindles once that requirement is fulfilled. If you were to look at my academic history, I have 3 years of Spanish (resulting in an IB Certificate in the language), 3 years of Latin, and about 3 months in Arabic. Nevertheless, I still consider myself monolinguistic. The reason? All of these languages were taken solely to fulfill a requirement. I took three years of Spanish because my College Prep middle school required a semester in the language for 7th and 8th grade, followed by the expected requirement of 2 years of foreign language education in high school to be accepted into my Alma Mater. As for Latin, this was because my university required me to take a foreign language class that required several preliminary classes for me to take, and as I wasn't fond in the speaking of Spanish, I took a class in a language that is primarily used these days for deciphering ancient texts and translation: Latin. Is that to say that I learned nothing from these languages? No. I still can recite all 5 declension forms in Latin, decipher Romantic languages (like Spanish) to some extent, and can provide some neat trivia like "republic comes from the Latin phrase res publica, which literally translates to 'thing of the people.'" But it is not necessary for interacting with the world. One thing I am frankly a bit envious of is that, because my students are placed in a situation where they don't speak one of the dominant global languages as their heritage language, they are compelled in a way to learn English. The luxury of knowing English for me is, in a way, a vice.
Reply Julia Isbell
Hi Melinda and Eric,
I had a similar experience taking Latin in school. I was only motivated to succeed in the class to graduate and get a certain GPA, rather than being motivated to learn the language for communication and literacy. Because of this I feel I learned up until the day of my last final, and then immediately lost interest and never wanted to pursue it since. I appreciate the list you provided from your research, as it illustrates many of the factors that I believe were not provided for in this setting. We were not told how Latin would be useful in our lives outside of academic settings, and we were not being encouraged to become interested or engage outside of the classroom. I think we could have become more motivated in Latin if the content had been connected to topics we were interested in and incorporated culture, rather than using all traditional materials and being taught basically like a science course. I think part of this problem may also be the result of ‘teaching to the AP test’.
Bateman’s study on ethnographic interviews was intended to tout the importance of an openness toward culture learning and I jumped into this article with joy because I can’t wait to interview my EB peers this semester. But, because of this article, I became fixated on the results of the postquestionnaire which, “indicated that the requirement-only group, in comparison with other students, was significantly less likely to report an increased desire to study Spanish as a result of the project” or that the project “improved their understanding of and respect for Spanish speakers” (Bateman, p. 324). Truly, the result of reading the paper, or my defiance towards those who were credit-only seekers, is that I now want to learn Spanish more than ever. I can’t relate. Proximity gets me every time but we all have different motivating factors in learning.
So that’s the rabbit hole I went down. How do we motivate our students to learn? Here are some key points related to both adult and youth learners:
- There are statistically significant differences in motivating factors for learners depending on their age and gender (Aljohani and Alajlan, 2020).
- The reason for learning is a motivating factor, such as what is useful to them, particularly with adults (Aljohani and Alajlan, 2020).
- It is immensely important to influence students to become intrinsically motivated to learn (Zajda, 2021).
- “Motivated students should strive to become independent learners, employ self-regulated learning strategies, and take responsibility for their own learning, in order to reach their full potential” (Zajda, 2021).
Using the Funds of Knowledge approach and incorporating the social, economic, and productive activities of people in a local region, how about an integrated language curriculum at a job site? Would it not be a value-add to a socially entrepreneurial-minded large employer to offer language classes connected to the workplace that could also help in upward mobility and employee retention? And for our young learners in the K-16 space, as educators, we need to provide them with more choice in subject matter. That we all have to learn the same things, outside of math and literacy, seems antiquated when you realize we don’t do the same things with what we learn. Filgona (2020) points out that “students’ mere presence in the class is, of course, not a guarantee that students want to learn.” This is more reason to make the school-community connection strong and personal. To find out what motivates our young people and to respond accordingly.
References
Aljohani, O. H., & Alajlan, S. M. (2020). Motivating Adult Learners to Learn at Adult-Education Schools in Saudi Arabia. Adult Learning, 104515951989965. https://doi.org/10.1177/1045159519899655Links to an external site.
Bateman, B. (2002). Promoting openness toward culture learning: Ethnographic Interviews for students of Spanish. The Modern Language Journal, 86(iii), 318-331.
Filgona, J. (2020). (PDF) motivation in learning. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344199983_Motivation_in_LearningLinks to an external site.
Zajda, J. (2021). Motivation in the Classroom: Creating Effective Learning Environments. Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, 25, 17–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71575-5_2
Reply Michelle Johansen
Hi Melinda, thanks for sharing the extra research you did about what motivates students to learn. I agree that adults learners are "problem-centered." The population of students that I primarily work with are super motivated international students in college. The problem they are solving is that a U.S degree is seen as a guaranteed better future for them and their families. Because of the great lengths many of them have to go to for an education in the United States, they are among the most motivated college students I have ever seen. Our graduating students always talk about the sacrifices their families have made to make an education in the U.S. possible. One student who graduated in December 2023 had not been home to Nigeria in four years (he did have some relatives in the United States) because of the cost of airfare. This is not to say that there are not motivated American students at my institution because there are and I have taught many of them. I also agree with your idea that employers should offer language classes. It would be a huge benefit.
Reply Eric Wolford
I mentioned this in my autobiography, but I personally can attest to the idea that when someone is learning a foreign language as a requirement for something, the motivation to continue to learn that language dwindles once that requirement is fulfilled. If you were to look at my academic history, I have 3 years of Spanish (resulting in an IB Certificate in the language), 3 years of Latin, and about 3 months in Arabic. Nevertheless, I still consider myself monolinguistic. The reason? All of these languages were taken solely to fulfill a requirement. I took three years of Spanish because my College Prep middle school required a semester in the language for 7th and 8th grade, followed by the expected requirement of 2 years of foreign language education in high school to be accepted into my Alma Mater. As for Latin, this was because my university required me to take a foreign language class that required several preliminary classes for me to take, and as I wasn't fond in the speaking of Spanish, I took a class in a language that is primarily used these days for deciphering ancient texts and translation: Latin. Is that to say that I learned nothing from these languages? No. I still can recite all 5 declension forms in Latin, decipher Romantic languages (like Spanish) to some extent, and can provide some neat trivia like "republic comes from the Latin phrase res publica, which literally translates to 'thing of the people.'" But it is not necessary for interacting with the world. One thing I am frankly a bit envious of is that, because my students are placed in a situation where they don't speak one of the dominant global languages as their heritage language, they are compelled in a way to learn English. The luxury of knowing English for me is, in a way, a vice.
Reply Julia Isbell
Hi Melinda and Eric,
I had a similar experience taking Latin in school. I was only motivated to succeed in the class to graduate and get a certain GPA, rather than being motivated to learn the language for communication and literacy. Because of this I feel I learned up until the day of my last final, and then immediately lost interest and never wanted to pursue it since. I appreciate the list you provided from your research, as it illustrates many of the factors that I believe were not provided for in this setting. We were not told how Latin would be useful in our lives outside of academic settings, and we were not being encouraged to become interested or engage outside of the classroom. I think we could have become more motivated in Latin if the content had been connected to topics we were interested in and incorporated culture, rather than using all traditional materials and being taught basically like a science course. I think part of this problem may also be the result of ‘teaching to the AP test’.