‘I’m bored of studying English!‘ Three approaches for enhancing the motivation of ESL students

Most teachers are very capable of creating a pedagogical environment that is highly stimulating and enjoyable, whatever the imposed curriculum restrictions. Nonetheless, learning English over an extended period of time in a school that relies heavily on a coursebook-driven syllabus can become tedious for students, however stimulating the coursebook. Tedium equates to a lowering of motivation, and hence affects language acquisition. However, teachers can employ a variety of pedagogical strategies to alleviate de-motivation in their students. Three strategies that I have found to be effective are: regular result-recorded testing, student journals and regular teacher/ student interviews. In this article I shall discuss the rationale and application of these strategies, from my experiential perspective