Motivation and motivating techniques in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language in Turkish universities

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to focus upon the aspect of motivation in TEFL in Turkey. It has been apparent that motivation IS something often missing in EFL students in Turkey mainly because of their attitudes toujards learning the foreign language- Notivation is missing because students view the language not as an aim in itself but as a means to an end and because teachers use inappropriate and ineffective methods and material in the language classroom. Since motivation is a key term for success in learning a foreign language, or any other subject, and since many foreign language classes lack motivation, there arises the need for EFL teachers to find ways to promote motivation in their students. Therefore, this paper attempts to give EFL teachers, or other people in the field of teaching such as the teacher trainee, an insight to enable them to handle the problem of motivation - As Stevick (1982) states '’Making informed choices is what teaching is all about," the purpose of this project is to provide information to teachers and teacher trainees about some motivating techniques of foreign language teaching which are the practical applications to the classroom. This paper intends to provide an understanding of the principles on which the current methods are based and of the motivating techniques associated with those methods. The purpose is not to convince the reader of the superiority of any of them. What is being recommended is that, in the interest of becoming informed about existing choices, teachers can investigate each method or technique. Teachers may also examine their own beliefs about teaching and learning, and about how they put these into practice. Even those of the readers witii a great deal of teaching experience stand to benefit from considering the principles of learning and teaching techniques in terms of motivation. This paper may also help course designers to establish goals and objectives for f£FL programs taking the motivation factor and suggested techniques into consideration.