Motivating instructors and learners of English: A teacher-training workshop (original) (raw)

This paper documents a teacher-training workshop designed to address the problem of motivating instructors and learners of English in Japan. It first provides a brief overview of the relevant research to date on motivation and the Japanese English education context. It then explores a series of interviews (n＝6) with in-service Japanese high school teachers of English, which ultimately proved to be the impetus behind this study. Findings from an analysis of these interviews revealed a lack of learner motivation was the primary concern for in-service teachers. It also revealed that in-service teachers felt ill-equipped to deal with this problem. A workshop was then created to provide pedagogical support for Japanese teachers of English. This workshop first involved examining the different factors that influence motivation, before moving on to showcase how the use of authentic materials by instructors can greatly enhance learner motivation. It concluded with a discussion of the specific problems that instructors typically face. Feedback from a post-workshop questionnaire suggests the workshop was highly successful. Finally, implications and future workshops are discussed.