Activities to enhance students´ motivation towards english lessons in twelve graders (página 2)
3- To design the activities in order to enhance the students" motivation towards the English lessons in 12th grade.
4- To evaluate the efficiency of the activities to enhance students" motivation towards the English lessons.
Methods used during the investigation
Theoretical Level
Historical-Logical: It allowed finding the main tendencies of the development of the problem object of investigation.
Analysis-Synthesis: It allowed the researcher to make a careful study of the bibliography that refers to the topic. It facilitated the selection of particular approaches based on the general ones in the consulted bibliography.
Induction-Deduction: Keeping in mind the objective stated and starting the aspect related with the theoretical foundations the author used approaches that allowed him to reach some conclusions and to generalize what was already studied.
Modeling: To design and organize, from the theory abstraction and the reality of pedagogical practice the activities to favor the variable motivation.
Document analysis: In the checking up of the normative documents, syllabus, methodological orientations and theoretical foundations.
Empirical Level
Observation: To corroborate the students䠡ctions of in front of different situations and to watch different lessons to verify the use of the audio visual aids and the actions directed to enhance students" motivation.
Interviews: They were applied to determine students" willingness towards the English lessons, their interests and aspirations and also to the teachers to corroborate the students" motivation.
Tests: They were applied to students at the beginning and during the implementation of the proposal to determine the knowledge they had about some language items.
Experimental method: It allowed the application of the activities and the comparisons of the results before and after the application of the activities.
To know the students䠬evel of motivation was applied the phrases completion instrument, taking into account students䠬ife aspects and behavior during the English lessons.
Mathematic: Used in the prosecution and interpretation of the obtained information in the research process.
Population: The population object of study is composed by 148 students from "Luis Urquiza Jorge" Senior High School, a school which is located in the urban zone of Las Tunas province. The selected sample is composed by 34 students from group 4.
This Diploma paper is structured with an introduction, two epigraphs
in which readers can find some theoretical foundations about motivation, the
proposal of activities and the evaluation of its impact; also there are conclusions,
bibliography and annexes that allow a better understanding of the investigation.
Theoretical foundations
This epigraph explains some important facts about motivation, the characteristics of the students of the context where the proposal was carried out, and also some explanations about the use of audio visual aids in foreign languages teaching. It is divided into some sub-epigraphs that will allow understanding the topic that is developed in this research work.
HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF MOTIVATION
The Cuban psychologist Viviana González Maura (2001) expressed: "When we observe and share with other people we can see how important we are to others and how important they are to us". Sharing with other people is a reciprocal process, which locates us inside of a specific time. To each of us life experience is different, due to our beliefs and values, the ones that come from acquired behavior patterns in the context where we develop ourselves.
Our daily activities are guided to the search of concrete aims related to the interaction we have with the environment. It can be expressed that motivation is present in life, in the interaction with other human beings and it appears when we talk about sensitivity, curiosities, anguish and uncertainly when something that calls our attention or we are interested in.
When talking about motivation it is considered that it is a complex theme about human behavior. According to Doris Castellanos (2002), motivation is a dimension of developmental learning because it includes the particularities of the motivational processes that stimulate and guide students䠬earning. It also refers to other elements related with motivation towards learning in which you can find failures and achieved expectations that each person conceives regarding his learning activity. Each student that participates in the teaching-learning process begins from a specific motivational level that is formed in the course of his personal development; he/she determines through self-regulation his levels of efficiency. Doris Castellanos stated that "there are not unmotivated students, but unmotivated students towards their study and learning"
Humanist Psychologists tried to explain superior ways of human motivation, by means of functional criteria that characterized individual adjustment of behavior and also it expresses that motivation is a complex Psychology unit. It is guided, not only to the adjustment of tension but also to a motivation for so long where it expresses the active character of a person in the adjustment of his behavior, by means of conscious elaboration of purpose in an immediate character, planned toward future. The analysis of the Humanist Psychology is stopped in the conscious character of motivation and its importance to the comprehension of its way more complex of expression is set down by Bozhovich, LI, (1974)
There are explicit conditions and strategies for eliciting intrinsic motivation, outlined by Eric Jensen, 2005, which have been adapted intentionally to work with them in the course of this investigation.
They are:
Provide control & choice.
Learners feel valued.
Opposite is manipulation.
Curiosity
Inquiring what students want to know.
Engage some strong emotions
Compelling stories, games, personal examples, celebration, role-plays, debates, rituals, music.
Acknowledgements
Assemblies, certificates, group notices, appropriate praise.
Frequency of feedback
Best way to motivate the brain is to give immediate feedback.
The author has evidenced their use during his training period and allowed him adopt these conditions to the English teaching-learning process, which results has been proved throughout the processes of implementation and evaluation of the proposal.
However, its limitations in the comprehension of some roles from social factors in the determination of behavior, can not explain the complex nature of motivation and its leading function of behavior. The objective character of human motivation and its socio-historic determination constitute essential elements to the comprehension of the nature of motives in behavior.
1.2- AN OVERVIEW TO MOTIVATION AS A PHENOMENON
Motivation as a phenomenon is of such a great importance that it has been studied by many authors, who have examined it exhaustively from different points of view. There are many details which coincide in various analysis of the matter. For Diego González Serra (1995), "Motivation is the inductive regulation of behavior, that is, motivation determines and rules the direction (the object goal) and the intensity or level of activation of the behavior, therefore, the study of motivation requires the external motivated activity on which it is expressed and manifested". Taking into consideration the that motivation determines and rules the direction and the intensity of activation of behavior it is important to say that teachers should act as guiders to the students and also be encouraged of their behavior. The author of the present investigation selected this definition because it states what is intrinsically inside the subject behavior and also recognizes the importance of external factors that allow the human motivation as an important aspect in the human psychology.
In his book "Psychology in Foreign Language Teaching" (1989 p-143), Steven McDonough stated that motivation calls the attention to distinguish between energy, willingness to learn, perseverance, interest, enjoyment of lessons, incentive and benefits of knowing the language. He also stated: "Many, more detailed, distinctions could be drawn. The origin of any of these variables for any particular learner will be different from that of other learners; the classroom treatment they can be given also differs". Taking into account these elements stated by McDonough, the teachers䠷ork addressed to call the students attention towards a specific theme, work with their interests and the enjoyment of the lessons should be each day a task to develop.
Donne Byrne (1989), in his book "Teaching Oral English", considers the teacher as motivator, a key role; to this respect he states: "Whatever you are doing in the classroom, your ability to motivate the students, to arouse their interest and involve them in what they are doing, will be crucial. Some key factors here will be your own "performance; your mastering of teaching skills, often dependent on careful preparation; your selection and preparation of topics and activities (it may often be necessary to make them interesting), which in language teaching must be flexible enough to allow you be both authoritative and friendly at the same time".
The author is in agreement with this asseveration because it has many points of contact with the teaching practice at Senior High schools nowadays also with the new transformations. It defines the teachers" work as a leader, the teachers" guidance importance, including the correct preparation and selection of the topics taking into consideration the students䠩nterests and necessities to make them more interesting for them.
Steven McDonough (1989), in his book referred above also stated that motivation is at the same time, a reality reflects, and part of it. Motivation expresses, contains and modifies reality. That is why; the phenomenon that is dealt with is an expression and manifestation of the purposes and states of the personality, character, capacities and temper, being the properties of character that plays the main role.
The motivational phenomenon has been defined in different ways. Diego González Serra (1995) in his book, also referred that in the phenomenon of motivation there is a communion of different elements, such as the affective process (emotions and feelings), the tendencies (voluntary and impulsive) and the cognitive processes (sensory, perception, thought, memory, among others.) The most important ones are the affective processes and the tendencies. Motivation constitutes a fundamental aspect of human personality, since the necessities and motives constitute any person"s core. Motivation plays an important regulatory function in the ordinary adult human being; it determines, finally, the transformations of necessities, attitudes, motives and projects of each personality.
The study of this phenomenon consists of the analysis of behavior and its reasons, with the result that is crucial of any field of psychology and pedagogy. In the pedagogical one, motivation means to provide motives, to stimulate students䠷illingness for learning. The concept implies efficiency and it may be positive if it is directed to the object that the subjects need. Motivation may be negative if it is not directed to the object and leads to unsatisfactory situations.
Motivation consists of an articulation of the psychic processes that regulate the direction and intensity of human behavior taking into consideration necessities, disposition and properties of the personality. It can be deduced that necessities and disposition constitute the possibility or potentiality of the personality to self-motivate and react before certain stimulating situations. Necessity or disposition can exist only in a potential way, without manifestations in the psychic processes or in the activity of the subject, or it can be expressed in the psychical processes and impulses and guide the motivated activity.
There is a great important unit and identity between necessities and dispositions on the one hand and motivation on the other. Necessities and disposition participate in motivation and can be manifested as motives of an activity. Necessity and disposition do not act as motives; they come together with the present reality.
Motivation towards study influences not only the efficiency of the assimilation of knowledge, but also on the formation of character, ethics, and the ideological orientation of children and youth. Steven McDonough (1989) stated: "It is understood by motivation towards study the conjunction between physical and intensity of activity towards the accomplishment of the necessity and social request of the individual". This definition satisfies the interests of the present investigation because it point out the aspects that should be taken into consideration when determining the students䠬earning. Motivation towards study induces a set of social necessities- responsibility, obligation and professional interest regarding study and students䠰reparation for life, as well as the feeling for national identity and love to the country, which implies the formation of positive moral values the need to be enhanced for life; individual necessities – cognitive interests, intellectual activity, self-evaluation projected towards social evaluation what can be achieved to get a good work place in the future, which are necessities in mans䠬ife influenced to a great extent by motives.
However, motivation towards study is aimed at fulfilling a social duty-intellectual preparation for the future social life- it becomes a social necessity, disposition or orientation assimilated by the individual as a significant personal nature.
For Raymond Wlodkowski in his article, "Designing Instruction to increase Student Motivation" (1990); motivation can be understood as a traitor, as a disposition which acts as cause, a mediator, and an outcome of learning. When establishing that, motivation consists of internal impulses that lead to action that, at the same time, it is the stimulus which promotes it; we may assert that in foreign language learning those impulses are the result of the necessities, wishes, motives and disposition of the individual and they may be both by intrinsic or extrinsic reasons. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to stimulate those necessities and dispositions.
Concerning what is has been stated above, it should be made reference to the fact that motivation is not a step of the lesson, or just a moment within it, as it is confused with the initial warm up. Motivation must be present in each moment of the lesson, before and after it, during the whole teaching-educative process. That is why it is important to study and investigate everything about concerning this category.
Motivation when learning will be greater in proportion as the way in which the language is taught: presenting and practicing it communicatively; teaching it by integrating the four basic skills of the verbal activity: listening, speaking, reading and writing, using the linguistic material in context, communicatively, not in an isolated way; with constant and immediate stimulus, encouraging to do things and to create, as well as to actively take part in the process.
In such cases, the situation must be real, relevant and effective, but above all, interesting and attractive. Therefore, motivation is fulfilled by increasing the interest, the necessities and the disposition towards communication.
1.2.1- DIFFERENT KINDS OF MOTIVATION
Motivation is the activation or energization of goal-oriented behavior. Motivation is said to be intrinsic or extrinsic. (Encarta, 2008)
Intrinsic motivation comes from rewards inherent to a task or activity itself – the enjoyment of a puzzle or the love of playing. This form of motivation has been studied by social and educational psychologists since the early 1970s. Research has found that it is usually associated with high educational achievement and enjoyment by students. Intrinsic motivation has been explained by Fritz Heider's attribution theory, Bandura's work on self-efficacy, and Ryan and Deci's cognitive evaluation theory. Students are likely to be intrinsically motivated if they:
attribute their educational results to internal factors that they can control (e.g. the amount of effort they put in)
believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired goals (i.e. the results are not determined by luck),
Are interested in mastering a topic, rather than just rote-learning to achieve good grades.
Extrinsic motivation comes from outside of the performer. Money is the most obvious example, but coercion and threat of punishment are also common extrinsic motivations. Social psychological research has indicated that extrinsic rewards can lead to over justification and a subsequent reduction in intrinsic motivation. In one study demonstrating this effect, children who expected to be (and were) rewarded with a ribbon and a gold star for drawing pictures spent less time playing with the drawing materials in subsequent observations than children who were assigned to an unexpected reward condition and to children who received no extrinsic reward.
Educational psychologists are interested in the topic of motivation because of the crucial role it plays in student learning. However, the specific kind of motivation that is studied in the specialized setting of education differs qualitatively from the more general forms of motivation studied by psychologists in other fields.
In the field of education, the phenomenon of motivation can have several effects on how students learn and how they behave towards subject matter it can:
Direct behavior towards particular goals, lead to increased effort and energy, increase initiation of, and persistence in, activities, enhance cognitive processing, determine what consequences are reinforcing and lead to improved performance.
Because students are not always internally motivated, they sometimes need situated motivation, which is found in environmental conditions that the teacher creates.
Finally, it is stated that there are two kinds of motivation:
Intrinsic motivation occurs when people are internally motivated to do something because it either brings them pleasure, they think it is important, or they feel that what they are learning is significant.
Extrinsic motivation comes into play when a student is compelled to do something or act in a certain way because of external factors to him or her (like money or good grades).
Wlodkowski (1990) also refers to some motivational factors that can act as motivational influence and categories for motivational strategies.
1- Attitude: A combination of concepts, information and emotions that results in a predisposition to respond favorably or unfavorably towards people, groups, ideas, events or objects.
2- Need: A condition experienced by the individual as an internal force that leads the person to move in the direction of a goal.
3- Stimulation: Any change in perception or experience with the environment that makes a person active.
4- Affect: Emotional experience, the feelings, concerns and passions of the person.
5- Competence: The process and acquisition of effective interaction and mastery of the response it follows. Yes it is not easy to achieve the extrinsic motivation here in mentioned.
6- Reinforcement: Any event that maintains or increases the probability of the response it follows. It helps to be aware of the positive changes their learning behavior has produced. It affirms to continue learner motivation for significant units of learning.
The teacher must be aware of the process, knowing that to learn a foreign language there are elements that cannot be missed: energy, the will to learn, perseverance, interest, lesson pleasure, incentive and knowledge of benefits obtained when learning a language.
In relation to these components, other authors like Bennett (2005) offer other categories which may help English teachers to plan the learning process and these are:
Success: This helped the teacher increase the chances of students䠬earning and motivation. Also in most cases teachers should sequence the learning to the easiest to the most difficult-especially for students who are easily frustrated.
Meaningful is another important aspect to point out because, when sharing purpose of the lessons with the students increases the chances and the students will be motivated to participate. Other ways are drama, role-plays, field trips, books discussion, films, songs and videos. Perhaps the biggest trap of Teacher Directed Learning is the failure to make the learning meaningful.
Interest: Students are motivated to do those things that they find interesting. Curiosity about something also peaks students䠩nterests. By showing interests in students we impact the feeling tone in the classroom. Learning for the sake of learning is also increased (intrinsic motivation).
Knowledge of results is another aspect that the author took into account when elaborating the proposal. When we know what we are doing is being done well, or needs to be improved, we are motivated to continue. Certainly, monitoring the students䠬earning and adjusting our teaching is one way to provide accurate knowledge of results. Knowledge of results is one of the characteristics of active participation.
1.3- THE USE OF AUDIO VISUAL AIDS TO MOTIVATE STUDENTS
"The extensive use of audio visual aids and audiovisual material that the teacher of foreign languages has at its disposal nowadays together with the use of carefully selected and graded linguistic material, create favorable conditions for teaching pupils to understand the foreign language when it is spoken and to speak it themselves" (Rogova, G. V, Moscow 2000)
Audiovisual materials are channels through which content stimuli are presented to the learner-stimuli to motivate, evoke response, inform direct attention, evaluate, guide thinking and test for transfer. First, establish objectives, and consider your audience: then, organize the contents to fit your objectives. Now select the specific audiovisual materials and other experiences to carry through your purposes.
Until recently, nearly all formal teaching was carried out through the medium of language. But in recent years educators have come to lay more emphasis on learning through the senses. The methods of teaching which make use of the learners䠳ense of sight as well as language are often known as visual methods and many of the materials the teacher uses are called visual aids. It is now almost taken for granted that visual methods of teaching get better results than methods which depend exclusively upon language.
It is also very often taken for granted that visual methods are equally effective in the teaching of all subjects because we can show that these methods are particularly effective in the teaching of languages. Consequently, the assumption that visual methods are equally effective in teaching language and content subjects needs questioning, and, if possible, theoretical justification; it requires, in other words, a rationale.
The argument will be that visual methods are indeed more efficient than those relying wholly upon language, but that the reason why this is so in language teaching is quite different from the reason that it is so in teaching a content subject such as geography or biology. The explanation is to be found in the relationship between language and the world outside language. This is the central problem of meaning, with which philosophers and psychologists have always been concerned. They have now been joined by the linguistics. Nowadays, however, in teaching a content subject, knowledge is most often imparted through a combination of sensory experience and language; in other words, by audiovisual means.
1.4- PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS FROM SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Students at Senior High Schools are in a transit period between adolescence and youth. During this stage, there are produced physical, intellectual, moral and social changes where is shown elements of maturity, self-consciousness, closer relation with others, manifestations of social behavior, interest in studying, preoccupation for his/her appearance and about the group opinion on them. One of the most important things in the development of students" personality in the period of 15 to 18 years is the huge social activity towards the appropriation of some models and values addressed to the formation of favorable relationships with adults and classmates and with themselves.
With these relations, plays an important role the "Genetic Law of the double formation" by Vigotsky (1979) that stated the transit of the inter-psychological aspect to the intra-psychological ones which is also present in the development of intrinsic motivation. The relations that are present in this stage must be taken into consideration by the teachers to work with the "Zone of Proximal Development" with the students and can get them to explore their potentialities. These considerations are of great importance to develop motivation and self-assessment in our students nowadays.
Teachers can offer a positive influence among youth by keeping a good level of communication, listening to the students䠮ecessities and aspirations, paying them attention without imposing criteria and do not giving general advices but exchanging ideas and opinions. During this stage, teachers䠩nfluence can be very important. To the youth, the contact with others strengthens the necessity of self-reflection, to value and guide himself to his own personality. Young people need help and understanding but they also need to autonomous, self-directed and they should be given opportunities to develop these qualities. In all of this process, youth needs an adequate guidance to get the development of one of the main objectives of the Cuban Education: the general formation of the new generations.
This stage is considered by some authors as difficult and critic, due to the important changes that are produced in this period. Studying and the school occupy an important place in this stage, but not for everyone it occurs in the same way, also appears personal interests, fans and empirical knowledge that are integrated with the abilities they acquired at school too. The acquisition of knowledge it is not only in the boundaries of school, it goes further; anyhow appears an inclination towards the intellectual work, they mastery of knowledge, new abilities, interests for a specific subject or any art manifestation.
Activities to enhance students" motivation towards english lessons in 12th graders
This epigraph begins with a diagnosis of the initial status of the students" motivational level towards the English lessons at Senior High School. It includes five activities to enhance the students䠬evel of motivation towards English lessons with the didactic use of the different aids in 12th grade. A qualitative and a quantitative analysis of the obtained results from the application of the proposal are made. To model the activities, it was taken into account the exigencies that are present in the objectives and formative object for this level.
Main characteristics of the proposal: There are integrated all the knowledge, integrating what and how. The activities take into account the young-adolescents peculiarities, their differences and potentialities with a personological focus. In the activities are applied in a creative way some advanced pedagogical experiences such as: discussions, games, workshops and researching activities. In this investigation the author took into consideration the concept of activity of Rose Antich (1974) that stated: "an activity is an educational procedure designed to stimulate learning" and by Viviana González Maura (1995) that expressed: "we call activity to those processes through the individual, answering to its necessities have relation with the reality, adopting a determined attitude towards it" because it is considered that, if the activity is well orientated; it can promote the adoption of positive attitudes towards its objective. The activities, expresses the synthesis of the ideal and the men"s spirit, in which the human beings modify nature, lives conditions and necessities.
In relation the above stated, to get an educative work with good results it is important to that the following elements are taken into account at the time of doing the activities:
The students䠮ecessities in function to their characteristics, aspirations and age; what determines their participation.
The capacity of each student to accomplish the assigned task and to give them the opportunity to work in teams.
The teachers䠭astering of teaching skills.
The social and moral content of the activities.
The students䠯pportunity to express their independence, creativity, motivation and interest which contributes to perform an active role in what they are doing.
The activities suggested in this research are based on the components of motivation stated by Barrie Bennett (2005) which helped the researcher throughout the process to increase students䠬earning and motivation.
2.1- INITIAL STATUS OF THE STUDENTS" MOTIVATIONAL LEVEL TOWARDS ENGLISH LESSONS
For the development of the investigation was necessary to put into practice the following indicators and techniques to measure each indicator: See (Annex A)
Attitude of the students towards the English lessons: Motivation is a reality reflects. It expresses, contains and modifies reality. That is why; it is an expression and manifestation of the purposes and states of the personality, character, capacity and temper, being the properties of character the ones who play the main role. The categories to measure the effectiveness of this indicator are: always (high), sometimes (middle), never (low).
Students䠷illingness to get involved in communicative exercises: In the phenomenon of motivation there is a communion of two important elements, as the affective process (emotions and feelings) and the tendencies (voluntary and impulsive). The categories to measure this indicator are: High, middle and low.
Students䠰erseverance towards the aim to be accomplished: The learner consistently invests a high level of effort in learning and it is not discouraged by setbacks or apparent lack of progress. The categories to measure this indicator are: High, middle and low.
Students䠡ccomplishment of desired goals: The concept of motivation implies efficiency increases as there is a great internal contradiction or frustration and at the same time, a larger objective, possibilities of solving the contradiction. The categories to measure it are: Total accomplishment (high), partial accomplishment (middle) and not accomplishment (low).
To determine the students" motivational level towards the English lessons, it was applied an observation guide (Annex I). Through the observation, the researcher knew that just seven (7) students have good attitude towards the English lesson which represented (20.5 %). There were twenty seven (27) students with a bad attitude which represented 79.4 %. They did not pay attention, most of them did not copy important details from the board or they just copied part of it, and not all the students were interested towards the task they were developing. It was also gathered that they were not able to get involved in communicative events, just five (5) students had high willingness which represented (14.7%), eight (8) students had middle which represented (27.2%) and the rest of the group twenty one (21) had low willingness to practice communicative activities, which represented 71.4%. Another handicap the author found along the observation was that the students did not understand the English lessons at all. See (Annex II)
As a second step, the researcher applied an interview to the students (Annex III), after its previous analysis, the teacher could know that twenty one (21) students felt unmotivated towards the English lessons, six (6) of them sometimes felt motivated and just seven (7) students felt motivated. Besides, five (5) students said that they were just motivated at the beginning of the lesson, twenty four (24) in the middle of it and five (5) just at the end. As another important aspect twenty seven (27) students manifested that their English teacher did not relate the exercises with their own life experiences, four (4) stated that they partially did it and three (3) say always.
They also made a list of some activities which might motivate them such as: four (4)students referred to some exercises to know the content of the unit or at least the content of the lesson, three (3) said they liked oral activities, also three (3) liked role playing, five (5) were interested on brainstorming, five (5) students wanted to listen to some music or watch a film, two (2) on games and also two (2) on reading books, magazines, articles, and 10 did not say anything. Among the topics and aspects the students proposed to be analyzed in lessons are:
1- Sexual Education.
2- Environment.
3- Caribbean Culture.
4- Poems discussions.
5- Fashion.
6- Development of the Information and Communication Technologies.
7- The world in the XXI century.
8- Wonders of the world.
9- Music manifestations.
10- Personal relationships.
11- Feelings (love). See (Annex IV)
Another interview was also administered to the teachers (Annex V). From ten (10), only eight (8) became the sample interviewed on this investigation. All of them stated that their students were always unmotivated towards the English lessons, four (4) said that they were just a little motivated at the beginning of the lesson, three (3) said in the middle and one (1) said at the end.
As another aspect to analyze five (5) teachers said that sometimes they did activities related to the students life or experiences, because it is a hard topic to discuss and three (3) said that they always did activities like these ones.
Among the activities that their students liked the most were: seven (7) students said oral activities, ten (10) said videos, and six (6) said brainstorming, three (3) of them referred to role playing, four (4) said games and also four (4) said songs. The teachers said that, they sometimes take into consideration the students䠩nterests and aspirations in the lessons but they have no time and the syllabus orientations do not coincide con their topics. See (Annex VI).
It was analyzed a test applied to the students (Annex VII) after a lesson number 16 from Unit # 2 "What if 妱uot;Nineteen (19) students failed the test which represented a 64.6 %, seven (7) students passed the test with some mistakes which represented 23.8 % and just eight (8) passed the test without a mistake which represented 27.2%. (Annex VIII)
After applying the test to the students, it was applied a phrases completion instrument, for its development was used a version made by Yumisleidys Licea, 2010. The instrument had 15 phrases (Annex IX) that include specific ideas looking for the direct and open implication of the students in the English lessons; with the objective to deep in the information about the students䠭otivational level towards the English lessons. We can search in all determined indicators and the results give us that the students䠡ttitude towards the English lesson was affected. Nineteen (19) students omitted the completion of the phrases (During the lesson I feel廠While the lesson is 廠I am interested in 婠it shows us a lower attitude of the students towards this indicator, which represents a 64.6% of lower valuation. Fifteen (15) students were in a high level, representing a 44.1% of high level.
In phrases (It is stimulating廠I am interest in 廠I will do my best for廠I participate in婠it was detected a little will to get involved in communicative exercises, twenty one (21) students show low will towards this indicator representing a 61.7% of lower evaluation and only four (4) students show high level, representing a 13.6 % of evaluation and nine (9) students a middle level of will, representing a 30.6%.
In the third indicator explored, was detected in phrases (Some lessons are廠I am interested in廠What I hope is廠I think English is婠a low level of perseverance towards the aim to be accomplished represented by twenty four (24) students do not come on strong level of perseverance, which represented a 70.5% of lower evaluation, four (4) stated a high level of perseverance showing a 13.6% of perseverance and six (6) students show middle perseverance towards this indicator, representing a 20.4%.
In the last explored indicator were situated in the low level the big part of the students which represented a 91.8% of not accomplishment of the desired goals, expressing that with the lessons only they did not acquire the enough knowledge and abilities to affront the exams and test that the teachers apply. The affected phrases were (During the lesson I 廠My results are廠In the tests I am 婮 Only five (5) students were in the high level of this indicator because they expressed that with the lessons they could understand and make the tests and evaluations without difficulties.
After the analysis of all the results, it was determined that the level of motivation towards the English lessons in a general way was low.
As follow, it is offered the activities proposed with its title, objective, content, and way of organization and procedures for its development, so as the way of control or evaluation. The investigator elaborated five activities, even though in daily practice, in classroom the activities are repeated more than one occasion which allows the activities to become in much more.
2.2- PROPOSAL OF ACTIVITIES
Activity # 1
Title: "Triumphal Smile"
Objective: Explain through the analysis of a poem, how the students䠰otentialities are present in his lives, valuing the correspondence between the internal and outward criteria about this topic, and the importance of the self control to face different life situations.
Content: Showing understanding of a written report. Lesson 8
Moment of application: It is designed to be applied in September, taking into account the anniversary of the imprisoning of the five Cuban Heroes.
Organization: Individual
Procedure: Oral and written activity. (Discussion and reflection)
The teacher orients the reading of the poem "Triumphal Smile" (p-52) from the book "From my Altitude" (See annex X) written by Antonio Guerrero a Cuban Hero imprisoned in USA. The students should look for the book in the school library.
The teacher discuss the main ideas in the poem and their relation with the students䠷ay of thinking, reflected for some ideas on how optimism surpasses the obstacles that are present during the course of the life.
After reading carefully the poem and analyze the main ideas of it answer:
1- Which is the message of the "Triumphal Smile" poem?
2- How you should act in life to accomplish this message?
3- How would you act in front of strong living failures?
4- Are you an optimistic person? Argue your answer.
Evaluation: To evaluate the students" answers in an oral way and the teacher will ask for the agreement or disagreement with the different answers. The evaluation will be taken in the register book. The indicator to be evaluated is the students" perseverance towards the aim to be accomplished.
Activity # 2
Title: "Meeting and sharing with new friends"
Objective: To make meetings of friendship and solidarity with youth foreign students (mainly English speaking countries of the Caribbean) that study some university majors in our province to favor the motivation for the knowledge and study of new cultures, traditions and mainly the value of solidarity among man and women in the world.
Content: Culture of English Speaking Caribbean. Giving opinions and showing understanding of an oral presentation.
Moment of application: Before finishing the first semester. (Before the second Mid-Term assessment in December)
Organization: Team work.
Procedure: Questions for discussion. The activity is structured into two stages.
1st stage: This is the preparation stage for the meeting, in which it will be made the coordination" with the schools and once known the quantity and nationalities of the participants, the students from Senior High School grouped in teams will make a research work about the countries of each foreign participant. It will be elaborated small monographs. Monitors will accomplish the most responsible and protagonist tasks.
2nd stage: This is the development of the meeting that at the same time has three moments (organizational), the students should organize the classroom like a conference room, put the flags of the participant countries. Identify the place of each participant; prepare the typical dishes of the countries, exchange about the traditions and characteristics of the countries gathered in the monographs. (Development of the meeting) The invited participants talk about their countries, how they obtained the possibility to study in Cuba and some other impressions about our city and the country, also show some objects, typical clothes, written materials like magazines, newspapers, videos, music, national anthems and other related to the traditions of each country. (Conclusions) The invited participants present different cultural moments typical of their countries such as songs and dance. The teacher directs the exchange about the importance of the activity and what was interesting, positive and useful for them. They can eat the dishes and share them at the end.
Evaluation: It will be evaluated the participation of each student in the teams䠷ork; at the end the teacher will ask for self assessment regarding the development of the activity. This activity will take into consideration the indicators: attitude of the students towards the English lesson, the students" willingness to get involved in communicative exercises and the students䠡ccomplishment of the desired goals.
Activity # 3
Title: "Checking up our listening skill"
Objective: To fill in the blanks the correct words according to what they have listened from a video clip, taking into account their level and development of listening skill.
Content: Showing understanding of the lyrics of a song, that includes conditional sentences types I, II and III. Lesson 12
Moment of application: It is designed to be applied in November in a lesson.
Organization: Team work.
Procedure: Written and oral activity. The teacher will give to each team of students a fragment of the song "If I had a million dollars" by The Bare-naked Ladies (Annex XI). After the teacher plays the video clip, each team should complete the missing space according to what they hear from the song. This step will be repeated four times: the first one, to familiarize students with the song, the second and third one to complete the missing words, and the last one to check up what they have done. The teacher will be checking the teams work during the visualization and listening of the song. The teacher will write on the board the possible words to take into account.
Evaluation: It will be evaluated in a written way the teams䠷ork, and the indicator to be taken into consideration is the students䠰erseverance and the accomplishment of the desired goals.
Activity # 4 (See annex XII)
Adapted from the English Workbook 8th grade
Title: Tell us about 弯font>
Objective: To talk about in an oral way making use of the different communicative functions studied by means of a game, to know how do they feel, their likes and dislikes, aspirations, favorite kind of music, daily routines, among others.
Content: Communicative Functions.
Talking about yourself.
Likes and dislikes.
Past activities.
Future plans.
Talking about dreams and desires.
Talking about health and fitness.
Moment of application: To be applied in a review lesson before the first Mid-Term assessment (November)
Organization: By teams of five (5) students.
Procedures: By means of a game.
The teacher gets five (5) table games to the classroom with their dadoes. Then he/she makes a first explanation on how to play this game and its objective and performs some examples of it.
Evaluation: It will be taking into account the students䠣orrect pronunciation, intonation, rhythm and coherence in the ideas and will be given a quantitative evaluation until ten (10) points. In this activity the main indicators to be evaluated is the accomplishment of the desired goals and the students䠷illingness to get involved in communicative exercises.
Activity # 5 (See annex XIII)
Title: "Time race"
Objective: To evaluate the knowledge, agility and ability to differentiate an incorrect item which does not mach with a specific group.
Content: Vocabulary from tenth and eleventh grades.
Moment of application: To be applied in a lesson.
Organization: Individual.
Procedures: Time race (the word that do not match in each group). The activity lasts twenty minutes (20 min). The teacher will give to each student a piece of paper with a group of items with four words and one of them does not match with the rest. He/she will give an example on how to do this activity. This activity was made in many occasions but with different word groups.
Evaluation: To evaluate in a quantitative way the action taking into account the agility and answers of the students. The indicator to be evaluated is the students䠡ccomplishment of the desired goals.
2.3 – BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITIES AND EVALUATION OF THE PROPOSALS" IMPACT
The activity # 1 entitled: "Triumphal Smile" was applied in the last week of September (after a previous orientation). The investigator gets to the classroom some copies of the poem "Triumphal Smile" taken from the book "From my Altitude" written by Antonio Guerrero and reads it with a correct intonation, pronunciation and rhythm. The teacher gives treatment of the knowledge about the historical context related with the author of the poem. The students identified the events lived by the Cuban Hero. It was developed upon the textual analysis of the poem, taking into account the grammar studied in lessons and the methodological procedures for reading comprehension. They interpreted the each verse of the poem, summarized it and also extracted the main idea and the message of the poem. A rich analysis was made about the values of Antonio Guerrero and the learning inside the messages of the poem. The most interesting of the discussion was the students䠲elates about determined circumstances they lived and how do they have affronted them. Was evidenced a students䠧eneralized positive attitude towards the lesson and their willingness to participate in communicative exercises. This activity was evaluated in an oral and written way.
The second activity, entitled "Meeting and sharing with new friends" was made a friendship and solidarity meeting with English speaking students that study some University Majors in our province. This activity was carried out in December because it required time for its preparation and development; it demanded from the investigator a better orientation, independence of the students and the development of some communication ways and behavior that in September were not present. The activity was divided in two stages: First stage; preparation for the meeting.
After the coordination with the Medical University where the participants" students comes from, it was established the meeting day with 21 days before. The nationalities of the participants were also coordinated. The group sample of this investigation was divided into six teams and was assigned a specific country taking into account the nationalities of the participants. Each team researched about the countries䠧eography, customs, traditions, music, food, dance, clothes, languages and dialects among others.
Second stage: Meeting development.
First moment: The students were headed by a monitor (an advanced monitor).The investigator and the monitor carried out the moderation of the activity. A rich exchange of criteria was produced, each participant student talked about their countries. The most part of the meeting was spoken in English, making the teacher the necessary explanations for a better understanding of the participants䠳peech. It was shown some objects such as clothes, written materials (newspapers, magazines, articles and books), coins, phone cards and some others related with the customs and traditions of each country. The students from Senior High School asked about some interest aspects for them.
Third moment: Summary of the meeting.
The participants presented different cultural play typical from their country like songs (a Jamaican young man sang one) and dance (a couple from Saint Vicente and the Grenadines danced a traditional piece). An exchange of criteria was made headed by the investigator about the utility of the activity.
In the activity # 3, entitled "Checking up our listening skill" was developed in a motivated environment due to the potentialities of the audio visual aids and the students䠩nterest to decode the lyrics of the song. The students proposed during the development of the activity to make competitions among them to select the fastest and the one who answers correctly. The video clip was reproduced three times, following the steps to this kind of activity. In this activity, was evaluated writing and listening comprehension skills. Also the teachers asked the students about the message of the song. Some valuations related to the useless of the money in some life situations and the importance of the values and moral qualities to face life"s circumstances. It was obtained some advanced steps on the studied grammar (conditional sentences types I, II and III) and in the active participation of all the students in the activity.
In the activity # 4, entitled "Tell us about妱uot; was made upon a didactic game in which was developed the oral communicative abilities. In this activity are present some questions about the students䠰references, future aspirations, family, friends among others. The activity was organized by teams. A qualification tribunal was activated to the evaluation of the students䠡nswers. The students showed a great motivation towards the realization of the activity and will to accomplish the desired goals. A negative aspect of this activity was the tendency of the students to speak aloud and to be in disagreement among them besides with the opportune mediation of the investigator was obtained a favorable condition. To evaluate this activity was taken into consideration the students䠣orrect pronunciation, coherence in the ideas, rhythm and use of the vocabulary studied. It was gathered an active participation of the students.
The activity # 5, entitled "Time race" was made in four times; at the beginning and at the end of each unit of the syllabus. In this activity were evaluated the agility in the students䠡nswers and the behavior during the development of the activity. This activity contributes to widen the students vocabulary acquired in lessons. The first kind of activity, shown in (Annex XIII) was elaborated by the investigator. The other activities applied accepted the suggestions of the students that participate in the elaboration of the word games, contributing to develop their creativity. An adequate behavior during the development of the activity put into practice the rules of the teams䠷ork, upgrading he level of participation in this kind of activity.
While the process of implementation was on, the author kept evaluating the results by means of a systematic observation so as to be able, at the end, to have valuable criteria about the level of effectiveness of the proposal.
Evaluation of the proposal
It should be remarked that what is emphasized in this investigation is that the students need to perform actions that are common and necessary in actual communication. The indicators selected from the evaluation of the students" motivation towards the English lessons were those stated on (pp 16), they remained the same just to be able to compare the status of the process, that is, before the implementation of the proposal within the one existing at the end of the experience.
The first indicator the author took into account was about the attitude of the students towards the English lessons. This could be seen as one with no relevance, but was shown throughout this research that once the students started to feel more confident about such kind of work and found themselves involved in practical communicative situations.
It affected positively their competence to overcome any barrier or difficulty that they came across during their work. The reason why this happen lies on the fact that they found significant meanings on language dealing with their experiences and knowledge reflected on the process. The matter is that language learning should go beyond their scope. That is, the learners䠳ituations must use topics in which they previously have valuable information in their mother tongue and target language.
In (Annex XIV) it is shown that after the implementation of the proposal, just five (5) students remained reluctant to get engaged with the English lessons, what obviously influenced upon the outcome of this work, but they were assigned to work with other partners who helped them to get motivated in the most occasions after they received support and felt that they were also capable of making improvements. Twenty nine (29) students managed, after some success and well attitude towards the lesson, to face the exercises with optimism, what determined their positive performance.
The second indicator was students䠷illingness to get involved in communicative exercises. It was one of the indicators most evidently favored for the students because most of them felt motivated to participate in communicative exercises and activities. After applying the proposal they stated that they could understand the exercises proposed in the lesson. It is important to say that the students have emotions and will to do exercises and to participate in different activities. Twenty seven (27) students had high willingness to get involved in communicative events; four (4) students sometimes show a middle level of willingness, because they still have some problems with some grammatical structures and sounds which were assigned to do different exercises and three (3) of them had low willingness. They stated that it was important to do this kind of activities and exercises even though it sometimes implies mistakes.
The third indicator taken into account in this investigation was students䠰erseverance towards the aim to be accomplished. Once the proposal was applied six (6) students showed middle perseverance towards the aim. Twenty four (24) got to overcome this problem highly, just four (4) students are still having some difficulties to accomplish it because it happened with low-attainability-students that the investigator had to work with them in other occasion. This aspect, as the others already analyzed, increased the learners䠰roficiency in the English language for they could incorporate the knowledge they had to acquire in this level.
The last indicator taken into account so as to validate the efficiency of the proposal was checking up the students䠡ccomplishment of desired goals. For this investigation it was an important element because motivation implies efficiency, results. At the beginning students䠯utcomes was so affected, getting a negative sixty-three (63.3 %), a twenty three (23.3 %) of partial accomplishment and just thirteen period three (13.3 %) of accomplishment, something that affected notably the objective of any language course, the communicative competence. After applying the proposal it could get positive levels, the students䠯utcomes have a 79.3 % of accomplishment,10.5 % have partial accomplishment and 9.2 % of the students could not accomplish the desired goals ; to these students there was a different way of teaching, taking into account their difficulties and their potentialities, even in their mother tongue, Spanish.
The analysis of this indicator served to show a progressive and effective advance for the students. This one was highly favored by the implementation of the proposal. The most important aspect for the investigation is not precisely the quality of the students䠰erformance; it was shown that with a systematic work and using the proposal results can be improved with this indicator.
If it is compared the final results with the initial ones, it must be said that there have been changes in the students䠭otivation towards the English lessons. Although there are still some difficulties that only can be solved by putting into practice the activities proposed and other similar ones in order to increase the students䠭otivation towards the English lessons and the learning of the language in a good way.
These results increased both, quantitatively and qualitatively in the instructive outcome of the educational process. See (Annexes XIV-A and B)
Conclusions
It may be concluded that motivation is a complex process that requires teachers to pay attention and understand the students" interests, needs, aspirations and opinions, taking into consideration the kinds of motivation; making emphasis in the intrinsic one. It was tested the students䠬evel of motivation towards the English lessons. The activities suggested in this work to enhance students䠭otivation contributed to enhance the motivational level towards the English lesson and consequently, learning of the English language and the development of skills in Senior High School. Its pertinence and possibilities of generalization in the educative practice also have been verified during the investigation. The activities applied are coherent because they take into account the students䠬anguage objectives, their own experiences and their interests towards language learning. The results obtained shows the effectiveness of the proposal applied addressed to enhance the students motivation towards the English lessons.
Bibliography
1- ACOSTA, M y otros. Creatividad, motivación y rendimiento académico. Ediciones Aljibe, S.L. Málaga, 1998.
2- ALONSO, J y G. LÓPEZ. Efectos motivacionales de las actividades docentes en función de las motivaciones de loa alumnos, en el aprendizaje estratégico. Santanilla. Madrid, 1999.
3- ANTICH DE LEÓN, R. The teaching of English at the intermediate and elementary levels. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 1983.
4- ATKINSON, J. W. Personality, Motivation and Achievement. Hemisphere. Corp. New York, 1978.
5- BARBERA, E. Marco conceptual e investigación de la motivación humana. http://reme.uji.es , 2000.
6- BARRIE BENNETT. The six characteristics of motivation. Material impreso. 2005
7- BONIFAZ, N. Motivación para el aprendizaje. Maestría en Educación Superior. Potosí. Bolivia, 2003.
8- BOSHONOVICH, L. J. Estudio de las motivaciones de la conducta de los niños y adolescentes. Editorial Pueblo y Educación, La Habana, 1997.
9- CASTELLANOS SIMONS, DORIS y coautores. Aprender y enseñar en la escuela: una concepción desarrolladora. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2002.
10- DIAZ RODRIGUEZ, M. E. Las tendencias autovalorativas y su diferenciación funcional en jóvenes estudiantes de preuniversitario. Tesis de Licenciatura. Universidad de La Habana, Facultad de Psicología. La Habana, 1991.
11- ENRÍQUEZ O䆁RRIL, ISORA Y COAUTORES. English Workbook for 10th graders. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2006.
12- ______________________________________. English Workbook for 11th graders. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2006.
13- _____________________________________. English workbook for 12th graders. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2006.
14- _____________________________________. English workbook for 8th graders. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2006.
15- FLORES, C. T. Motivar a otros. Una experiencia fascinante. Coedición con la unidad de publicaciones del IPC. Venezuela, 1996.
16- GONZÁLEZ CANCIO, ROBERTO. La clase de lengua extranjera. Teoría y práctica. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2009.
17- GONZALEZ MAURA, VIVIANA y otros. Psicología para Educadores. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2001.
18- GÓNZALEZ REY, F. Motivación moral en adolescentes y jóvenes. Editorial Científico Técnica. La Habana, 1983. (a)
19- __________________. Motivación profesional en adolescentes y jóvenes. Editorial Ciencias Sociales. La Habana, 1983. (b)
20- GRUSEC, J. E y otros. Development During adolescence. En Foundations of Psychology. pp. 553-557. Coro Clerk Pitman LTD, Toronto, 1990.
21- GREENWOOD, JOHN. The teaching of English as an international language, 1981.
22- GUERRERO ANTONIO Y MARGARET LOUISE BECKER. "From my Altitude". Editorial José Martí. La Habana, 2001.
23- HERNÁNDEZ GALARRAGA, ELINA. "Sobre el video en la escuela", en Guía para el maestro, TV Educativa. Tabloide 1, septiembre, pp. 25-29. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2004.
24- http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/extrinsic_motivation.htm
25- http://education.calumet.purdue.edu/vockell/EdpsyBook/Edpsy5/edpsy5_intrinsic.htm (consultado septiembre 2009)
28- http://www.apa.org/journals/psp/psp776112.html (consultado junio 2009)
29- http://www.pearsonlongman.com/ae/worldview/motivation.pdf
30- http://www.priceless-teaching-strategies.com/student_motivation.html
32- ICCP. Documentación para las nuevas transformaciones en el preuniversitario. Documento Digital Dirección Provincial de Educación, Las Tunas.2005.
33- IPLAC. Fundamentos de la investigación educativa. Tabloide de la Maestría en Ciencias de la Educación. Módulo 1/Primera parte. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2006.
34- JENSEN ERIC. Aprende a motivarte. Editorial Kobin Books. Barcelona, España, 1996.
35- LEONTIEV, A. N. Actividad, conciencia y personalidad. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 1981.
36- LICEA PÉREZ, YUMISLEIDY Y. Acciones didácticas para favorecer la autovaloración del estudiante desde la clase de inglés. Tesis en opción al título académico de master en Ciencias de la Educación. Las Tunas, 2010.
37- McCOMBS, B. L. The role of the self-system in self-regulated learning. En Contemporary Educational Psychology, (11): 314-332, 1986.
38- McDONOUGH, STEVEN H. Psychology in Foreign Language Teaching. Edición Revolucionaria. La Habana, 1989.(p 143)
39- MICROSOFT. Enciclopedia Encarta 2008. USA, 2008.
40- MINED. Modelo de preuniversitario: fin y objetivos formativos y funciones de la enseñanza preuniversitaria. En soporte magnético s/f.
41- ______. Programas Educación Preuniversitaria: duodécimo grado (Inglés pp. 242). Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2007.
42- ______. VII Seminario Nacional para Educadores. Primera y Segunda parte. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2007.
43- MORENO, M. J. Indicadores para caracterizar el funcionamiento de la motivación para el aprendizaje desarrollador. Tesis en opción al título académico de Master en Ciencias de la Educación. ISP Enrique José Varona. Ciudad de la Habana, 2002.
44- PARDO, A y J. ALONSO. Motivar en el aula. Ediciones de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Cartablanca. Madrid, 1990.
45- PCC. Tesis y Resoluciones del Primer Congreso del PCC. Editora DOR/CC/PCC. La Habana, 1976.
46- RICARDS, JACK C. Second Language Teacher Education/ David Nurán. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
47- RICO, P. y otros. Proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje desarrollador en la escuela primaria. Teoría y práctica. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2004.
48- ______________. Selección de temas psicopedagógicos. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2000.
49- SEGURA SUÁREZ; M. E y otros. Teorías psicológicas y su influencia en la educación. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. La Habana, 2005.
50- SUNRISE. Software Educativo para la Educación Preuniversitaria. La Habana, 2005.
51- UNIVERSIDAD PARA TODOS. Curso de Inglés Ira parte. Impreso por Granma. La Habana, 2000.
52- VIGOTSKY, L. S. El desarrollo de los procesos psicológicos superiores. Editorial Crítica, Barcelona. España, 1979.
53- WLODKOWSKY, RAYMOND. Designing instruction to increase study motivation. Cambridge University Press. London, 1990.
54- ZILBERSTAIN TORUNCHA, JOSÉ y R. PORTELA. Una concepción desarrolladora de la motivación en el aprendizaje de las ciencias. IPLAC, Segundo Congreso "Didáctica de las Ciencias". La Habana, 2002.
Annex
ANNEX A
INSTRUMENTS AND TECHNIQUES TO EVALUATE THE INDICATORS OF THE VARIABLE MOTIVATION
ANNEX I
OBSERVATION GUIDE
Objective: To value the motivational level of the students towards the English lessons.
Aspects to be evaluated
1- Students that are motivated for the lesson.
2- Activities that the teacher do to motivate their students.
3- Willingness of the students to participate in communicative situations.
4- Perseverance towards the accomplishment of the desired goals.
ANNEX II
OBSERVATION GUIDE RESULTS
ANNEX III
INTERVIEW GUIDE TO STUDENTS
Queridos estudiantes: estamos realizando una investigación sobre la motivación hacia la clase de inglés en 12mo grado, en la que necesitamos su valiosa contribución con absoluta sinceridad, toda información será realizada con plena discreción.
Muchas gracias.
Objetivo: Conocer el nivel motivacional de los estudiantes hacia la clase de inglés en 12mo grado.
Cuestionario
1- ¿Te sientes motivado por las clases de inglés? ¿Por qué?
2- ¿Cuál es la parte de la clase que más te motiva?
3- ¿Relaciona tu profesor/a los temas y situaciones que se te presentan en el aula con tus vivencias y experiencias?
4- ¿Qué actividades te gustaría que tu profesor hiciera antes, durante o después de la clase?
5- ¿Consideras importante el aprendizaje del inglés?
6- ¿Qué temas o aspectos te gustaría que fueran abordaos en las clases de Inglés?
ANNEX IV
RESULTS OF THE INTERVIEW APPLIED TO THE STUDENTS
Activities of preference | Quantity of students | |
Did not say anything | 10 | |
Exercises to know the content of the lesson | 4 | |
Oral activities | 3 | |
Role playing | 3 | |
Brainstorming | 5 | |
Listening to music, watching films | 5 | |
Games | 2 | |
Reading books, magazines, articles, newspapers | 2 | |
Among the topics and aspects the students proposed are:
12- Sexual Education.
13- Environment.
14- Caribbean Culture.
15- Poems discussions.
16- Fashion.
17- Development of the Information and Communication Technologies.
18- The world in the XXI century.
19- Wonders of the world.
20- Music manifestations.
21- Personal relationships.
22- Feelings (love).
ANNEX V- INTERVIEW GUIDE TO TEACHERS
IPVCE
"LUIS URQUIZA JORGE"
LAS TUNAS
Estimados y respetados profesores: Estamos realizando una investigación relacionada con la motivación hacia las clases de inglés de los estudiantes de 12º grado, en la cual necesitamos de su valiosa contribución y absoluta sinceridad, toda la información recopilada será manejada con total discreción.
Muchas gracias.
Objetivo: Conocer cuál es el nivel motivacional de los estudiantes hacia las clases de inglés en 12º grado.
Cuestionario
1- ¿Se sienten motivados sus estudiantes hacia las clases de inglés?
2- ¿Cuál es la parte de la clase que más motiva a los estudiantes? ¿Por qué?
3- ¿Qué actividades motivan más a sus alumnos? Argumente.
4- ¿Usted vincula las nuevas temáticas y situaciones con las vivencias de sus alumnos?
5- ¿Tiene en cuenta las aspiraciones e intereses de sus estudiantes en clases?
ANNEX VI
INTERVIEW TO TEACHERS RESULTS
Among the activities that their students liked the most were:
Oral activities: 7 students
Videos: 10 students
Brainstorming: 6 students
Role playing: 3 students
Games: 4 students
Songs: 4 students
The teachres sometimes take into consideration the students䠩nterests and aspirations because of the time and the syllabus orientations.
ANNEX VII
TEST APPLIED TO STUDENTS AFTER A READING LESSON
Lesson # 16 Unit # 2 "What if妱uot;
Objective: To check up the students䠦ullfilness of desired aims.
As you read the following passage: Answer the questions, write or underline the answer whichever is required.
For several days the prisoner had kept a solitary vigil in a narrow cell, the only light came through a small square window at least three meters from ground. He was beginning to despair when suddenly, just after midnight; he was started to see the door open quietly. The intruder was a woman, covered from head to foot by a cloak of some dark color. She carried a torch and signed him to be silent and follow her. Then as a shadow, she was gone; Gareth needed no second bidding and swiftly gained her side. On tiptoe she led him through the maze of passages, down some stairs, till she paused at the door on her right and listened. With infinite caution she unlocked the door and opened it. The sound of a radio mixed with a babel of voices and the clinking of glasses told that the soldier were awake and drinking in a room nearby. Swiftly, but silent, they sped past door and soon they were in the open air. The prisoner was free!
1- Write a suitable title for the story.
2- Say True or False.
a) ___ It was a complete isolated cell.
b) ___ The intruder came in a few minutes after twelve o"clock.
c) ___ The way out fro his cell was very easy to find.
3- Underline the word that describes the cell: large, damp, lonely, dark.
4- What was the prisoners䠮ame? ____________________.
5- How long had the man been a prisoner? A month, several days, a year, some time.
6- How was the intruder dressed? In white, in black, in a fur coat, in a grey frock.
7- How was the prisoner feeling before the door opened? Optimistic, expectant, hopeless brave.
8- What does "infinite caution" mean? Silently, with very great care, easily, without noise.
ANNEX VIII
RESULTS OF THE TEST APPLIED TO STUDENTS
Students that failed the test: 19 ——– 64.6 %
Students that passed the test with some mistakes: 7 ——– 23.8 %
Students that passed the test without mistakes: 8 ———- 27.2 %
ANNEX IX
PHRASES COMPLETION INSTRUMENT
Objective: To determine the level of the students䠭otivation towards the English lessons.
Indicators to measure:
1- Attitude of the students towards the English lesson.
2- Students䠷illingness to get involved in communicative exercises.
3- Students䠰erseverance towards the aim to be accomplished.
4- Accomplishment of the desired goals.
Orientations: The teacher gives the students a paper with the instrument, reads the instructions and makes the necessary explanations.
Content Name: __________________________________ Group: _____ No:____
1- It is stimulating____________________________________.
2- During the lesson I feel_________________________.
3- Some lessons are ____________________________.
4- All the lessons are ___________________________.
5- The contents are __________________________________.
6- I am interested in __________________________________.
7- The English lessons are good for _______________________.
8- What I best hope is ________________________________.
9- I will do my best for ________________________________.
10- I think English is __________________________________.
11- Before the English lessons ___________________________.
12- I participate in ___________________________________.
13- My results are ___________________________________.
14- In the tests I am ___________________________________.
15- While the lessons ____________________________.
ANNEX X
Poem "Triumphal Smile" by Antonio Guerrero
"From my Altitude" is a book of poems that has the merit of every work born from essential, intimate truths. It was written from the solitude and isolation of a cell in which its author has been arbitrarily confined, for nearly three years, due to a flamed judicial process in Miami.
"Triumphal Smile"
It is not important where you are or where you have gone,
If the wind swept you away like a leaf,
Important is to know you have kept
That triumphal smile which does not anger.
It is not important if they have dried your river
If they don"t let you look straight at the sun.
The day is never pale and somber
When you have the love of many people.
It is not important if upon smiling, I am not with you
The most divine has to be carried by your mind,
That happiness and its shelter of morality
Which grants us eternal life.
February, 1999.
ANNEX XI
SONG "IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS" By the Barenaked Ladies"
Team # 1
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I"d buy you ________________for your house (maybe a nice chesterfield or an ottoman)
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I"d buy you a K-car (a nice _____________ automobile)
If I had a million dollars, I"d buy you _________________.
If I had a million dollars
I"d built a ________ __________ in our ______________.
If I had a million dollars
You could help it wouldn"t be that ________________
If I had a million dollars
Maybe we could put a ________________ in there. Wouldn"t that be fabulous!
Team # 2
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I"d but you a ____________ (but not a real ____________ that"s cruel)
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I"d buy you an exotic __________ pet (like a llama or an emus)
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I"d but you John Merick䳠remains (all crazy elephant bones)
If I had a million dollars I"d buy your _____________.
If I had a million dollars
We wouldn"t have to ____________ to the ____________.
If I had a million dollars
We"d take a __________________cause it costs more.
If I had a million dollars
We wouldn"t have to eat ___________ _____________.
Team # 3
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I"d buy you a _________ ________ (but not a real _________ ________that"s cruel)
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I"d buy you some art (A ___________ or a ____________)
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I"d buy you a ___________ (haven"t you always wanted a ____________?)
If I had a million dollars
I"d buy your _____________.
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)
I"d be RICH!
ANNEX XII
GAME: TELL US ABOUT弯b>
ANNEX XIII
TIME RACE QUESTIONNAIRE
Underline the word that does not match on each group. Good luck!
Remember: Time is gold!
A) RED, BLACK, DARK, YELLOW.
B) SHARK, CAT COW, DOG.
C) WINE, BEER, RHUM, SOFTDRINK.
D) PEPPER, TOMATOE, AVOCADO, CUCUMBER.
E) YOGURT, CHEESE, JUICE, BUTTER.
F) EINSTEIN, WHITMAN, MENDELEYEV, PAVLOV.
G) ROSE, TULIP, CACTUS, DAISY.
H) AFRICA, AUSTRALIA, AMERICA, CANADA.
I) MONDAY, SATURDAY, FRIDAY, SUNDAY.
J) ORANGE, GRAPEFRUIT, STRAWBERRY, TANGERINE.
K) FORK, DISH, SPOON, KNIFE.
L) HEAD, ARM, TOE, SHOE.
ANNEX XIV
COMPARATIVE CHART OF THE OBTAINED RESULTS
ANNEX XIV-A
INITIAL RESULTS IN GRAPHICS
ANNEX XIV-B
FINAL RESULTS IN GRAPHICS
Autor:
Karel Luis Mayedo Díaz
5TH year student Foreign Languages Major
Scientific Adviser: MSc. Marleny Ricardo Jorge
Foreign Languages Department
Las Tunas, 2010
 Página anterior | Volver al principio del trabajo | Página siguiente  |