Means, Methods, Motivation

Perhaps the most important part of effective teaching is the ability to motivate our learners. Part of this ability lies in the personal style of the teacher. But motivation can also be boosted by well-selected and well-prepared methods and means. In this talk, I will present a map of motivation concepts, and I will show how they fall into four principal regions: needs-related factors, content-related factors, psychological factors, and social factors. We will then consider how our choice of methods and means can impact on these different areas of motivation. In particular, we will look at tasks and materials which tend to behave like magnets, attracting learner attention. We will examine the qualities which create this magnetism. In this way, we will identify strategies for taking account of motivation when choosing and developing effective materials and tasks.