Activities to enhance students´ motivation towards english lessons in twelve graders

"Whatever you are doing in your classroom, your ability to motivate your students, your mastering of teaching skills, will be crucial妱uot;

Donne Byrne

Abstract

The third stage of the Cuban Educational Revolution that is carry out has among its objectives: to increase the general and integral culture of its citizens, it is sometimes affected by the lack of a correct motivational activities towards the learning of English due to the international and social importance of the learning a foreign language. In this Diploma Paper are systematized the theoretical foundations of the studying of the students䠭otivation towards the English lessons in Senior High Schools. The aim of this work is to evaluate the activities proposed to enhance the students䠭otivation towards the English lesson in twelve graders at Luis Urquiza Jorge Accurate Sciences Senior High School. There are main categories that allow laying the foundations of the proposal of activities to change the knowledge and behavior that the students have to get. These activities may the students to upgrade their motivation towards the English lessons and also their culture and knowledge.

Introduction

Nowadays, teaching at Senior High Schools is going into many changes in its educative and instructive styles; inside the socio-historical context, beginning with the unfolding battle of ideas in order to get a multilateral culture as an expression of the Third Educational Revolution in Cuba.

According to the Marxist statement that everything is in development of habits, abilities, and ways of behavior, the Cuban Educational System has undergone different stages since its creation in close relation to this idea, out of the historical date of the Triumph of the Revolution, which brought many changes to the nation in respect to its people way of life.

In each of these stages, criteria about students䠬earning have changed and others have been created, but always going to a higher level of teaching.

The Ministry of Education has stated a group of transformations that involve not only students, but also all teachers and principals at all levels. The main way to fulfill the transformations is the lesson, as the fundamental link between the teaching-learning process and the extra-educational and extra-curricular activities. One of these transformations that have been generalized at Senior High School nowadays is the use of TV and the Video Cassette Player; and the importance of these aids have been manifested once more due to all the possibilities they offer to better up the quality of education.

Many experiences have been obtained since the massive introduction of audio-visual aids since 2000. The TV and the video are teaching aids that allow great flexibility when they are used properly. They make so easy the teaching-learning process due to the great field of thoughts they can awake in the students. They are also so perceptive to the vision and the ears, incomparable stimulus to get a great reception of cognitive messages in the students.

In the English subject, the use of these aids has become necessarily, which make more laudable the level of motivation that the teacher may create nowadays in classrooms. In this way, the benefits can be useful in the teaching-learning process. It expresses the necessity of the subject and the group to feel stimulated towards the task they must develop in addition to their knowledge and discussion that allow going deeper in the necessity to carry them out.

According to these elements already mentioned there is a need that the English lessons take a step forward to better up its teaching-learning process by enhancing the students" motivational level in order to develop their attitudes towards the lessons.

During these years of hand on training of the investigator were detected the following manifestations of issues.

1- Students" willingness to get involved in communicative events was low; they had no will to do communicative exercises.

2- Students" perseverance towards the aim to be accomplished is not enough.

3- They were not investing a high level of effort in learning consistently, and they were discouraged by apparent lack of progress.

Various authors have referred to motivation such as: Diego González Serra (1995), Viviana González Maura (2001), Doris Castellanos (2002) and others, but they did not talked about motivation directed towards the English lessons. Steven McDonough (1989), Donne Byrne (1989) and others have talked about the psychological aspects to take into account when teaching a foreign language, making emphasis in students䠭otivation when learning a foreign language.

Taking into account the difficulties previously mentioned and the implication that they may cause in the English teaching-learning process in 12th graders, the following scientific problem is outlined: How to enhance students" motivation towards the English lessons in 12th grade?

Object of study: The teaching-learning process of the English subject in 12th grade.

Core of the research: Motivation within the English teaching-learning process in 12th grade.

Objective: To evaluate the efficiency of the activities addressed to enhance the students" motivation towards the English lessons in 12th grade.

Idea to defend: Motivation towards English lessons can be enhanced with activities that take into account the students䠬anguage objectives, their own experiences and interests towards language learning.

Scientific Tasks

• 1- To provide the theoretical foundations about students" motivation in the English teaching-learning process.

• 2- To diagnose students" motivational level towards the English lessons in 12th grade.

Partes: 1, 2