The Effects of Classroom Intervention Strategies on Language Learner Motivation

Abstract

This article reports on a study that deals with learner motivation in adolescent language learning. Specifically, it focuses on the impact on motivation following the introduction of two intervention strategies into the adolescent classroom: delegation of material and task selection to the student and promotion of self-evaluation. The study involved 32 students learning Spanish as a foreign language in a secondary school in Ireland. One teacher from the school helped facilitate the study. The results indicate that motivation levels increased significantly among those students who participated in learning using the intervention strategies. The findings suggest that adolescent learners should actively participate in the learning process and would gain from the implementation of these or similar intervention strategies in the classroom context.

Keywords

• learner motivation
• autonomous learning
• Second Language Acquisition
• intervention strategies
• classroom-based research