Dynamics of motivational teaching strategies in English language education: a mixed-methods study in a Japanese high school

Motivation has been recognised as a crucial factor for sustainable language learning. To help learners evoke, develop, and maintain their language learning motivation, teachers have been encouraged to motivate their students through motivating strategies (MS). The most comprehensive list containing 102 MSs, developed by Dörnyei (2001), has been evaluated primarily from teachers’ perspectives. However, teachers’ perceived importance varies across contexts and does not always reflect students’ needs. Furthermore, students’ MS perceptions can differ by their self-determined motivation for English as a foreign language (EFL) learning. Although learners’ motivation, such as extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, is known to change over time, the fluctuation of students’ and teachers’ MS perceptions and the dynamic relationships between students’ motivation and MS perceptions have not been explored. Thus, drawing from the integration of the Self-Determination Theory and Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, this study explored (1) the dynamics of students’ perceptions of MSs with their extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and (2) the dynamics of EFL teachers’ perceptions and use of MSs in practice in the context of EFL classes at a high school in Japan. Based on a pragmatist research paradigm, mixed-methods research was conducted with six full-time EFL teachers and 104 second-year students at a high school in Japan. Data collection was implemented over a period of seven months in three steps. First, in a preliminary study, 12 macro MSs were selected from Dörnyei’s (2001) list as contextually important MSs based on results from online surveys with six EFL teachers and 50 second-year students on their perceived importance of MSs. Secondly, research instruments for teacher interviews and student surveys for the main study were piloted with the same participants to evaluate their reliability, validity, and feasibility. Finally, using the contextually important 12 MSs and piloted instruments, the main study was conducted with two of the EFL teachers and other 54 second-year students over six months. With the students, six surveys were implemented monthly to explore the dynamics of their perceived importance of the MSs and their self-determined motivation. In parallel, the teachers were interviewed twice (once a three-month term) to examine their perceived importance and use of the MSs for their students’ EFL learning at school and the reasons behind the teachers’ and their students’ perceptions of the MSs. No student interviews were carried out due to the prioritisation of ethical considerations over methodological needs. The teacher interview data were thematically analysed, and then the student survey data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, primarily through Generalised Additive Mixed Modelling (GAMM). In terms of originality, this research advances our understanding of the dynamics of motivational teaching strategies, underlining the non-linear changeability and complexity of MSs: the fluctuating nature of both students’ and teachers’ MS perceptions and their dynamic interconnected relationships. Regarding its methodological contribution, this study demonstrates the applicability of GAMM for the illustration of the dynamic impacts of learners’ motivation on their needs. In terms of implications for practice, this study suggests that teachers regularly communicate with students on how they would like to be motivated to consider students’ needs in their specific context at the specific time point when designing motivating teaching practice.