Overview: Module 3

A lesson plan is essentially a step-by-step guide detailing exactly what you will do throughout
the course of the lesson. It is an important way of ensuring the lesson is coherent and achieves
its final objective(s).
But that’s not the only important purpose. Your lesson plan needs to motivate your students
to learn. Because motivation is so important in teaching and learning, we have dedicated the
whole of Unit 4 to motivation. So, for the moment, remember that a key purpose of a lesson
plan is to motivate your learners to learn.
For most schools, lesson planning is a formal requirement but there’s not necessarily one
method of EFL lesson planning which is considered universal.
Ideally your school should have a general procedure, partly because if you are absent for any
reason another teacher can understand exactly what you were intending to do and can carry
that out with as little confusion as possible.
The important thing, therefore, is that your plan is thoughtful and detailed, not only to
achieve your lesson aims but also for the smooth-running of the class.

When planning a lesson, you need to think about a variety of factors, including:
 Overall objective
 Learning outcomes
 Logical development of stages
 Time management
The way you plan an EFL lesson depends largely on the type of skill you are focusing on
(language, pronunciation, reading etc.) on that particular day. There are certain recognised
procedures for the preparation of each and in this module we are going to look at the three
most common:
 Presentation Practice Production (P.P.P.)
 Test Teach Test (T.T.T.)
 Task-based Learning
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Unit 1: Presentation Practice Production

The P.P.P. approach is perhaps the most well-known style of EFL lesson planning as it plays a
major part in the CELTA qualification and is often asked for by employers. It is seen as a ‘
communicative approach’ to teaching.
The general concept is that a language point is presented to the class in context (through
dialogue, a text, a situation build etc.), students then complete a controlled practice stage where
they have to repeat the target language in a specific exercise e.g. gap fill, before finally moving
on to freer practice where they produce the language themselves (plus any other appropriate
language they have learned previously) through a communication task e.g. a role play.
Presentation
The presentation stage of the lesson is quite crucial as it naturally affects everything that
follows. The idea is that the target language is presented logically and in context because if the
 students can recognise the language in context then they will have a better grasp of its function
and will instinctively begin to use it appropriately.
When the concept has been understood, the target language should be presented through a
specific ‘model’ to help them understand the fundamentals of the concept.
For example, when teaching a class on the second conditional, the presentation stage of the
lesson could go as follows:
 Present the language in context via a video clip from a series called ‘What Would You Do If…?
’ (*click here for a link to one of the videos -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdFkojA3boU&playnext=1&list=PLROSRQsVldhx0gERmcYjE
bH9lyhsvPY6j&featur...). This is a lively way of introducing quite a difficult grammatical concept
and the themes involved (what would you do if you saw a waiter drop some food then put it
back on the plate? etc.) should hopefully provoke some lively debate!
 Teacher then asks students what they would do in that particular situation.
 Provide one or two clear model sentences on the board highlighting the essential target
language (What would you do if you saw a waiter drop some food then put it back on the
plate? If I saw a waiter drop some food then put it back on the plate, I would report him to the
manager.)
 Drill model sentences.
 Highlight form: If + past simple… + would + infinitive…
 Summarise the ‘rule’: We use the second conditional to talk about improbable or
hypothetical situations in the present/future.
Put these Presentation stages in the correct order.
Stage One
Stage Two
Stage Three
Stage Four
Stage Five
Drill model sentence
Model sentence
Summarise rule
Build context
Highlight written form
Check answer

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Practice
Practice, or controlled practice, is the important middle stage towards effective language
production.
Most of the exercises you do in class, from gap-fills to matching sentence halves, make up this
stage and you will often do these exercises as a natural part of your lesson.
However, this can mean that the practice stage takes over and becomes just a series of ill-
thought-out tasks to get your students through the lesson. However tempting this is, you really
 need to remember that this section is supposed to be part of three equal steps which make the
lesson as a whole.
This stage should be all about ensuring that the students have understood the target language
presented and can practice using it accurately. Exposure to the language through a variety of
tasks is an important part of the practice, as is checking for correct usage through reporting
back. A typical practice stage activity could be getting the students to complete grammar tasks
like the following…
Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb to make second conditional
sentences.
1. What would you do if you ____ the lottery?

Check answer

2. The bathroom ______ bigger if we painted it white.

Check answer
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Production
Whilst many students will be able to give accurate responses in the controlled practice stage,
original production of the language can often be much more difficult.
This is the step where students go from being passive learners to active users. If the
presentation and practice sections are not well thought-out, it will be evident when students
come to produce the language themselves.
It’s important to remember not to tell the students what to say at this stage, the production
needs to be ‘free’ so that students can become independent language users. There are a
variety of activities that can be used for free production:
 Role-plays
 Debates
 Quizzes/games
 Descriptions
 Writing…
Here you could get the students into small groups and ask them to discuss a particular question
e.g. ‘what would you buy if you won the lottery?’ perhaps asking them to give reasons for
their choices or rank the order of their hypothetical purchases.
Or groups could even act out their own version of the video clip shown in the presentation
stage.
Any number of activities are possible but just remember to give students the time they need to
effectively produce the language because some may be daunted by the prospect of playing an
active role and, of course, thinking in another language always takes a bit longer!
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Lesson plan structure
This is the traditional structure of a lesson plan. This lesson’s aim is get students to notice
how the use of past continuous interrupted with past simple creates a dramatic story. It could
be used with a pre-intermediate to intermediate level class. Please pay attention as you will be
tested on this later!
Build context e.g. Ask students to talk about the most frightening experience of their life.
Model sentence e.g. Teacher says ‘I was crossing the road when I was hit by a car!'
Highlight meaning e.g. Teacher shows a past entry in their diary of the date when it happened
(fictional hopefully!).
Highlight spoken form e.g. teacher says the sentence naturally with linking sounds and
intonation.
Check understanding. E.g. What was I doing just before being hit?” (Answer, crossing the
road) This highlights what was in progress just before the interruption.
Highlight written form e.g. Teacher writes on board 'I was crossing the road when I was hit by a
car!'
Summarise rule e.g. Teacher clarifies that this sentence starts with past continuous ( I was
crossing ) interrupted by past simple (when I was hit…)
Restricted practice e.g. Teacher hands out two cut up parts of sentences with past continuous
and past simple actions to match up. (Teacher monitors students while they do this task to see
which students need further help).
Report back e.g. Teacher asks students with correct answers to feedback to the rest of the class.
Freer practice e.g. In groups, students are given some pictures e.g. a train, a wet floor, a horse,
an aeroplane and a puddle and are instructed to create a dramatic story to use the target
language. (Teacher monitors and takes notes for further work). Students perform/tell their story
to the whole class.
Consolidation and error correction e.g. Teacher highlights some common errors with this tense
on the board to help clarify the meaning and use of these two tenses (never singling out
individual students of course).
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Let's look at a lesson plan

Look at the following plan where the lesson aim is expressing past habits with ‘used to +
infinitive’
Please note that this is the traditional order and structure of a grammatical lesson plan starting
with building context through to consolidation and error correction.
Match the lesson stages with procedures of what happens in the class
Build context
Model sentence
Highlight meaning
Highlight spoken form
Check understanding
Highlight written form
Summarise rule
 Restricted practice
Report back
Freer practice
The class talks about things they enjoyed doing when they were children.
Teacher says ‘Sarah used to play tennis.’
Teacher draws a timeline on the board, showing a period in the past with several crosses within
it.
Teacher repeats the model sentence with natural linking, stress and intonation. The class
repeats.
Teacher asks “Did she play tennis in the past?” (Yes) “Does she play tennis now?” (No).
Teacher writes the model sentence on the board, draws a box around ‘used to’ then writes ‘
infinitive’ over the word ‘play’.
Teacher says “‘used to + infinitive’ can be used to talk about things we regularly did in the
past but don’t do now.”
Students choose an activity they enjoyed as children and walk around the class asking if
anybody else used to do the same thing.
Teacher asks some individuals how many people shared their interest and corrects some errors
if necessary.
Students discuss their memories of their first school in small groups.
Check answer
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Unit 2: Test Teach Test

Another popular method of lesson planning is known as the Test Teach Test (TTT) approach. In
this method, students are immediately asked to do an activity using the target language. This
allows students to call upon their prior knowledge and lets the teacher assess whether they
know the language or not and teach accordingly.
Test
The initial ‘test’ shouldn't be anything too demanding or long-winded. The idea is that it’s
diagnostic, allowing you to identify any gaps in the students’ knowledge. An advantage of this
type of lesson planning is that it mixes things up a bit for the students so they don’t get bored
with the same old lesson format. It also means that the class feel that what you’re teaching
them is tailored to their needs rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Even for lower-level
classes this method can work as long as you sufficiently ‘grade’ the exercise, you don’t want
to overwhelm the students too much at this stage and make them feel as if they know nothing!
An example format for a pre-intermediate class could be:
 Lesson aim: Describing people and clothes
 Give the class a handout with an image and ask them to describe the people in pairs.

 Move around the room monitoring and answering any questions

 Elicit any good vocabulary you heard from students related to physical descriptions and clothes
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Teach
 The next stage is to fill in your learners’ knowledge or present the new language point from
scratch if necessary.
This can be difficult to plan ahead of time because you do not know exactly what your students
’ requirements are until you test them, so it may be a bit daunting when you are a novice
teacher. But don’t let this put you off, it can be a really beneficial method for students who
have been learning English for a period of time but only ‘half-know’ certain language.
Once you have tested your students, you can try to ‘complete’ their knowledge.
 Ask students to come up and write one or two sentences on the board that they used when
describing the two police officers
 Get the class as a whole to discuss if the sentences are correct or not, guiding them to form
accurate sentences. Correct common errors such as “she hasn't long hair” or “he is wearing a
trousers”
 Look together at grammar related to physical descriptions e.g. she’s got…, he’s wearing… etc.
Look at this example:
Match the sentence halves:
1. He’s wearing…
2. She’s got…
3. His…
4. He has…

1. …tie is blue [3]

2. …blonde hair [2]
3. …a hat [1]
4. …dark hair [4]
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Test
This stage is similar to the Production step from PPP and requires students to use the target
language in a freer practice session. Hopefully, (if you’ve filled in their knowledge sufficiently!)
students will here be able to become accurate users of the target language. As mentioned in
unit 1, any number of activities can be used and this is often the most fun and interesting part
of the lesson where students can actually enjoy using the language.
Student A:
1. Find someone in the magazine your teacher gives you.
2. Describe that person here:
..........................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................
Student B:
 You are an investigator.
 There was a murder, and student A saw who did it. It was a famous person, but student A doesn
’t know their name.
 Ask questions to find out as many details as possible. Ask complete questions.
 Wearing?..............................................................................................
Looks?..................................................................................................
Search in the magazine and ask “Is this the person you saw?”

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Unit 1 & 2: Questions

In the presentation stage of PPP, which of the following should come first?

Check answer

A role-play activity is an example of a task appropriate for which stage of PPP?

Check answer

The majority of your lesson should focus on the ‘Practice’ stage. T/F?

Check answer
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Unit 3: Task-based Learning

Task-based Learning is a method which focuses on learner autonomy and user fluency
through students undertaking ‘real-life’ or problem-solving activities.
Nunan describes it as “teaching and learning a language by using language to accomplish
open ended tasks".
Learners are given a problem or objective to accomplish but are left with some freedom in
approaching this problem or objective.”
Usually this involves an introduction to the theme before setting a quite open task such as ‘
plan a birthday party’ or a ‘murder mystery’ style activity.
Afterwards, learners feedback via a report or reviewing the language used for the task.
Some tips to keep in mind come from the Asian ESL journal:
 The purpose of the task must be clearly stated
 The task must be suitable for the level of the students
 Tasks must be interesting and motivating to the students
 The language that the task will produce must be predicted
 Tasks should have variety and flexibility
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Task Based Learning ideas

A Task-based approach
 As pioneered by N. Prabhu. Task -based learning offers an alternative for language teachers. In
a task-based lesson the teacher doesn't pre-determine what language will be studied, the
lesson is based around the completion of a central task and the language studied is determined
by what happens as the students complete it. The lesson follows certain stages.
For TBL activities examples given, make note of the following stages for the activity:
 Assignment: Resources and instruction are given to students.
 Planning: Students use the resources to complete their assignment.
 Reporting: Results are reported orally through formal oral report before the class or
conversational engagement.
 Analysis: The teacher evaluates performance of tasks and highlights areas of interest.
 Practice: By participating in tasks that are relevant and practical a student’s confidence and
proficiency in learning a new language grows.
Pre-task
The teacher announces the material and informs the students what they will have to do. During
the task stage the teacher may prompt the students to remember applicable language that will
help them for the task. It can also be helpful to play a recording of other students who have
completed this task so that the students know exactly what they need to do. You can offer the
students time to prepare for the task and make notes.
Task
The teacher can guide the students and praise them as they work through the set task, applying
the language skills they have acquired.
Planning
As a group, create lists of everyday problems and the people, places, things and actions related
to these problems. Prepare a written report based on the lists for each group member to use in
delivering an oral report.
Report
Students report back to the class with teacher advising on the order of reports to be presented
and possibly also giving some feedback. Teacher may compare other students’ interpretation
of the same task to provide some contrast.
Analysis
Next the teacher highlights relevant parts from the main text of the recording which students
should analyse. The teacher may ask students to identify remarkable features within the text.
The teacher can also demonstrate the language that the students used during the report phase
for further study and analysis.
Practice
Finally, the teacher identifies language areas to focus on based upon the needs of the students
and what transpired from the main task and reporting phase. The students go ahead
and undertake practice activities to increase their confidence whilst making a note of useful
language.
TBL Maximizes Learning Opportunities
Teachers who take advantage of a TBL approach provide engaging learning opportunities that
are practical for their students. It is important to stimulate students as much as it is to
encourage them. The use of tasks designed to specifically relate to learning a new language
allows students to have more meaningful classroom experiences.
The positive results of a TBL approach can be attributed to the following factors:
 Freedom in applying language to practical tasks that are relevant to the student.
 Natural language patterns develop within the context of the tasks.
 Exposure to a broader vocabulary results, including phrases and figures of speech.
 Language responds directly to the needs of the students.
 TBL is communication centred which is motivational.
The language explored arises from the students' needs. This need dictates what will be covered
in the lesson rather than a decision made by the teacher or the course book.
It demands a strong communicative approach where students spend a lot of time speaking.
PPP lessons seem very teacher-centred by comparison.
The focus of the lesson is on the task itself. This takes the focus off “learning and producing
English” which is very helpful in terms of increasing self confidence and is authentically
communicative.
It is enjoyable and motivating.
Look at the following lesson plan based on TBL.
Aims:
Students will collaboratively write instructions
Students will demonstrate understanding of their peers by making a paper wallet and boat.
(You will need two laptops or two Interactive Whiteboards if you are really lucky)
Lesson outline
Teacher’s instructions “Today you are the teachers.”
Teacher appoints two groups, A and B. Each group watches a video of how to make something
(approx 2 minute long) in different rooms.
Each group watches the video as many times as they like.
Task: Students write instructions on how to make the object. (Set a time limit of say 20
minutes)
Teacher instruction check question: “What are you doing now?” (Answer, staying in this
classroom, watching the video, writing instructions.)
“How long is the video?” ( answer: 2mins)
“How many times can you watch it?” (As many as we like)
Here is the video used:
Teacher instruction: “Group B. Come with me into a separate classroom. Watch the video.”
Here is the video used:
Teacher monitors each group, correcting and feeding in useful language.
After 20 minutes, teacher brings students back into the same classroom together.
Sit student A’s directly opposite students B’s with a desk in between and hand out
paper/card.
Teacher instruction “OK. A’s go first. Do not show the object. Do not say the name of the
object. Do not use your hands to gesture.”
B’s listen and do what A asks.
Outcome:
Hopefully most students will have been able to make the paper boat and wallet.
Post task.
Teacher instruction “I’d now like you to write a short text on what you did in class”.
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Task based Lesson plan
Lets look at a task-based learning lesson
Put students into groups and get them to prepare their own role-plays or dialogues making it
clear that they can invent new characters and use their imagination!

Drag and drop the stages into the correct order.

Stage one

Stage two

Stage three

Stage four

Stage five

Stage six

Show the students a 5 minute video clip of a soap opera which ends in a cliff-hanger (if
necessary, stop the video at a particularly dramatic point)
Get the students to note down the names of characters, setting, level of speech formality and
any key words/expressions
Write ‘what happens next?’ on the board
Put students into groups and get them to prepare their own role-plays or dialogues making it
clear that they can invent new characters and use their imagination!
Students act out their role-play in front of the group.
Get students to vote on the best ending to the clip.
Check answer
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Summary
Present Practice Produce (PPP)
Although many teachers may have been trained to use a Present Practise Produce (PPP)
method, the task based approach has been proven to be more effective specifically when
teaching a new language.
A standard PPP lesson
 Teacher presents an item of language in context to convey its meaning. There are several ways
to do this: through a text, a situation or a conversation as an example.
 Students are then requested to complete a controlled practice stage. Here, they may have to
repeat target language through choral or individual drilling, fill gaps or match sentences. The
emphasis is very much on students using the language correctly and helping them become
more comfortable with it
 The final stage is the production stage, also known as the 'free practice' stage. Students
undertake a communication task such as a role play and are expected to produce the target
language whilst also using any other language that they have already acquired which is deemed
suitable and relevant to the task.
Students will often produce the language but the form sounds unnatural as they
completely overuse the target structure.
Additionally, they may not produce the target language during the practice stage because they
will fall back on existing language that they already know to complete the task.
Although the logic and structure of a PPP method has its appeal, students respond better to
TBL. TBL has also proven to deliver a better quality of learning.
Producing structured language results through the PPP method does not create the results
students need outside the classroom. For more natural, organic speech, TBL is much more
effective.
With activities that are interesting and engaging, it also produces those results in a shorter
period of time.
For further reading on this area see 'A Framework for Task-Based Learning' by Jane Wills,
Longman; 'Doing Task-Based Teaching' by Dave and Jane Willis, OUP 2007.
Although in this module we’ve looked at the most commonly-used methods for planning an
EFL lesson there are many more styles which can be used, all with their own advantages and
disadvantages.
As long as your aims are well thought-out and you have a clear plan of what you intend to do in
each lesson then you’re already more than half way there.
Play around with the different styles to see what suits you best and, most of all, keep you
and your students engaged and responsive!
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Unit 3: Questions
In the TTT approach, what step comes first?

Check answer

The TTT approach requires you to tailor your lesson to the students’ needs. T/F?

Check answer

The TTT method allows students to call upon their prior knowledge of the target language. T/F?
Check answer
Once you’ve found a lesson planning method that suits you, you should always stick to it. T/F?

Check answer

Task-based learning should involve a task which is…?

Check answer

PPP, TTT and Task-based Learning are the only three styles of lesson planning. T/F?

Check answer
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Unit 4: Motivation
Motivation
We’ve mentioned the word ‘motivation’ several times during this Module. Motivation is so
important that it deserves a whole Unit to itself.
Motivation is important in everything you say and do with your learners, and not only in lesson
planning.
We would be taking up a big chunk of your valuable time if we went deeply into theories of
motivation which, although sometimes interesting, are unlikely to add much to your learning at
this stage. You can delve into these if you wish.
You know what motivation is and you know that at times you are highly enthused and driven,
whilst at other times, you don’t quite feel the same drive or you’re bereft of any drive at all.
Of course, your students are no different.
When you are motivated, there’s some kind of inspiration and eagerness to succeed in what
you are doing, no matter what this is. If you apply this awareness to your students, you can
identify the motivated learner; this is a learner who is willing and eager to invest great effort
and substantial time in language learning, and is driven to make progress and do better.
Learner motivation, then, makes learning, as well as teaching, immeasurably easier and more
pleasant, not to mention more productive.
What is more enlightening – instead of digging into the numerous theories – is how motivation
occurs and how knowledge of this may be of practical use in your role.

1. Two types of motivation

Generally, there are two types of learner motivation:
Intrinsic motivation
This is the urge to engage in a learning activity for its own sake, for the enjoyment it provides,
or the feelings of accomplishment it evokes. This type of learner is driven by personal
achievement.
Extrinsic motivation
This is derived from external incentives and reward and success, e.g. a qualification, need for a
high proficiency score (e.g. to gain entry to an English-speaking university), or the desire for
higher pay (where language proficiency offers that).
Whether one type of motivated learner is more motivated than another is up for grabs. There is
not enough conclusive research. What is more important for you is to give thought to this when
meeting up with your new class, particularly adults.
Asking them why they have decided to take your course (and noting the reasons) will be of
great benefit to you when you are teaching them or when you happen to mingle with them
during some other school activity.
By being informed, you can empathise with them, foster the necessary attitudes, and directly
encourage their drive, be it personal achievement or reward. You will contribute to their
motivation and will be able to kick start any drop in this if there is a lapse.
Unfortunately, a motivated learner’s motivational levels can drop, as we’ll see in the next
section.
2. In general, some key elements of motivation
Here are some key elements of motivation, drawn from our experience:
You need to be motivated to motivate them
You have to be motivated before you can motivate your learners. Don’t expect your students
to be motivated if you are not. There may be times when you feel lacking in vitality or
conviction and find it difficult to overcome a temporary lacklustre feeling.
Tough though this is, you will need to get out of it or your students will quickly become
deflated.
Everyone can be motivated in some way or another
There may be the odd student who appears to be demotivated. There may be many reasons for
this – perhaps there are cultural considerations, e.g. he doesn’t like you taking up his learning
time when you get your students involved in fun activities. Or he may be finding the work too
hard. Or, perhaps, he’s not convinced by the whole communicative approach.
Therefore, you need to find out as much as possible about your students from Day 1. What are
their likes and dislikes? How have they previously been taught? Did they communicate with you
during the lesson or were your lessons wholly teacher-centred?
And if you can’t identify a reason for the drop in drive, make up some reason for meeting with
the student for a few minutes after class (away from his classmates) to try and identify the
reason for the drop in motivation. It’s amazing how a little chat can help.
Once you trace the reason why, you can work out ways to help build up his motivation.
Motivation should be multi-directional
When you take up your teaching role, remember that motivation should be multi-directional.
Don’t just think that your role is only to motivate learners. You can also help to motivate a
colleague when he is feeling down. You will reap rewards from this in the future, when he will
help you when you are a bit lacklustre.
Motivation doesn’t last
Motivation doesn’t last. You need to keep at it all of the time. Motivating others is a strenuous
activity but it’s also rewarding. You cannot give up when you, your students or any of your
peers are feeling down. Dig into your reserves and help as much as you can.
 Remember this! We have mentioned this before and we mention it again. The whole person
comes to school, be it students or teachers. They come with all their personal baggage, e.g.
worrying about a sick parent/carer, or upset due to a breakdown in some personal relationship.
So the motivated person yesterday may not be the motivated person today. Help and show
empathy wherever you can.
3. Relationship between motivation and language learning
As research has shown, and as your own personal learning and any teaching experiences
probably confirm, motivation is very strongly related to achievement in language learning. You
will be in a position to strongly influence your students’ motivation to learn their new
language.
To this end, you will need to ensure that your lessons have clear objectives and goals, that your
activities are varied and personalised for students, and that you give feedback and assess on an
ongoing basis.
By doing so, you will be able to foster, stimulate, or even rekindle your learners’ motivation to
learn.
If you are able to accomplish this, learning will happen regardless of whether your students’
motivation is extrinsic or intrinsic.
There’s little doubt about it.
4. Recognising a motivated learner
What do you think are the characteristics of learner motivation? How will you recognise a
motivated learner?
Think of motivated students you have observed in the past. You may have thought: She’s
always on the go, wanting to learn. How does she do it? What traits and qualities did she have?
Or, perhaps, you have always been a motivated learner. What traits and qualities do you have in
relation to learner motivation? Reflect on this.
Research has shown that the motivated learner will typically display most or all of the following
characteristics:
 The learner is willing to tackle tasks and challenges, and has confidence in her success.
 The learner finds it important to succeed in learning in order to maintain and promote her own
positive self-image.
 The learner has a need to achieve, to overcome difficulties and succeed in what she sets out to
do.
 The learner is ambitious, goes for demanding challenges, high proficiency, and top grades.
 The learner is very aware of the goals of learning, or of specific learning activities, and directs
her efforts towards achieving them.
 The learner consistently invests a high level of effort in learning, and is not discouraged by
setbacks or apparent lack of progress.
 The learner is not bothered or frustrated by situations involving a temporary lack of
understanding or confusion; she can live with these patiently, confident that understanding will
come later.
5. How you can influence and drive learner motivation
Always focus on practical ways in which you can influence and drive motivation.
Here’s what to do:
Make them aware of their own success
A very simple yet effective way you can motivate your students is to make sure that they are
aware of their own success. This message can be conveyed by a nod, a tick, or a smile. But a
sense of pride and satisfaction may, of course, be enhanced by explicit praise or approval, or by
a comment in the learner’s answer book.
Set clear objectives and goals
Learners should be aware of the objectives of the task – both language-learning and content.
Tell them. For example, a guessing-game may have the language-learning goal of practising
questions, and the content goal of guessing answers.
Remember! Some learners, particularly adult learners, may get annoyed by too many fun
activities. If you tell them the purpose of the game before you start, then they will be more
accepting of the fun element.
Explain purpose and usefulness
It may seem obvious, but learners sometimes need to know why they have to learn something.
For example, students may wonder why they have to learn prepositions.
If you explain to them that preposition errors are the most common form of mistake in student
writing, your learners may be more motivated to pay closer attention to the material. At the very
least, they won’t think that they are wasting their time learning something they think they don
’t need.
Vary classroom topics and tasks
Topics and tasks should be selected carefully to be as interesting as possible. However, there
are very few single types of activities that interest everyone, so you should use a wide range of
different ones over time. Even within a lesson, we can organise a series of tasks that have
students doing different things to keep them engaged.
For example, you can get your students to listen to a dialogue about ‘School Routines’; then
have them complete a worksheet; then get them to compare their answers with a partner; then
have students partner up to create an original dialogue on the same topic. Variety is a major key
to success.
Generate tension and challenge
Game-like activities provide pleasurable tension and challenge through the process of attaining
some 'fun' goal while limited by rules. The introduction of such rules (an arbitrary time limit, for
example) can add excitement to almost any goal-oriented task.
Create a fun atmosphere
Entertainment produces enjoyment, which in turn adds motivation. Entertainment can be
teacher-produced, such as jokes, stories, mimes, songs, or even dramatic presentations. It can
be in recorded format, such as movies, video clips, or television documentaries.
Other activities such as a role play and simulations that use the imagination and put learners in
other situations can be very motivating.
It is important to note, however, that some students are inhibited and may find such activities
intimidating at first. As such, you especially want to try to avoid running students up to the front
of the class to ‘perform’ spontaneously.
Personalise learning
Students are more likely to be interested in tasks that relate to themselves or their interests. For
example, getting students to use their own or each other's opinions, tastes, experiences, and
suggestions as material can be very motivating since they’re relating the learning material to
their own life experience and context.
We have taught boys-only classes in the Far East where the English Premier Soccer League was
king, as was David Beckham at the time. Every single boy in the class was mad on football and
anything to do with football, e.g. magasines, strips, soccer cards with their favourite player’s
picture on the front and key details about him on the back, etc.
There was no need to motivate them when a lesson was built round, for example: What are the
3 questions you would ask David Beckham if you met him? OR Draw your own football strip
and tell your group why you chose the colours and the shape of the badge.
Create open-ended exercises
A cue which invites a number of possible responses is usually much more stimulating than one
with only one right answer. By aiming for this, the participants' contributions become more
unpredictable. They are also more likely to be interesting, original, or even humorous. For
example, If I won 100,000 euros, I would...
Give students a sense of autonomy
An example of autonomy would be to have students pick from a list of topics to debate. Or you
can let students choose partners with whom they would like to team up with to take part in a
specific activity or game.
Assess students
Whether or not a learner admits it, regular and formal assessment is a very powerful motivator.
The motivating power of tests/quizzes, in particular, appears clear: learners who know they are
going to be tested on specific material next week will normally be more motivated to study it
carefully than if they had simply been told to learn it.
Assessment is a very useful and needed incentive, provided there is not too much stress
attached, and provided it is not overused or given without purpose.
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Unit 4: Questions
Extrinsic motivation is the urge to engage in a learning activity for its own sake, for the
enjoyment it provides, or the feelings of accomplishment it evokes.

Check answer

You don’t need to be motivated to motivate your learners.

Check answer

The motivated person yesterday may not be the motivated person today.

Check answer

Motivation is very strongly related to achievement in language learning.

Check answer

A motivated learner is discouraged by setbacks or apparent lack of progress.

Check answer

Students are more likely to be interested in tasks that relate to themselves or their interests.

Check answer

Regular and formal assessment is not a very powerful motivator.

Check answer

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