Increasing and maintaining student engagement during TBL
Increasing and maintaining student engagement during TBL
Keywords: Communicative language teaching, CLT, context appropriate CLT
Authors
Robert Stroud
Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan
Bio Data
Robert Stroud holds an M.A. in applied linguistics and English language teaching from the University of Nottingham and is an experienced high school teacher within Japan. His research work focuses heavily on communicative teaching methodologies, student motivation and willingness to communicate within the classroom learning environment.
Abstract
At present, task-based learning (TBL) faces several issues in the context of high school classes in Japan, such as a lack of motivation or student engagement during tasks. Stroud (2013) recently found significant correlation between Keller’s (1987) ARCS model of motivational design and Japanese high school students’ motivation for tasks. In addition to this research, a hybrid version of Keller’s model (the CARCS model) was created in order to further strengthen motivational aspects of tasks and attempt to maintain student engagement better across time periods. An observation scheme and post-task interviews were used to reveal more in-depth data about the model’s ability to maintain student engagement in tasks across time and about students’ opinions of the tasks undertaken. Results concluded that the implementation of the CARCS model can not only greatly increase the overall observable engagement of students, but can indeed protect and maintain such engagement across a period of time. More specifically, changes made to tasks by the model which grabbed students’ attention, related to their interests and created a feeling of satisfaction or reward for task completion were found to be most significant for engagement to occur according to students themselves.
Download the article[/private]
Category: Monthly Editions, Volume 67
