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Why motivation in the classroom is important? As Zig Zagler once said "motivation is the fuel, necessary to keep the human engine running". This may contain some truth that can also be crucial in the learning process. In this essay I will reflect on motivation for EFL students as the reason, need and desire that encourages them to study and keep learning English. To begin with, students may be equally motivated to perform the same task, however, the sources of their motivation may differ. One of the roles of the teacher is to find and be aware of the differences, i.e. the differing motivators. Having said that there are two types of motivation, so called intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is driven by self-influenced and personal factors such as student's own needs, confidence, self-esteem, curiosity and overall enjoyment of the English class. Whereas extrinsic one is influenced by external factors such as receiving external rewards from outside. In fact, motivation helps to energize, direct and maintain positive behaviour over a long period of time. It involves working towards goals and adapting activities to achieve this purpose. I might add that it also helps to drive creativity and curiosity, influencing the desire needed for students to want to learn more. It isn’t just a case of getting pupils interested in learning in the moment, but also in growing the inner goals and aspirations pushing their whole academic studies. It is about motivating them beyond the initial task or accomplishment to work towards larger and greater goals. To illustrate the point, being an English teacher volunteer in Brazil during the presentation class I was sharing my story both with my young learners and adult students about my passion on learning, sharing life knowledge and teaching English even though I am a non-native speaker. The idea was to become one of the role models for my Brazilian students to make enthusiasm and desire to keep learning English naturally grow in them too. At the end of three months course their progress showed that with daily portions of inspiration, fun warm up games, lots of speaking activities and big smiles some of their learning goals were achieved. With that result and analysis made I realized that learners experience appealing to the emotion made it memorable. Showing students how information they’re learning is useful to real-life scenarios will help them to see the practical application that it holds. Thus, if the teacher can find a way to make this strategy works, then the learner will really learn a lot. And this exactly how it was during my teaching practice abroad. In addition, the classroom environment plays a key role in how motivated a student is. They always need to be in a positive atmosphere in which they feel encouraged, valued and respected. In conclusion I would like to repeat by saying that motivation is the great source that moves and guides students (sometimes through obstacles) to stay active, engaged and stay on track. Moreover it makes learners go beyond the study topics and be more creative..
