Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By Zoltn Drnyei and Judit Kormos Language Teaching Research 4, 3 (2000); pp. 275 300 Presented by Soledad Sandoval M.
OVERVIEW
Introduction Objective Method
INTRODUCTION
Students verbal
OBJECTIVE
Identify attitudinal/motivational variables that determine the participating language learners actual engagement in language tasks in terms of the amount of speech produced:
number of words number of turns
PARTICIPANTS
46 Hungarian students 16 17 years old 5 classes in 2 Budapest secondary schools Intermediate level of English Preparation for further studies in higher education
TASKS
Two
Data analyzed using the Cronbach Alpha internal consistency reliability coefficient
Positive Correlations
N of words N of turns and and WTC WTC Social Status Need for achievement Negative correlations Nof words and L2 proficiency Incentive values of English proficiency
Positive correlation
N of words and Favorable attitude towards the English course
Negative correlations Nof words and Nof turns and Cohesivenes Social status s
CONCLUSIONS
Situation-specific motives and motivational variables have a significant impact on learners engagement. Variables affected students behaviors differently depending on their initial task attitudes (filter)
CRITICAL APPRAISAL
Novelty of the study Small sample. Measurement = Quantity of speech Quality = ? Arguments to justify negative correlations are tentative and speculative (p. 294) Individualistic perspective (e.g. conversation = two speakers).