Second Language Acquisition: Teacher Factors on Students’ Motivation

Abstract
Motivation has been a part of language learning and teaching. Many
researchers have conducted research in this field. They try to find what
aspects that influence motivation more. Teacher as the one who close to
teaching and learning process and the studentsthemselves, should be
considered as the factor that influence students’ motivation. Therefore,
this literature review will describe some current investigations related to
the influences of teacher toward students’ motivation. Then some aspects
of teacher such as teacher’s self disclose and communicative style will be
described. Those are believed to have influence on students’ motivation.

I. Introduction

Motivation has been a part of language learning and teaching. There

are two kinds of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic
motivation is motivation inside students themselves; students learn
something for their own pleasure and the pressure comes inside them. On
the other hand extrinsic motivation is motivation that comes outside of
students that makes them interest to learn something. Teacher as the one
who almost all the time stands by the students can affect students’
motivation. As stated by Dailey (2009) there are four core factors that
influence motivation; a positive attitude towards the L2 community, an
enjoyment in learning the language, how students see themselves in the
future as language speakers, and what external pressures are hindering
their learning. And teacher can use these four factors to inspire motivation
in their students by familiarizing them with the L2 communities,
providing enjoyable lessons that are relevant to the students’ needs,
creating a positive ideal self in their minds, and encouraging language
 autonomy. On that point some researchers conducted studies to see how
teachers influence students’ motivation.

II. Teacher as a Factor Influencing students’ Motivation

Language teacher can be an influential source of motivation for L2

learners. Teachers can use these four factors above to inspire motivation
in their students by familiarizing them with the L2 communities,
providing enjoyable lessons that are relevant to the students’ needs,
creating a positive ideal self in their minds, and encouraging language
autonomy. These strategies can establish and develop motivation in a
student. It is the same as what stated by Wentzel (1998) However, that
student interest in academic activities might be driven by teacher
characteristics that reflect social as well as curricular and instructional
approaches to learning affirms the motivational significance of teacher-
student relationships in the lives of young adolescents.
What teachers can do to stimulate students’ intrinsic motivation
based on Dornyei and Csizer (1998) in Brown (2001):

1. Set personal example with teacher’s own behavior

Teachers are the role model in teaching and learning process.
Students think that whatever teachers do is something that is
true. It can be seen from kids that believe their teacher words
rather than their parents. This can bring both positive and
negative effects. If the teachers’ behavior is the same as the
theory in classroom, it will bring positive effect since students
love to follow teachers; but it will bring negative effect if the
teachers’ behavior and theory do not complete each other. That is
 why setting personal example by showing it in teacher’s own
behavior can stimulate students’ motivation.
2. Create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the classroom
Students are not robots; they can be bored and lazy sometimes.
Creating intimidating situation in the classroom only makes it
worse. They need a pleasant situation and relaxed atmospheres to
be able to learn the material well.
3. Present the task properly
4. Develop a good relationship with the learners
It is happened that if students hate teacher they will hate the
lesson too; and if they like the teacher, they will try to like the
lesson. That is why developing good relationship with learners is
good to be applied in order to stimulate students’ motivation in
learning.
5. Increase the learners’ linguistic self-confidence
6. Make the language classes interesting
7. Promote learner autonomy
8. Personalize the learning process
9. Increase the learners’ goal-oriented
10. Familiarize learners with the target language culture.

This theory happened to be applied by teachers in teaching and

learning process. Teachers affected students’ motivation in the classroom
by many ways. That is why many researchers conducted a research in this
field. In this case, the writer chooses to review two researches, the first
one is to review teacher’s self disclosure on social media affects students’
motivation and teachers’ communicative style in classroom.

III. Teacher’s Self Disclosure on Social Media

 As the technology growth, many people use social media as a place
to share and open themselves to the world. It is happened to all over
people including teachers and students. As stated by brown previously that
teacher can stimulate students’ motivation by setting personal example by
teachers’ own behavior. That bring out that teacher self disclosure may
also bring something to students’ motivation.
Fusani (1994) in Mazer (2007) contends that teacher self-disclosure
is a ‘‘rich personal source of student-faculty communication’’ Cayanus
(2004) in Mazer (2007) argued for the use of teacher self-disclosure as an
effective instructional tool to foster student learning.Research has
suggested that teachers who personalize teaching through the use
ofhumor, stories, enthusiasm, and self-disclosure are perceived by their
students to beeffective in explaining course content Mazer (2007).
Teacher who exhibit a relaxed personality on facebook with informal
photograph and entertaining messages, but show themselves to be strict in
the classroom, may create violated students expectation that may result in
negative effect on students. Students encourages teacher to use facebook
so that they could have the opportunity to be acquainted before meeting in
the classroom.

IV. Teacher’s Communicative style in Classroom

Teacher cannot be separated from students learning process. In L2

learning teacher can be the one who influence students’ perception. Noels
(199) stated that the manner in which teachers inter- act with students, that
is, their communicative style, may be associated with the students’
motivational orientation.
Perceptions of the teacher’s communicative style were related to
intrinsic motivation, such that the more controlling and the less
 informative students perceived the teacher to be, the lower students’
intrinsic motivation was. It is the same as what Wentzel (1997) found that
students withoutfriends but who are well liked by teachers are highly
motivated to achieve academically.
Skinner (1993) also found that teacher behavior influences students
'perceptions of their interactions with teachers. Teachers' involvement
with individual students had the most powerful impact on children's
perceptions of the teacher. These findings indicate that teachers' liking for
students is communicated to children and has pervasive effects on the way
in which students experience the interactions with teachers. The affection,
attunement, dedication of resources, and dependability expressed by the
teacher shape the extent to which children feel that the needs are met, not
only for relatedness but also for competence and self-determination. When
teachers are less involved with students, students not only miss the
involvement but also experience teachers as less consistent and more
coercive.
Ames (1992) stated that research on teacher effectiveness shows that
there is considerable variation in teacher behavior within classrooms.
Children in the same classroom are treated differently and therefore have
different experiences. Praise and verbal rewards are not evenly distributed
in the class, which makes different perception among students. But it is
not only behavior, as what stated by Wood (1998) in his studythat high
levels of teacher enthusiasm are not enough to guarantee learning. In order
to have a significant affects on learning, enthusiastic teaching behaviors
must be strategic and coincide with the topic structure of a lecture

V. Conclusion and Future Direction

Students’ motivation influence by many aspects; one of them are
teachers. Since teachers affect students’ motivation; teachers should pay
 attention on how they act, their self disclosure, and their communicative
style. Teachers also can follow ten ways to stimulate students’ intrinsic
motivation. Further research in this field should be investigated on more
aspects that can influence students’ motivation.

References
Ames, Carole. “Classrooms: Goals, Structures and Students Motivation.” Journal of
Educational Psychology 84.3 (1992): 261-171

Brown, H. Douglas. 2001. Teaching by principles. San Francisco: Longman

Dailey, Aja. “Key Motivational Factors and How Teachers Can Encourage
Motivation in their Students.” University of Birmingham (2009).

Mazer, Joseph P. Murphy, Richard E. &Simonds, Cheri J. “I’ll See You On

‘‘Facebook’’: The Effects of Computer-Mediated Teacher Self-Disclosure on
Student Motivation, Affective Learning, and Classroom Climate.”
Communication Education 56.1 (2007): 1-17
Noels, Kimberly A. Clement, Richard. and Pelletier Luc G. “Perceptions of Teachers’
Communicative Style and Students’ Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation.” The
Modern Language Journal 83.i (1999): 23–34

Skinner, Ellen A and Belmont Michael J. “Motivation in the Classroom: Reciprocal

Effects of Teacher Behavior and Student Engagement Across the School
Year” Journal of Educational Psychology 85.4 (1993): 571-581
Wentzel. Kathryn R. “Student Motivation in Middle School: The Role of Perceived
Pedagogical Caring.” Journal of Educational Psychology 89.3 (1997): 411
-419
Wentzel. Kathryn R. “Social Relationships and Motivation in Middle School: The
Role of Parents, Teachers, and Peers.” Journal of Educational Psychology
90.2 (1998): 202-209
Wood, Andrea M. “The Effects of Teacher Enthusiasm on Student Motivation,
Selective Attention, and Text Memory” University of Western Ontario (1998)