Linguistics Colloquium | Motivational Strategy Use by Fl Swahili Instructors in the United States | Oct. 28

Ohio University’s Linguistics Colloquium Series presents Dr. Magdalyne Oguti Akiding discussing “Motivational Strategy Use by Fl Swahili Instructors in the United States” on Friday, Oct. 28, at 12:55-1:50 pm via Microsoft TEAMS.

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Contact Dr. David Bell , Chair of Linguistics at Ohio University, belld@ohio.edu .

Akiding is Lecturer of Swahili at Howard University and an alumna of the M.A. in Linguistics program.

Abstract : Second language (L2) teachers’ practices in the classroom can influence their students’ motivation for learning the L2. Most of the research in this area has been conducted with students learning English as L2. Guilloteaux and Dörnyei (2008) recommended that more research be conducted on the use of motivational teaching practices in different languages, cultures, and instructional contexts to enrich the literature on this topic. In line with that recommendation, I had three goals with the current study: first, to investigate which motivational teaching practices are used by two teachers of Swahili in the United States; secondly, to investigate learners’ perceptions of the impacts of those motivational teaching practices on their motivated behaviour; and thirdly, to find out the impact of select factors on teachers’ implementation of those teaching practices.

I employed a case study methodology (Duff, 2014) and collected classroom-based data by means of observations, stimulated recall sessions, and semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed variations in the implementation of motivational teaching practices by the two teachers. While learners’ perceptions about those strategies were mostly positive, results also revealed instances where students did not perceive some practices as motivational despite their teachers thinking that they were. Factors such as the teachers’ cultural backgrounds and training were found to influence the teachers’ motivational strategy use. Additionally, teachers’ preparedness to teach remotely, the challenges of remote teaching, and institutional support were found to affect their implementation of motivational teaching practices. I discuss these results in particular in light of the time of data collection, which was during the COVID-19 pandemic.