FOSTERING STUDENT MOTIVATION: REFLECTION WORKSHEET
A. Brainstorming: Your Motivation as a Language Learner
Take a few minutes to reflect on your own experience learning English. Set a timer for
3–5 minutes and write freely in response to the following questions:
It may be helpful to think about these questions:
1. What types of activities motivated you?
Activities that involve movement and thinking. In addition, intrinsic motivation
can provide motivation for myself.
2. How did your learning environment and/or classmates affect your motivation?
A comfortable, clean, and tidy learning environment can increase my learning
motivation. In addition, friends who care about me, are willing to help me when I
have difficulty learning, and engage in healthy competition can also boost my
motivation to learn.
3. How did you learn to deal with challenges while learning?
Always keep trying, and convince yourself that if others can do it, so can you as
long as you are willing to keep learning. Always think positively that we need
broad knowledge to live our lives.
4. What kept you on track to meet your long-term goal of language proficiency?
Because I chose English as my major, it motivates me to keep working hard to
achieve the goals I have set for myself.
5. What made learning enjoyable or exciting?
Because knowledge opens every door. A person who possesses knowledge—
both worldly and spiritual—will not face difficulties in life.
6. What type of teachers helped you learn most effectively? Which teachers did
you like best? Why?
A teacher who is active, caring, understanding, and treats all students equally. A
teacher who helps every student when they do not understand the lesson.
B. Reflection Inventory: Factors Affecting Student Motivation
Motivation is a key factor in student success. It can be influenced by both intrinsic
and extrinsic factors. Teachers can make choices that positively impact student
motivation. These choices fall into four main categories:
1. Instructional Design
2. Promoting Learner Autonomy
3. Creating a Positive Classroom Environment and Culture
4. Teacher Behavior and Expectations
Use the checklist (√) provided to reflect on your teaching practices and classroom
environment. For each item, mark:
☐ Yes ☐ No ☐ I’m not sure
Note: This list is not exhaustive, and not all items will be relevant for all teachers or
learning environments.
1. Instructional Design
Yes No I’m Questions
not sure
√ 1. Do students understand objectives and why they are
learning what they are learning?
√ 2. Are activities sequenced and scaffolded (supported
in a level-appropriate way) to promote learner
success?
√ 3. Do lessons feature appropriate pacing and
incorporate a variety of activities to appeal to
different learning styles?
√ 4. Do activities incorporate student interests, current
topics, and a variety of media (where available) that
are relevant to students' lives?
√ 5. Do students have a chance to engage with language
content in a personalized way?
√ 6. Do some language-learning materials give students
chances to learn about and use English in a way that
is relevant to their home culture? Do some materials
provide opportunities to build cross-cultural and
intercultural awareness?
√ 7. Are activities designed to generate student curiosity,
and do they present appropriate challenges?
(Examples: inductive/discovery learning tasks,
cooperative information gap activities, learning
games and puzzles)
√ 8. Do learners receive frequent informal and formal
feedback on their work? Are grades and other
assessment tools used in a fair, transparent way?
Does feedback highlight both strengths and areas for
improvement?
2. Promoting Learner Autonomy
Yes No I’m Questions
not sure
√ 1. Are learners encouraged to think about how they
like to learn/how they learn most effectively?
Yes No I’m Questions
not sure
√ 2. Do students get to make some choices about what
and how to meet them?
√ 3. Are students encouraged to develop and apply
project management and time management skills?
√ 4. Are students encouraged to reflect on their learning
and progress toward their goals?
√ 5. Are students encouraged to solve problems and
complete activities using critical and creative
thinking?
√ 6. Are students supported while developing 21st
century skills like digital literacy and learning with
technology, content creation, critical thinking, and
research?
√ 7. Are learners encouraged to solve different kinds of
self-motivating when they encounter challenges?
√ 8. Do teachers connect students with self-directed
learning resources (examples: library-based media,
websites, social media tools and strategies for
learning to connect learners with English speakers)
and strategies for using them?
(3) Creating a Positive Classroom Environment and Culture
Yes No I’m Questions
not sure
√ 1. Are there clear expectations about appropriate
classroom behavior? Do students help develop
classroom rules and disciplinary consequences in an
age-appropriate way?
√ 2. Do classroom standards encourage mutually
respectful speech and actions? Are class members’
time and ideas respected?
√ 3. Do activities include a variety of grouping styles
(individual work, pair work, and group work) to
appeal to different learning styles?
√ 4. Do some activities encourage cooperative learning
and teamwork? Do they allow students with
different strengths to contribute in different ways?
√ 5. Do some activities incorporate healthy competition
and/or a system of rewards to spark students’ desire
to complete them?
√ 6. Is student success acknowledged and celebrated?
7. Does the teacher employ classroom management
techniques to keep learning on track and the
Yes No I’m Questions
not sure
classroom operating smoothly?
(4) Teacher Knowledge and Behavior
Yes No I’m Questions
not sure
√ 1. Does the teacher’s behavior and speech reflect
enthusiasm for English language learning, fairness in
applying rules and standards, and respect for
learners?
√ 2. Is the teacher approachable and willing to support
learners who require assistance?
√ 3. Does the teacher share lessons from her/his own
language learning experiences, incorporate humor
in lessons when appropriate, and make an effort to
include current, relevant content in lessons?
√ 4. Does the teacher display an appropriate level of
knowledge about the English language and language
teaching methodology?
C. Further Reflection
Consider and respond to the following items. Make notes about your responses for
discussion purposes or additional review:
1. Review your brainstorming notes from Part A and compare them to the list of
factors in the Reflection Inventory (Part B):
o What personal motivators from your own learning experience influence your
teaching, and how could you expand your approach to include strategies that
support a wider range of learners?
Of course, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation play a role. These are the
aspects that teachers should strengthen during classroom learning so that
students can actively engage in the learning process.
2. Is there one motivational category in your Part B responses that contained
several “No” or “I’m not sure” answers? nothing
o Which areas of your teaching might need more attention to support student
motivation, and what new strategies could you try to improve them?
Developing students’ interest in learning. After participating in this training, I
have come to understand that involving students in the learning process is
very important.
3. What strategies were most effective? Why?
o What strategies do you use most frequently? Why? Sometimes I use the
lecture method. However, currently, using the PBL model strategy can also be
very helpful in my teaching.
o Which strategies have been less effective? Why? Using the lecture method
too often is less effective because it can make students less active in class,
easily bored, sleepy, uninterested, and it does not provide them with new
learning experiences.
o What could you change to make weaker strategies more effective? I can
combine this method, if still needed, with the new strategies I have learned
from this training. Or, I might also stop using this method because it is less
effective for students in today’s learning context.
4. Focus on the motivation strategies.
o Which motivation strategies in your teaching work well? Explain the reason.
Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation work well for me because both are equally
important and complement each other.
o Which strategies don’t work well and what could you adjust to improve the
less effective ones? So far, everything is still manageable. However, I will
continue to improve these strategies to make them even more effective.