Experiment using exrtinsic motivators in l3 spanish writng dr zhang final
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5. Motivation in the foreign language classroom
Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivators
Positive reinforcement
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7. Participants
The final sample consisted of 32 student adolescents in Grades 9–12. Fourteen of which are male and
18 of which are female. The school is a charter school that is the result of a 47 year old program
offered to students in Hartford giving them the opportunity to attend public schools in suburban
towns. This program is known as open choice.
The open Choice Program aims improve academic achievements and reduce racial-ethnic isolation.
These programs provide all children with a choice of high quality educational programs. Therefore in
any given classroom we see a very diverse group of students from different socio-economic settings.
Current high school enrollment is at approximately 500 students. The students are all Spanish 3
students and have been divided into 2 sample sets. Sample A contains 18 students and the sample b
contains 12 students.
Data collection procedures
The participants are unaware that they are participating in a research study. They were handed a
questionnaire administered in English, which is their primary language. Participants were told that
all of their answers are confidential. Participants were seated at their respective desks to guarantee
their privacy. Researcher used structured Interviews, student assessment interview s and student
observations. Students were observed 15 minutes every other day for a total of 20 observations.
Observations began five minutes after task commenced and was timed in minute’s intervals. On task
and off task behavior of samples were noted by one independent observer.
Preliminary functional assessment survey
In order to assess a baseline measure students were given a rubric without completion expectations set
forth. They were then given a writing prompt where they had complete 60 words in 10 minutes. It
was determined that only 10% of the students in each sample completed the task. They were then
given a detailed rubric with completion expectations. Scores were generated based on level of
completion. Students are expected to complete the task of 60 words in 10 minutes. They have also
been given the optional assignment of the same writing task where they are allowed to write 0 words
in 10 minutes on a template one sentence is written in English and then it is translated in Spanish.
The ultimate goal is to have students complete an interpersonal writing task in Spanish.
9. THE TASK
Writing prompt rubric on the
board for those who might not
have it and need to quickly look.
Under is the writng prompt
Writing prompt: translate the
word and write
a sentence.
15. The researcher assigned an interpersonal writing task to 2 separate level 3 Spanish
classrooms. The classrooms are mostly 10th and 11th graders. The assignment measured
was an interpersonal writing task where students write 60 words in 10 minutes. The
researcher collected based line data with no motivators in place. Data was collected over a
period of 6 weeks. Students were assigned one interpersonal writing task per week. Once
tasks were completed words were counted and students were given individual completion
percentages. Were placed in excel data base. Students are then given a percentage
completed score. This score was calculated by dividing the student’s word count by 60.
The data was then compared and researcher measured completion increase. (See table
below) Completion increase this data was determined by calculating the difference of the
base week and the current weeks. Additionally, this percentage assists in determining how
much word count growth students have experienced at the end of 6 weeks. Results of this
research demonstrated that students who are intrinsically motivated had more positive
gains in reaching completion points in target language. Students in the intrinsic sample set
showed an overall percentage of growth in target language of 754%. Whereas the extrinsic
sample set experienced growth of 653%
Extrinsic Data table:
One trend that appeared in research was that students exceeded baseline
performance between the first and fifth essay. The second writing task displayed students
in both groups increased their baseline average by 10%. They also demonstrated lower
level 1 Spanish errors rates. During the 3rd writing task 40 percent of the students, who
were consistently delivering 40-50 word counts during the task, had decreased in word
count by an average of 10 percent the researcher asked these students why they had
decreased in word count and found that students were bored with task. For these students
the researcher raised the word count to 100 words in 10 minutes. Students that had a
baseline of 40-60 words all exceeded the 60 word goal by the 4th writing task.
The summary of the results demonstrated that the group motivated intrinsically
had better overall writing performance by the 6th week. Students that scored between 10-
20 words in the extrinsic set had a lower increase in word counts as those in the intrinsic
set being studied. Students in the intrinsic set studies showed a consistent 10% growth in
word count from week to week.