Motivation, Tasks, Attitudes: The Influence of Motivational Pre-Task Strategies on Tasks Performance and Tasks Engagement

Abstract

Motivation is widely accepted by both teachers and researchers as an important variable that may affect students’ rate and success when it comes to second/foreign language learning. However, a relatively small number of empirical studies exist on how listening tasks, where learners do something with the information they have extracted from the text, can be influenced by manipulating as well as generating the initial tasks motivation in educational contexts. To this end, this study compared the performance of 72 participants on post-treatment listening tasks and tasks engagement questionnaire over five treatment sessions: one group with motivational pre-task strategies instruction and the other with no pre-task strategies instruction whatsoever. The results from the independent samples t-test showed that motivational strategies instruction proved to be beneficial for improving the experimental group students’ tasks performance and facilitated their tasks engagement as well. The information collected supplied a more informed image and additional evidence of the probable link between the initial task motivation and task success.