Let’s Dance: Motivating through Movement
Format: 30-minute research presentation
Summary
Abstract
Background: Motivation is the “dark matter of education,” we know it’s there but we can’t see it or touch it. Teacher centered instruction and lack of relevance to students’ needs and interests is a major source of demotivation. This presentation demonstrates the use of performance tasks in the classroom to boost motivation.
Method: Students in an elective presentation class were given a choice of different performance presentations to complete. Some students took the class out of an interest in language learning, but many took it purely to earn credit required to graduate. In previous years, very high attrition was attributed to student lack of interest in presentation topics so students were permitted to work in groups and make presentations of a format and topic of their own choosing as long as the language was English. Surprisingly, academic presentations were only the third most popular format, behind singing an English song and dancing to an English song.
Research question: Did offering students a choice of format and topic improve their motivation?
Results: Survey results showed that students enjoyed the class, thought it helped their English study, and attrition was much lower than in previous years. We will share the detailed results of the survey plus student feedback comments collected at the end of the course.
