Motivational strategies for the language classroom: Perceptions of Korean secondary school English teachers

Since Dörnyei and Csizér's (1998) landmark study of the importance that Hungarian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers attached to a selection of motivational strategies and the frequency they reported using them in their classrooms, there have been few published attempts to examine the cross-cultural validity of their findings. The study reported in this paper builds on the work of Dörnyei and colleagues (Dörnyei and Csizér, 1998; Cheng and Dörnyei, 2007). It uses Cheng and Dörnyei's (2007) methods while changing the context to evaluate the relevance of a similar list of motivational strategies to 268 South Korean secondary school EFL teachers. The results provide further evidence that some strategies can transfer across contexts. However, unlike previous studies, it was found that Korean teachers attach very little importance and hardly ever use strategies related to generating a positive classroom climate and adaptive group dynamics. Furthermore, and unique to this study, virtually all the examined strategies were underused relative to their perceived importance, suggesting that motivating students is very low on Korean teachers' list of priorities.

► Importance and frequency of use of motivational strategies are examined in Korea.
► Results add evidence that motivational strategies can transfer across contexts.
► Classroom climate and group dynamics strategies were not perceived as relevant.
► Virtually all the examined strategies were underused relative to importance.