False Hope & Goal Setting In The
ESL/EFL Classroom
by Damian Rivers

Like many other foreign teachers in Japan I possess an active interest in what motivates students to study English, whether they be high school / university students, housewives or retirees, it can be assumed that all students have motivating factors that prompt them to begin a period of study. Within some demographic populations there are patterns to these motivating factors. For students enrolled in full-time, compulsory education, like those at the high school or university level, English may, and often is, simply a means to an end. A way in which to get from A to C, unfortunately for many of these students, to do this requires them to go through B; English. Those students who are not in full-time education and whom freely choose to study may do so for a whole host of reasons. Some of the more common reasons that I have encountered include :

* Desire to travel overseas and communicate in English.
* Better communication with a foreign friend.
* Work related English requirements / Hobby or interest specific English
* Situational English (e.g., at the restaurant, at the station)

I am sure that the average teacher in Japan has heard the above many, many times from students at the beginning of a class. One motivation that surprisingly, surfaces quite often is:

* I want to watch western movies with no subtitles

At this point in the class I usually fall silent and start to comprehend the mountainous task ahead of me in satisfying the students expectations. Teaching (if at all possible) someone to watch a movie with no subtitles, in a foreign language, is a phenomenal task, especially when the same student is struggling to come to terms with ‘My name is Eriko’. On occasions such as this I begin to wonder how that student came to perceive such a goal as being realistic or even attainable in their current mode of study. How can they believe that there are a specific set of transferable skills that when attained would allow someone to watch a “typical” western movie with no subtitles and understand the complete linguistic, social and cultural content is astounding.

In my experience motivations such as these are not only dangerous but also destructive to the EFL classroom as they immediately raise the bar of expectation so high that no matter how wonderful the teacher may be, he/she is destined to fail in the shadow of this enormous task. But of course blaming the student is not the solution to this problem.

So, let’s imagine the scene. The first 20 minutes of a new conversation class have passed and now you are considering how best to meet all of the students particular needs during the 3 month course which limits class time to a single hour per week. At this point I would advise you to stop and consider the following before deciding on a particular course of action.

Unrealistic expectations or false hopes have the power to directly affect the students’ motivation to continue with the course of study. Many students are not even aware of their own linguistic boundaries and cannot draw a clear line between unrealistic expectations and realistic expectations. Keller, (1993) looked at the relationship between motivation and student / teacher expectations across four areas of classroom phenomena. These areas consisted of interest, relevance, expectancy and outcome. The most crucial area for the EFL teacher in Japan in terms of goal setting is relevance. In order for students to maintain a consistent level of interest and motivation in a course or program it is necessary for their personal needs to be satisfied. Keller referred to these needs as “instrumental needs”, which can only be met when the course content matches what the student perceives they should be learning.

In a conversation class of mixed ability students coming from different backgrounds, finding a common goal is tough. At this point a degree of responsibility must fall on to the teacher, what a student should be learning and what a student wants to learn are usually two very different things. The teacher needs make an acceptable and functional compromise between the students’ needs and their wants. The varying degrees of “personal agenda” displayed by students also serves to emphasize the need for accurate and consensual goals to be set which are accepted and agreed upon by all class members. In addition to such findings Graham, (1997) reported in his research that the students would give “the impression of experiencing frustration and disinclination to work to their full capacity when their agenda was felt to be in conflict with the one imposed by the teachers”. He concluded, “motivation depends on students sensing that language activities correspond to what they feel they need to learn, and to the way in which they feel they should learn”.

Whilst the idea of establishing goals in the classroom is becoming clearer, it is also important as Graham, (1997) noted to consider the actual methods in which the classroom material is delivered by the teacher. Some students may have a preference for lecture style teaching, whilst some may have a preference for more student-based interaction. Likewise, a computer assisted, interactive high content based class would not be the best choice for a group of retirees. The method of teaching should be a key part of any goal setting activity, in this respect it requires a skilled and flexible teacher if all students are to remain satisfied for the duration of the course. Students themselves may lack awareness and knowledge of various teaching methods but all students can identify methods that they dislike, for a teacher, obtaining such basic information is of great assistance when deciding just how to teach a particular class.

So what kind of goals should be set? Setting goals that are easily obtained may temporarily increase self-esteem and satisfaction in students but this constant under stimulation will eventually turn to boredom and frustration. On the other hand if the teacher sets unreachable goals the students will lose interest and frustration will again, take over the classroom. A goal should strike a balance between being too easy and too difficult. Biggs & Moore, (1993) stated that when a teacher comes to the process of setting classroom goals with the students the “goals should be specific, hard but achievable, accepted by the students and accompanied by feedback”. In those cases where all students do not meet the set goals it is important to provide feedback to those students to reinforce the fact that they are still “a part of the group”’ and that failure, does not mean exclusion, in cases of constant failure the goals of that individual need to be reassessed and shaped to their current ability level.

In conclusion, I would advise all EFL teachers to at least consider the below points when beginning a new class:

If the teacher works in tandem with the students in setting goals, refining those goals, overcoming barriers and measuring student achievement, the English language classroom can become a place of intense satisfaction for all involved, including the teacher.

References

Biggs, J.B. & Moore, P.J. (1993). Process of Learning .(3rd Edition). Sydney: Australia: Prentice-Hall.
Graham, S. (1997). Effective Language Learning. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters. 96-99, 113-122.
Keller, J. M. (1993). “Motivational design of instruction” In C. M. Reigeluth ( ed.) Instructional Design Theories and Models (pp. 386-433). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Biodata

Damian Rivers (29) is currently an EAP instructor at Loughborough University. He has over 7 years experience teaching in Japan and is interested in written communications within business environments. He also maintains a student homepage at http://homepage.mac.com/damiworld

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