EFL Student Teachers’ Motivational Strategies in Teaching English: A Case Study of The Open University of Tanzania

Abstract

This paper sought to appraise motivational strategies employed by EFL student teachers in Tanzania. Using a case study design, the paper involved 61 randomly sampled undergraduate students from The Open University of Tanzania pursuing education and English language studies. They filled in a questionnaire, the sole data collection tool, adapted from Dörnyei (2001). After that, the researcher entered the responses into SPSS to compute frequencies and percentages. The questionnaire items were classified into affective, class management, social, and cognitive strategies. Results were summarised in tables. They indicated that most respondents employed ‘occasional’ to ‘often use’ strategies. However, these respondents were uncertain about using some strategies. Their uncertainty was linked to Tanzanian teachers’ preference for teacher-dominance language teaching and handling English like a content subject. Hence, it requires silence and formal acknowledgement of the language teacher as the sole authority, rather than bringing in and encouraging humour and laughter in the classroom. The quantitative analysis demonstrated that motivation in the classroom is perceived as the opportunity to enhance learning, which is why many respondents teaching English as a foreign language used all types of strategies in teaching their learners. The paper concludes that motivational strategies are as varied and diverse as learners’ contexts and teachers’ preferences.

Key words: EFL teachers, motivation, teaching strategies