The Effect of Teachers’ Roles on Students’ Motivation and Achievement in a Foreign Language Learning Context

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigatewhether teachers’ rolesaffect students’ motivation to learn in foreign language learning context. To shed some light on the issue the current research was designed to investigate the effect oftheteacher’s role as a facilitator and controller on students’ achievementand their motivation to learn. The qualitative data for this project was collected by administering three questionnaires to 26 students to see their attitude towards the way they were taughtthroughout one term; by interviewing the teachers who were teaching the groups under the research to explore more about their approaches to teaching; by observing classesin both groupsin order toget in-depth information about the events happening in the classroom such as motivation of the students, activities used in the classroom, interactions, instructions, classroom behaviour, etc. The quantitative data was collected through pre test, midterm test and final test fromtwo EEC groups to explore the achievement of the students in both groups.The findings indicated that students learn better and have someachievement in a teacher-centered classroom with a teacher controller. The results of the qualitative data showthat students are more motivated buthave lower achievement in a student-centered classroom with a teacher-facilitator.The overall findingwas that teachers’ rolesaffect students’ motivation to learn greatly. Students learn better and show higher achievement when they are under control.