Taula 11.-Taula resum dels anticossos secundaris utilitzats per Western Blot.
2.1. CULTIU CEL·LULAR
As mentioned earlier, the main aim of conducting the exploratory interviews was to explore the context of the study and to design context-specific questionnaires based on the results of the qualitative data. In this section, there will be a discussion of the development and the translation of the study questionnaire.
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4.4.2.1. The development of the questionnaire items
Three main sources inform the development of the questionnaire items, first, Dörnyei's (2001a) conceptualisation of motivational strategies used in the L2 classroom; second, the analysis of the qualitative data of the exploratory interviews; and third, previous studies which were conducted in the area of L2 motivational strategies (e.g., Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007; Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998). Dörnyei's (2001a) framework of motivational L2 teaching practices, presented in Chapter 3, was used to classify the motivational strategies which appeared during the analysis of the exploratory interviews. Such a model was chosen as a basis on which to classify motivational strategies, drawn from the qualitative data, since they synthesise most of the theories of L2 motivation and make these theories applicable in the language classroom.
The classification of the motivational strategies which appeared in the qualitative data shows that students highlight the importance of eleven motivational strategy themes and teachers discuss the significance of 13 themes, see the following table. Each theme consists of a number of motivational strategies (see Appendices 6 and 7).
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Table 4.3: Motivational strategy themes that appeared after the analysis of the students' and teachers’ interviews
Important motivational strategies for EFL teachers
Important motivational strategies for EFL students Teacher behaviour Classroom atmosphere Learner group L2 related values Teaching materials Goals
Teach students learner strategies
Provide regular encouragement
Task Feedback Ideal L2 self Learner autonomy Rewards Teacher behaviour Classroom atmosphere Learner group L2 related values Teaching materials Goals
Teach students learner strategies
Provide regular encouragement
Task
Feedback
Ideal L2 self
As shown in the previous table, although at a macro level, the views of teachers and students about motivational strategies appear to be very similar; however, when micro- level strategies are considered, there are more striking differences. For example, when teachers explain the importance of the scale ‘Learner group’ as a motivational strategy, they point to doing posters, group activities, competitions, and role-plays. Students also express the significant role of learner group, such as group activities, but they also mention strategies such as trips and after-class clubs. It seems that EFL teachers concentrate more on group work within the classroom and for academic achievements, while students prefer social aspects including outings and extracurricular activities. Therefore, when developing the questionnaire items, the researcher incorporated items mentioned by teachers and students to construct the ‘Learner group’ scale, as a way of testing this scale further.
The themes which appeared from the qualitative data of teachers and students were combined and formed the questionnaire. Therefore, at the beginning of the
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questionnaire design phase, we have 13 scales, and each scale consists of different items. The questionnaire items, as indicated earlier, were selected from the analysis of the exploratory interviews and from the previous literature. However, there were some changes when preparing the final questionnaire scales (see Table 4.4):
In the preliminary scales derived from the analysis of the qualitative data, ‘Teach student learner strategies’ and ‘Provide regular encouragement’ formed two separate scales. After returning to the key literature, it was thought they would work better as one scale – ‘Learner confidence’ – as they both help to increase learner confidence.
The ‘Task’ scale was divided into two scales in the first draft of the questionnaire, which were ‘presenting tasks in a motivating way’ and ‘making learning stimulating and enjoyable’. This division was also made after reading previous studies conducted in the area of motivational strategies, such as Cheng and Dörnyei (2007). The following table tracks the changes made when deciding on the scales of the questionnaire.
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Table 4.4: The development of the questionnaire scale (MS= motivational strategy)
Preliminary MS scales from the data analysis
MS scales in the first draft of the questionnaire
Teacher behaviour Teacher behaviour
Classroom atmosphere Classroom atmosphere
Learner group Learner group
L2 related values L2 related values
Goals Goals
Feedback Recognise students’ effort
Rewards
Learner autonomy Learner autonomy
Ideal L2 self Ideal L2 self
Teach students learner strategies
Learner confidence Providing regular encouragement
Task
Presenting tasks in a motivating way
Making learning stimulating and enjoyable
Teaching materials Teaching materials
The initial items pool consisted of more than 100 items across 13 motivational scales. It should be noted that many motivational strategies discussed during the interviews have also been mentioned in the literature, such as in Dörnyei and Csizér (1998) and Cheng and Dörnyei (2007). The principal challenge in producing an instrument was keeping it relevant to the Saudi context by adopting items from the analysis of the exploratory interviews. However, the worry was that this might not prove to be statistically reliable in the pilot study data and thereafter. But with the aim of developing a contextually relevant questionnaire, the instrument includes items from the qualitative data as well as from previous studies. The initial selecting of the items from the interview data depended on different factors; the items which were repeated frequently, throughout the qualitative data, were kept; the items which were spoken
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about with passion, force and reason were kept; the items which appeared in both the interviews and in the literature were kept; and some individual items from the literature were also included. The final questionnaire items were reduced to 66, and each scale consists of at least one negatively worded item. The inclusion of negative items is mainly to avoid acquiescencebias where most of the answers go in one direction on the scale. In other words, they act as 'cognitive speed bumps that require respondents to engage in more controlled, as opposed to automatic, cognitive processing' (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Podsakoff, & Lee, 2003, p.884).
The following table shows the instrument's multi-items scales, items, the negatively worded items, and the sources of the questionnaire items. It should be noted that in the questionnaire some items extracted from the exploratory interviews are relatively similar in meaning to the items already suggested by Dörnyei (2001a) and investigated by previous research, such as that of Cheng and Dörnyei (2007).
Table 4.5: The questionnaire scales, items and the sources of the questionnaire items (EIs= exploratory interviews)
Scales Items Source Notes
1. Teacher behaviour
(6 items)
1. Show my enthusiasm for teaching English.
EIs
2. Share the reasons for her interest in English with my students.
EIs
3. Show students that she cares about their progress.
EIs
4. Be ready to answer the academic questions of students.
EIs
5. Limit her personal relationship with her students.
EIs Negatively
worded item
6. Pay attention and listen to each student.
(Dörnyei, 2001a)
114 Table 4.5 continued.
Scales Items Source Notes
2. Classroom atmosphere
(3 items)
7. Create a pleasant atmosphere in the classroom.
EIs
8. Create a supportive classroom climate that allows students to make mistakes.
(Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007)
(This item reworded)
9. Be serious-minded in the classroom EIs Negatively worded item
3. Learner group
(5 items)
10. Use small-group tasks where students can mix.
EIs
11. Use an interesting opening activity to start each class.
EIs
12. Avoid giving students the opportunity to socialise.
EIs Negatively
worded item
13. Organise outings. EIs
14. Include activities that lead to the successful completion of whole group tasks, such as project work.
EIs
4. L2 related values
(7 items)
15. Invite senior students to share their English learning experiences with the class.
EIs
16. Introduce authentic materials, such as an article from an English newspaper.
EIs
17. Increase the amount of English I use in the class.
EIs
18. Advise students to use English in the classroom rather than outside
classroom.
EIs Negatively
worded item
19. Encourage learners to explore English community, such as watching English TV channels.
EIs
20. Invite L2 speaker to class. EIs
21. Remind students of the benefits of mastering English.
EIs
5. Teaching materials
(3 items)
22. Find out students’ needs and build them into curriculum.
(Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007) 23. Relate the subject matter to the
students’ everyday experiences. EIs 24. Avoid involving students in designing
and running the English course.
(Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007)
Negatively worded item
115 Table 4.5 continued.
Scales Items Source Notes
6. Goals
(6 items)
(5 items) after the initial pilot study
25. Encourage students to set learning goals.
EIs
26. Show to students how particular activities help them to attain their goal.
EIs
27. Avoid stating the objectives of each class.
EIs Negatively
worded item
28. Help students develop realistic beliefs about English language.
(Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007) 29. Encourage learners to select specific
goals for themselves.
EIs Deleted after the initial
pilot study
30. Be flexible about goal completion deadlines. (Dörnyei, 2001a) Negatively worded item 7. Making learning stimulating and enjoyable (5 items)
31. Use the same presentation format during the class.
EIs Negatively
worded item
32. Use learning technology in my classes such as computer.
EIs
33. Make tasks challenging. EIs
34. Select tasks which require bodily involvement from students, such as role-plays.
EIs
35. Present tasks in a motivating way. EIs
8. Presenting tasks in a motivating way
(3 items)
36. Explain the purpose of a task. EIs
37. Draw students’ attention to the content of the task.
EIs
38. Avoid showing students how to answer tasks. (Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007) Negatively worded item
116 Table 4.5 continued.
Scales Items Source Notes
9. Learner confidence
(8 items)
39. Provide regular encouragement. EIs
40. Draw my learners' attention to their strengths and abilities.
EIs
41. Indicate to my students that I believe in their effort to learn English.
EIs
42. Try to reduce students’ language anxiety when they are speaking in English.
EIs
43. Avoid public comparison, between successful and unsuccessful students.
(Dörnyei, 2001a) 44. Help learners accept the fact that they
will make mistakes as part of the learning process.
(Dörnyei, 2001a)
45. Teach students learning techniques such as the way of memorising vocabulary.
EIs
46. Make clear to students that being grammatically correct in speaking is more important than communicating meaning effectively. (Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007) Negatively worded item 10. Learner autonomy (6 items)
47. Allow learners choices about the learning process.
EIs
48. Encourage group presentations. EIs
49. Teach my students self-motivating strategies, such as self-
encouragement.
(Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007)
Reworded
50. Allow students to assess themselves.
(Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007) 51. Give the students choices about how
they will be assessed.
Cheng and Dörnyei 2007
Reworded
52. Avoid giving students choices about the time of test.
(Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007)
Negatively worded item
117 Table 4.5 continued.
Scales Items Source Notes
11. Feedback
(6 items)
53. Provide students with positive feedback.
EIs
54. Recognise students’ progress.
(Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007)
Reworded
55. Avoid celebrating students’ victory. EIs Negatively worded item 56. Provide face-to-face feedback to
students about their progress.
EIs
57. Offer ongoing feedback. EIs
58. Monitor student progress. EIs
12. Rewards
(3 items)
59. Limit the use of rewards to motivate students.
EIs Negatively
worded item 60. Offer rewards for participating in
activities.
EIs
61. Make sure grades reflect students’ effort and hard work.
(Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007)
13. Ideal L2 self
(5 items)
62. Encourage students to imagine the future situations where they will need English.
EIs
63. Encourage students to imagine themselves using English in their future career.
(Taguchi et al., 2009) 64. Avoid inviting successful role models
to class.
(Dörnyei,
2008) Negatively worded item
65. Encourage students to imagine themselves using English when travelling abroad.
(Taguchi et al., 2009)
Reworded
66. Encourage students to imagine themselves using English to communicate with international friends.
(Taguchi et al., 2009)
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After deciding on the questionnaire items, the items were randomised in order throughout the questionnaire to avoid a repetition of content which might frustrate the participants (Dörnyei, 2003). See Appendix 8 for the initial randomised questionnaire items.
4.4.2.2. The process of questionnaire translation
The questionnaire was translated into Arabic, the native language of participants, since the population of the study includes EFL teachers and EFL students. It may not have been a problem for EFL teachers to understand the questionnaire items, but students might have found it somewhat challenging as their English level ranges from beginner to intermediate. Besides, because one of the aims of the study is to compare the teachers' and students' beliefs about motivational strategies, it is thought that it would be more appropriate to distribute an Arabic version of the questionnaire to both teachers and students to ensure that they fully understand the meaning of the questionnaire.
The translation team consisted of the researcher and two translators who have a Master's degree in English-to-Arabic translation. In addition, the two translators teach English to university students, so they are more aware of the topic of L2 motivation and motivational strategies. The translation of the instrument went through different stages. Firstly, it was translated by the researcher (a native Arabic speaker). Secondly, the questionnaire was reviewed and edited by one of the translators. After the questionnaire was modified according to the recommendations of the first translator, it was sent to the second translator to review the instrument. The second translator
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added some comments, which were taken into account. After the modifications of the instrument based on the translators’ views, it was ready for the initial pilot study.