The effects of arcs motivational model on student motivation to learn English

The present study was designed to examine the effects of ARCS motivational model (Keller, 2010) on students' motivation and to identify the perspectives of the students related to activities and the teacher behavior that motivates them. For this purpose, ARCS motivational model strategies were inserted to the instructional design via detailed lesson plans and these plans were applied throughout ten weeks. To find out the effects of ARSC model data were collected using two scales. These scales were Course Interest Survey (CIS) and Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS) by John Keller, and they were administered to a sampling of 30 preparatory school students at Namik Kemal University before and after the application of lesson plans. To examine the effects of ARCS motivational model on students' motivation CIS and IMMS results were evaluated using Paired Samples t-test. The results of Course Interest Survey indicated a significant increase since students showed higher course motivation based on the overall CIS results at the end of the study. The Course Interest Survey items were evaluated in terms of each ARCS category and a significant difference was observed in all scales. The results showed that the ARCS model inserted language instruction had positive influence on students' course motivation in all categories. To examine the effects of ARCS strategies on increasing students' motivation in terms of instructional materials the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey results were evaluated. A paired samples t-test yielded a significant difference in students' instructional motivation scores. For a deeper understanding, two subscales of IMMS were assessed separately to identify the difference in mean scores and whether the instructional materials based on ARCS strategies were implemented into the classroom instruction successfully. The results revealed significant differences in both subscales. Students' instructional materials motivation increased. Students' comments that were collected through weekly comments sheet also supported statistical data obtained through both CIS and IMMS. The second purpose of the study was to identify course design features that motivated students most. For this reason, students were asked to write weekly comments sheet and to comment on the effectiveness of the instruction and the type of instructional materials and activities motivated them during the class hour. These were collected by the instructor at the last lesson of each week. Students reported that extra materials such as info-gap, problem solving, picture description, picture and sentence matching etc. activities increased their motivation. Especially vocabulary teaching activities supported with games, listening practices such as songs and videos were suggested as highly motivating. Activities that required learner participation such as pair works, group activities, competitions and games were considerably effective in increasing student motivation. Moreover, activities that allowed students use their creativity and their own ideas were other motivating course design features. Besides class materials, instructor behavior was indicated as relatively motivating. Polite, energetic, enthusiastic, caring instructor behaviors were reported as effective in increasing students' motivation to the lesson. Furthermore, providing constructive feedback, giving verbal praise and providing rewards for accomplishing a difficult task or showing effort were other motivating instructor behaviors. In addition, students reported that frequent student-instructor communication helped them focus their lesson and increased their motivation. KEY WORDS: ARCS Motivational Model, CIS, IMMS, Motivation