Investigating The Effect Of Motivational Design On Saudi University Students’ Motivation And L2 Writing Performance: An Experimental Mixed Methods Design Using Keller’S Arcs Model

Abstract

According to Boo et al. (2015), between 2005 and 2014, the majority of L2 motivation studies focused on general learner motivation, neglecting research on motivating learners in classroom contexts. Similarly, Sudina (2021) stated that most research on motivation focused on students’ individual motivation, even though what teachers do to motivate students in the classroom is also of major interest. Although some attempts have been made to propose motivational strategies for teachers (Dörnyei, 2001), traditional motivation research in SLA rarely considered the influence of classroom materials and instructional practices as the interface between motivation and learning. To this end, the present study brought Keller’s (2010) Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction (ARCS) model from educational psychology to applied linguistics, as recommended by Crookes and Schmidt (1991) and Lamb (2019), to address how materials and associated teacher instructional practices can be motivating based on a motivational theory of instruction. It investigated the effect of teachers’ implementation of an ARCS-based motivational strategies intervention on the motivation and L2 writing development of EFL learners.

The study employed an experimental mixed-methods approach, randomly assigning 82 Saudi adult EFL students to an experimental group (N = 50) or a control group (N = 32). Two teachers of the experimental group received an instructional guide for implementing 17 ARCSbased motivational strategies, while the one teacher of the control group followed conventional methods. Data collection occurred over a 7-week period, involving four pre-posttest motivation surveys and writing tests, audio recordings, observations, exit interviews, and reflection journals collected from teachers and students.

The findings obtained from the quantitative analysis showed that the ARCS-based intervention had a small to medium effect on students’ instruction-related motivation, while no significant changes were found on other aspects of motivation such as intrinsic motivation, motivational self-evaluation, and course interest. It also showed that the intervention had a medium-sized effect on students’ overall L2 writing development, specifically on aspects of content and communicative achievement. Nevertheless, no significant changes were discerned in aspects related to organization, language, and fluency, despite more pronounced changes over time in the treatment group compared to the control group.

The qualitative analysis of students’ interviews showed that the ARCS-based intervention had noticeable effects on students’ motivation and engagement in the classroom. The qualitative results also added some context and deeper insights into how students perceived the intervention, how it affected their motivation, which motivational strategies the students noticed being used consistently by the teacher, and what specific strategies they felt helped improve their writing. Additionally, interviews with teachers who implemented the intervention shed light on teachers’ motivational practices, revealing their personal growth as educators and their intent to continue implementing these strategies in their teaching while recommending them to other teachers.

The study concludes with pedagogical recommendations for teachers to utilize various motivational strategies in their instruction and some recommendations for researchers to help understand more about this line of research.