Fostering Motivation and Engagement in Learning English: Shaping of Mindset and Toolkits Week 14 Discussion of the theory: Digital Immigrants Strangers Warm-up discussion

Allow student input and choice.

Though the final general outcome of the project may be defined, be sure that students have flexibility and choice about the content of the project itself. For example, if they are creating a recipe book, students can decide if it will be an ethnic foods recipe book, a dessert and sweets recipe book, or a faculty and staff favorite recipes book. If they must design a tourist brochure for their town, students can choose the places they wish to feature. In this way, students are able to choose the topics and themes that motivate and interest them most, which will increase their excitement about and engagement in the project.

5. 
   Align the project with standards, course outcomes and goals.
   

While projects can be fun for students, they should not only be for fun. Rather, projects should align with course goals and objective, benchmarks and standards. For example, if students must demonstrate mastery of the imperative verb form by the end of the semester, the teacher could have students do a project creating a recipe book, cooking demo video or other how-to videos, in
which imperatives such as “chop,” “stir,” “combine,” “mix,” “bake,” etc. are naturally used. Or if students must demonstrate mastery of weather words, they could produce a short weather report video and include words of the unit like “sunny,” “cloudy,” “rainy,” “windy,” etc. The idea is to make sure the projects develop the skills, competencies and/or knowledge articulated in the goals and objectives of the course rather than incorporate them as extra assignments unrelated to the curriculum.

6. 
   Explicitly scaffold and assess 21st-century skills.
   

One frequent concern with group projects is that not all students will participate equally and that only one or two students will do all of the work. In order to increase accountability, teachers can have students discuss what constitutes good group behavior and effective team work. Teachers can establish ground rules for project participation that address issues such as dividing and doing the work equitably, communicating clearly and respectfully, and meeting the agreed-upon deadlines. These are not only good skills and competencies for students to practice for a specific project, these are abilities that will be needed and valued in any future work place setting. Another way to ensure full participation of all group members is to have group members sign contracts indicating their agreement to meet accountability expectations. Or teachers could tell groups that at the end of the project, all members will rate themselves and each other according to how well they did on meeting their deadlines, contributing ideas, communicating clearly and carrying out assigned tasks. This increases the chances that all group members will participate and contribute equally to the final outcome, and communicate as clearly and transparently as possible along the way as well.

7.