Principles of language learning and the role

Intrinsic motivation: Brown and Lee (2015) argue 

that teachers should try to build students’ intrinsic 

motivation as much as possible, and provide the 

following checklist of criteria to determine whether 

a particular language teaching technique, activity, or 

strategy promotes intrinsic motivation. Analyze each of 

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the criteria, and explain how or why it would contribute 

to intrinsic motivation:

X

X

Does the technique appeal to the genuine interests 

of the students? Is it relevant?

X

X

Do you present the technique in a positive, enthusi-

astic manner?

X

X

Are students clearly aware of the purpose of the 

activity?

X

X

Do students have some choice in choosing some 

aspect of the activity?

X

X

Does the activity encourage students to “discover” on 

their own?

X

X

Does it encourage students to use effective 

strategies?

X

X

Does it contribute to students’ ultimate autonomy 

and independence?

X

X

Does it foster cooperative negotiation with other 

students in the class? 

X

X

Does the activity present a “reasonable challenge”?

X

X

Do students receive sufficient feedback on their 

performance? (p. 170)

12.  Genuine communication: This chapter suggests that 

one way to motivate students is to include as much 

genuine communication as possible in English courses. 

Make a checklist (like the list above) for assessing 

whether or not an activity is genuinely communicative.