Motivating Hong Kong students in writing English text - Essay Example

But while the importance of English is recognized in Hong Kong, some students display a marked reluctance to learn English. There may be several reasons underlying this disinclination to learn to speak and write good English. Some of these are a generally low level of proficiency in English or that these students find it boring and somewhat difficult to learn English successfully. This report will examine how students in Hong Kong can be motivated to take a greater interest in the acquisition of English language skills and in learning how to write and communicate effectively in English.

The term “motivation” was originally derived from the Latin word “movere” which means “to move”. Allan (1965) defines motivation as the “force that drives people to do things” (p 15). Biehler have defined motivation as the forces within an individual that are responsible for the “arousal, selection, direction and continuation of behavior.” (Snowman and Biehler, 1997, p 399). Beardwell et al (2004) subscribe to the view that a precise definition is not feasible, but they do agree that at a very basic level, “motivation is about motives and needs.

” (p 505). Hence, a broad overall definition of motivation may be said to include the internal or external factors that are responsible for increasing an individual’s willingness to work towards the achievement of a particular objective. Motivation is the most important factor that determines the difference between “what a person can do and what he or she will do.” (Amabile, 1983, p 366). In the field of education, teachers may be able to extract a good performance from their students only when they can successfully motivate them.

Davis (1999) has highlighted the views of Ericksen that “effective learning in the classroom depends on the teacher’s ability……to maintain the interest that brought students to the course