Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to assess English teachers’ awareness and practices of motivational teaching strategies in secondary schools in Jeju Woreda, Arsi Zone, Oromia Regional State. To achieve this objective, descriptive survey design was employed. The relevant data for the study was gathered using questionnaire, observation and interview. A total number of 15 EFL teachers and 154 students participated in the questionnaire, 6 teachers were observed and interviewed. The teachers were selected using comprehensive sampling techniques and students were selected using simple random sampling techniques from the three secondary schools. The data were analyzed and interpreted using frequency, percentages, mean and grand mean. The findings of the study portrayed that even if a small number of teachers have some misconception about some of the motivational strategies, the majority of the teachers have good awareness about the importance of motivational strategies in teaching EFL. In addition, there was a mismatch between what teachers perceived and what they practiced. Furthermore, teachers’ proper behavior, promoting learners’ self-confidence, increasing learners’ expectancy of success and increasing learners’ satisfaction are most predominantly used macro-motivational strategies by EFL teachers compared to others. On the contrary, promote group cohesiveness and group norms, familiarize learners with L2 cultures and L2 related values, increase learners’ positive goals, realistic beliefs and needs, promote learners’ autonomy and create pleasant classroom atmosphere are underused macro-motivational strategies. To this end, possible recommendations were forwarded based on the major findings so as to promote the practice of motivational strategies in English classes.
