Pinner, Richard S. (2017) Social authentication and the synergies between teacher and student motivation : a narrative of teaching at a Japanese university. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This study looks at the relationship between authenticity and motivation by specifically viewing the process of mutually validating the act of learning as social authentication, which in turn can often lead to positive motivational synergy between students and teacher(s).

Authenticity and motivation are very common collocates in discussions surrounding language learning. However, these two concepts have rarely been the focus of empirical inquiry, largely due to their ambiguity and the difficulty of gaining evidence-based insights into the complex nature of their relationship. Similarly, it is commonly acknowledged that the teacher’s motivation has a bidirectional relationship with student motivation, yet again this idea is hard to research and difficult to examine. This inquiry utilises practitioner research in order to gain insights into these phenomena from inside the classroom.

This inquiry examines how the concept of authenticity in language teaching relates to motivation as a complex dynamic process. Authenticity is seen as an emergent, multifaceted component of individual and social identity, which interacts with motivation at various levels. The main data was collected at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan over the course of one academic year (two semesters) from April 2014 to January 2015. The research methods employed are Autoethnographic Narrative Inquiry, Exploratory Practice and evidence-based reflections on language teaching. The main focus of the inquiry comes from a course entitled Academic Communication, taught under the Centre for Language Education and Research. Qualitative data was collected in the form of classroom observations, teaching journals, students’ pedagogical materials (such as assignments and classwork) as well as classroom audio-recordings and Ad-Hoc interviews conducted with students during classes. Research methods which are designed specifically to investigate complex sociological factors unfurling in context were employed and the main findings emerged inductively through a process of narrative knowledging which occurred as a natural consequence of conducting the research. Due to this, the study is presented with entwined narrative data and analysis, as the two have become inseparable as a result of the research methodology. This inquiry sheds light onto the synergistic relationship between teacher and student motivation, examines the concept of authenticity in language teaching in relation to motivation as a complex dynamic system, and also provides a hybrid methodology which may be useful to teacher education and development.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Language and languages -- Study and teaching -- Social aspects -- Japan, Second language acquisition -- Social aspects -- Japan, Authenticity (Philosophy), Self, Motivation in education, Identity (Psychology)
Official Date:	April 2017
Dates:	Date Event April 2017 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Centre for Applied Linguistics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Ushioda, Ema
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xiii, 297 pages : illustrations, charts
Language:	eng

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