Stroke Effect of English Teachers on the Learners’ L2 Motivational Self-System

This study investigated the effect of English teachers’ stroking behaviors including positive verbal conditional (PVC), negative verbal conditional (NVC) and no stroke (NS) on the learners’ motivation within Dörnyei’s Theory of L2 Motivational Self-System. Sixty intermediate EFL learners were chosen as the participants. They were randomly divided into three groups each consisting 20 learners. The motivation questionnaire was administered for three groups to evaluate their level of motivation before treatment implementation. The same content was instructed by one teacher for all three groups. Each group received one type of determined three strokes. At the end of the term, the very motivation questionnaire was applied again for three groups. In addition to the questionnaire, the researcher had interviews with 24 members of participants about their attitude towards the effect of the kind of stroke which they experienced. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), and qualitative content analysis were used. The results showed that the teacher’s stroking behaviors had significant effects on the learners’ language learning motivation. Moreover, there were significant differences among the three types of strokes on three subcategories of L2 Motivational Self-System. The results of the interviews confirmed the quantitative data analysis findings.