JAM: Justification, Attitude, Motivation Part One

“But why do I have to learn this?” has been the refrain of many a learner in formal education. What terrifies me as an educator is often that this question is justified: a great deal of what is taught in schools is no necessarily relevant to today’s learners. (More glaring yet is the omission of essential information from the curriculum: health, environmental and financial literacy may mean more than the subjects we actually do teach.) For a language learner, it is vital to Justify why material is being learnt, to have a positive, confident Attitude about the learning and be Motivated to learn it. My next three posts will deal with each of these in turn, starting with Justification.

While the language curriculum tends to prescribe certain elements of language learning, learners often justify their learning with those aspects that are important to them. For example, the curriculum asks for grammar, while students ask for slang. The bare fact is that students will learn better if they have the chance to learn what they feel is important, or justified. This does not mean we should disregard the curriculum, but rather sweeten the curriculum with what learners are interested in. While this may seem to digress from the learning objectives at times, it is likely to leave learners more empowered, and more motivated to learn what is required.

What excites me about learning through online vehicles is that the abundance of resources allows learners to access materials they are motivated about. Successful language learning materials allow learners to tailor their learning to their own interests and needs. This element of free choice is highly motivating, and allows learners to mould their learning according to their perceived justifications and needs. Yes, this may seem to interfere with the structure of the curriculum. Yet the learner’s inner drive to learn what he or she chooses will demand certain language mastery, which the learner is then motivated to attain on self-determined terms.

Ever learner needs a reason. If we are to engage in lifelong learning, the curriculum is one that we set according to our own justifications. The more of a voice the learner has in what is to be learnt, the stronger this reason. Intelligent materials, and wisely selected online learning, make this possible.