English teachers’ uses of motivational strategies beyond an established framework

Background: Although the usefulness of Dörnyei’s framework of motivational strategies to language teachers has been widely tested, motivational techniques that are not within the framework have less commonly been accounted for.Purpose: This study explores the uses of motivational strategies beyond Dörnyei’s taxonomy, and the factors that cause English teachers to use them.Methods: In total, 22 teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Hong Kong participated in this study. Reflective journal data and interview data, supported by classroom observations, were collected and analysed qualitatively.Findings: The results reveal that, while most of the reported strategies corresponded closely to Dörnyei’s recommendations, two additional macrostrategies – routine teaching activities and uses of authentic materials – were employed. The most predominant factor leading to the use of these two macrostrategies was a concern about feasibility.Conclusions: This study hence suggests the need for a new line of research on strategies that are primarily instructional and secondarily motivational, as well as further studies that take the feasibility of motivational strategies into greater consideration.