Motivating foreign language students using self-determination theory

Creating classroom environments that are enjoyable to students and support their learning can be challenging for instructors. The purpose of this article is to: (a) discuss self-determination theory and how it can be used to motivate students; and (b) provide specific examples of how we implemented this theory in an undergraduate foreign language course to increase students’ intrinsic motivation. Our questionnaire results and firsthand observations indicate that intentionally implementing the self-determination perspective can be an effective way to create enjoyable and interesting classes. We present six successful examples of how we motivated students by: having students create Play-Doh objects, conducting review sessions, discussing personal objects, facilitating peer interactions, creating assignments of varying difficulties, and showing unusual pictures. We believe that this article will help instructors better connect self-determination theory to practice by providing specific examples that can be imitated or modified for use by other instructors.