Motivation

Several questions were related to motivation in the pupil interview guide. Questions 5, 6, 13 and 25 all concern motivation and will be presented in one section. Questions 5 and 6 asked the pupils the following:

5. How motivated are you during your EFL classes?

6. What do think about the difficultly level of the EFL classes?

The pupils from the 8^th grade gave various answers to question 5, were two of the pupils replied that their motivation was “okay”. One pupil said it depended on her mood and one pupil said what they were doing now in class was fun. The majority of the pupils in the same class replied

“easy”, “medium” or “not that difficult” when describing the level of difficulty of their EFL class. It is therefore a possibility that many of the high achieving pupils are not receiving enough challenges and that the EFL teaching is too easy for them, which is important for their

motivation in class.

The pupils from the the 10^th grade had various replies, but the majority of the pupils spoke positively about their motivation in the EFL classes. S5 explained that the level of difficulty in the EFL classes was pretty good, because his EFL teacher was very good at adapting the education towards stronger pupils. He also added that he used to have an inadequate teacher in the subject of Norwegian, and therefore his motivation completely disappeared. This comment explains that in relation to motivation, the teacher has a very important role. As seen in Børte (2016: 7) the teacher has the main role in identifying HLP pupils, and therefore is the one that decides which educational offer HLP pupils will receive. Participants S6, S7 and S8 explained that they get unmotivated when having too much repetition and practicing topics they already know in their EFL classes. As seen in both Idsøe (2014: 178-179) and Børte (2016: 8), one of the characteristics of high achieving pupils is that they get unmotivated by repetition and by having to listen to information they already know. Therefore, the teacher should try to avoid too much repetition in their EFL classes. This is, however, very challenging when teaching a whole class with different learning potential. As Idøse (2014: 178-179) argues, the teacher needs to learn what the pupils already know, and to make sure that what the pupils are learning is relevant for them.

The two pupils from 9^th grade replied to questions 5 and 6 that their EFL classes are not that exiting. Participant S11 explained that she does not learn any new words and participant S12 replied that he has not noticed any challenges in the EFL classes. This is problematic and can possibly be caused by the pupils not receiving adapted education to their level, or there could be other factors that cause this result. One teacher from school B explained that she has a huge

diversity of nationalities in her classes which could make it difficult to adapt the EFL classes to suit the whole group of pupils. In addition, the teachers from school B explained that they recently have started putting in extra teachers in the subject of English and Norwegian, which is something that will be elaborated in section 4.3.4. The following questions additionally asked the pupils about motivation at school:

13. Are there any specific teaching methods that the teacher employs in their lessons that makes the EFL classes more motivating and educational?

25. What would you say motivates you the most in general at school?

Question 13 concerned the teaching methods that the EFL teachers use in their classes, and question 25 asked the pupils what motivated them the most at school. In relation to which teaching methods the pupils liked in their EFL classes, the majority of all twelve pupils were related to games and oral activities in the classroom, such as having discussions and readers theatre. Many of the pupils explained they liked when their EFL teacher has a “warm”

personality and was a teacher they could actually talk to. S1 added that she liked that their EFL teacher “speaks” to them, and that he does not only “lecture” during the EFL classes.

Additionally, some of the pupils explained that they preferred to read and work individually in class. When asked what motivated them the most at school, six participants referred to higher education and getting good grades as their main motivation at school. Some of the pupils answered that their teachers were highly motivating at school, and as seen previously, they referred to the teachers that had a “warm” personality and someone they could talk openly with.

In relation to exploring which teaching methods that are most suitable for high achieving pupils, the researcher aimed to explore if there were some similar teaching methods which high

achieving pupils preferred in their EFL classes. The results from the pupil interview was that the pupils had various teaching methods which they preferred to use. Many of the pupils replied that they prefer to do oral activities, and some of the pupils replied that they prefer to work

individually and to read by themselves. Because the pupils in this study have different ways of working, just like every pupil, the best recommendation when it comes to teaching methods in the EFL classes, is to use variation and to explore how each pupil prefers to work. Therefore, one teaching methods will not fit all high achieving pupil, just like the example from Eyre (2001: 7) who explained that “For one child, working with older children might be desirable and

enjoyable; for another of similar ability it might be stressful and problematic”. Therefore, high archiving pupils have different ways they prefer to work in, and thus one strategy does not fit for all high achieving pupils.

The pupils also mentioned their teachers when asked what motivates them the most, which shows how important the teacher-pupil relationship is. As Reid (2015: 115) explained in chapter 2, gifted pupils needs to be identified early and they need adapted interventions to make sure they receive a healthy development, which is the teacher’s responsibility. In this study, numerous pupils expressed that they had a good relationship with their EFL teacher and explained that their teacher increased their motivation at school. Some pupils, however, clearly expressed that they did not receive the adapted education they should be receiving, which is something that is stated as every pupils’ right in the Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training (2018: 1). In relation to the teacher-pupil relationship, Schimdt (2014: 53) argues that learning the different learning characteristics of talented and gifted pupils is something that teachers should explore, in order to adapt the curriculum for the benefit of the pupils.