Motivating students in an E-context: an action research project

In 2010, the ATLAS research group of UNED organized the 1st International Workshop on Technological Innovations for Specialized Linguistic Domains: the purpose of this event was to investigate the interdependence between Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), to highlight the components of a tertiary education context in terms of both teaching practices and learning strategies. Moreover, the importance of an integrated approach has been claimed by several researchers, as for example I. Fortanet-Gomez and C. Räisänen, who pointed out the key role played by motivation in designing effective language learning paths, as demonstrated by the Directed Motivational Currents (DMC) research. Considering this premise, taking into account the proposal to adopt a “Didactic marketing”, an adaptation of the 4 P’s rule for tertiary education teachers, this paper will seek to develop an action research for the Business Economics Degree Course of the University of Catania, underlying recent developments aimed at building a student-centred approach and to meet EQF requirements. Both integrative and instrumental motivation will be analysed according to available ICT, in order to link learners’ positive attitudes towards the target language to new interactive materials and forms of cooperative work. The study’s diachronic and synchronic evaluation of the applied approaches will lead to suggestions concerning the design of syllabuses and insightful paths for future researches.