Enhancing Student Motivation in ESP by Increasing the Level of Engagement: A Proposed Model

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.20.2.2
Keywords: ESP, learning motivation, student engagement, enduring involvement, situational involvement

Abstract

The article considers the opportunity to enhance student motivation in the acquisition of English for specific purposes by increasing the level of learner engagement. The authors propose to use an interdisciplinary approach by applying tools that have been approved in marketing theory and practice for the management of consumer involvement in the purchasing process and adapting them to teaching ESP to increase course effectiveness. Marketing literature analysis reveals two important points. The first one is that in classical marketing, the concepts of enduring involvement and situational involvement are used and combined together to form a complex consumer response. In modern marketing, this complex response is called consumer engagement. The second point is that situational involvement plays a key role in shaping the complex consumer response. The authors' suggestion is to use situational involvement as the major tool for boosting student motivation taking into consideration factors such as the specific features of the new generations and the growing use of modern technologies in everyday communication and learning. A description of model tasks is given to exemplify their interdisciplinary nature as well as observations related to their use in class supplemented by student feedback.

Author Biographies

Albena Stefanova, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria

Albena Stefanova is a Senior Lecturer at the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, and has a PhD in methodology of teaching modern languages. She has been teaching English to students of philosophy, policing, law, economics, and political studies for over twenty years. Her main interests are in ESP and translation.

Georgi Zabunov, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria

Georgi Zabunov is an Associate Professor at the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, and has a PhD in Marketing. He teaches Real estate Business. His research interests are in the field of Consumer behaviour, Real estate Marketing, Real estate Market Analysis, Property management and Facility management.

References

Ashwin, P., & McVitty, D. (2015). The Meanings of Student Engagement: Implications for Policies and Practices. In: A. Curaj, L. Matei, R. Pricopie, J. Salmi, & P. Scott (Eds.), The European Higher Education Area (pp. 343-359). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20877-0_23

Bender, W. (2017). 20 Strategies for Increasing Student Engagement. Learning Sciences International. https://www.learningsciences.com/product/20-strategies-for-increasing-student-engagement/

Bloch, P. (1981). An Exploration into the Scaling of Consumers' Involvement with a Product Class. In K. B. Monroe, & A. Abor (Eds.), NA - Advances in Consumer Research, Volume 08 (pp. 61-65). Association for Consumer Research. https://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/9786/volumes/v08/NA-08

Brown, D. (2020). Demographic Shifts: The World in 2030. Cushman & Wakefield. http://info.cushmanwakefield.com/l/263412/2019-12-04/28v22b

Carver, D. (1983). Some propositions about ESP. The ESP Journal, 2(2), 131-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/0272-2380(93)90003-P

Celsi, R. L., & Olson, J. C. (1988). The Role of Involvement in Attention and Comprehension Processes. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 210–224. https://doi.org/10.1086/209158

Crookes, G., & Schmidt, R. W. (1991). Motivation: reopening the research agenda. Language Learning, 41(4), 469-512. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-1770.1991.tb00690.x

De Bot, K.D., Lowie, W., & Verspoor, M. (2005). Second Language Acquisition: An Advanced Resource book. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203446416

Dudley-Evans, T., & St John, M. (1998). Developments in ESP: A multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0889-4906(99)00026-5

Engin, A. O. (2009). Second language learning success and motivation. A journal of social behavior and personality, 37(8), 1035-1042. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2009.37.8.1035

Gardner, R. C. (1985). The social psychology and second language learning: the role of attitudes and motivation. Edward Arnold. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0083787

Gass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203932841

Harmer, J. (1991). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman.

Houston, M. J., & Rothschild, M. L. (1978). Conceptual and Methodological Perspectives on Involvement. In S. Jain (Ed.), Research Frontiers in Marketing: Dialogues and Directions (pp. 184–187). American Marketing Association.

Howard, J.A., & Sheth, J.N. (1969). The Theory of Buyer Behavior. Journal of the American Statistical Association, January 1969, 467-487. https://doi.org/10.2307/2284311

Kearsley, G., & Shneiderman, B. (1998). Engagement theory: A framework for technology-based teaching and learning. Educational Technology 38(5), 20–23. https://nazaliache.blogspot.com/2015/12/engagement-theory-framework-for.html

Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing Management, Millennium Edition (10th ed.). Prentice-Hall.

Krugman, H. (1965). The Impact of Television Advertising: Learning Without Involvement. Public Opinion Quarterly, 29(3), 349–356. https://doi.org/10.1086/267335

Krugman, H. (1967). The Measurement of Advertising Involvement. Public Opinion Quarterly, 30(4), 583-596. https://doi.org/10.1086/267457

Majetić, S. (2013). Descriptive and Qualitative Analyses of How the Lack of Motivational Strategies Can Bear Negative Consequences on Students’ Learning Achievements. Asian Journal of Education and e-Learning (1)5, 262-267.

Neikova, M. (2010). Chuzhdoezikovo obuchenie za vyzrastni i izpolzvane na strategii za chetene na chuzhd ezik. Godishnik na departament “Chuzhdi ezitsi i literaturi”, NBU [Adult language training and the use of foreign language reading strategies. Foreign Languages and Literature Yearbook]. Sofia: NBU.

Park, C. W., & Young, S. M. (1986). Consumer Response to Television Commercials: The Impact of Involvement and Background Music on Brand Attitude Formation. Journal of Marketing Research, 23, (February), 11-24. https://doi.org/10.2307/3151772

Parsons, J., & Taylor, L. (2011). Improving Student Engagement. Current Issues in Education, 14(1), 1-32. https://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/745

Richins, M. L., Bloch, P. H., & McQuarrie, E. F. (1992). How Enduring and Situational Involvement Combine to Create Involvement Responses. Journal of Consumer Psychology, September, 143-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-7408(08)80054-X

Sherif, C.W. & Sherif, M. (1967). Attitude, Ego-Involvement, and Change. Greenwood Press.

Vivek, S. D., Beatty, S. E., Dalela, V., & Morgan, R. M. (2014). A Generalized Multidimensional Scale for Measuring Customer Engagement. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 22(4), 401-420. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679220404

Vivek, Shiri D., Sharon E. Beatty, and Robert M. Morgan (2012). Customer Engagement: Exploring Customer Relationships Beyond Purchase. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 20(2), 127–149. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679200201

Windham, C. (2005). The Student’s Perspective. In D. Oblinger & J. Oblinger (Eds.), Educating the Net generation (pp. 5.1-5.16). EDUCAUSE. https://www.educause.edu/ir/library/PDF/pub7101.PDF

English Studies at NBU, Vol.6, Issue 2, 2020
Published
2020-12-21
How to Cite
Stefanova, A., & Zabunov, G. (2020). Enhancing Student Motivation in ESP by Increasing the Level of Engagement: A Proposed Model. English Studies at NBU, 6(2), 201-216. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.20.2.2
Issue
Vol 6 No 2 (2020)
Section
Articles

Copyright (c) 2020 Albena Stefanova, Georgi Zabunov

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

All published articles in the ESNBU are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.

In other words, under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license users are free to
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material

Under the following terms:

Attribution (by) - All CC licenses require that others who use your work in any way must give you credit the way you request, but not in a way that suggests you endorse them or their use. If they want to use your work without giving you credit or for endorsement purposes, they must get your permission first.

NonCommercial (nc) - You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and modify and use your work for any purpose other than commercially unless they get your permission first.

If the article is to be used for commercial purposes, we suggest authors be contacted by email.

If the law requires that the article be published in the public domain, authors will notify ESNBU at the time of submission, and in such cases the article shall be released under the Creative Commons 1 Public Domain Dedication waiver CC0 1.0 Universal.

Copyright

Copyright for articles published in ESNBU are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. Authors retain full publishing rights and are encouraged to upload their work to institutional repositories, social academic networking sites, etc. ESNBU is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.

Exceptions to copyright policy

Occasionally ESNBU may co-publish articles jointly with other publishers, and different licensing conditions may then apply.