Harnessing language learning motivation and investment through a writing project

Harnessing language learning motivation and investment through a writing project -

Dr Banegas, University of Edinburgh

Date: Wednesday 13 March 2024

Time: 16.00 - 17.15 GMT (doors open 16.00; talk starts 16.15)

Venue: This is a free online event.

How can we promote language learning motivation and investment through writing? In this talk, I will share the main takeways from an action research-based project carried out with teenage learners in Argentina. As part of the project, secondary school students engaged in the writing of creative pieces (poems, short stories, and comic strips) as way of to improve their motivation, investment, and English language learning proficiency. In this presentation, I will share the strategies used by the teachers involved, views from both teachers and learners, and the ways in which the teachers ensured that the project could become sustainable over time. I will also share some of the pieces written by the students and invite the audience to discuss their pedagogical potential to harness language learners’ motivation. In the talk I will discuss practical and research implications for educators, and reflect on how this project could contribute to learners’ experience in other settings (e.g., primary, higher education, etc.)

Bio:  Dario Luis Banegas is Lecturer in Language Education at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. He has carried out teaching and research projects on motivation through action research with teachers and learners in different contexts. His main areas of interest are content and language integrated learning, social justice, and language teacher education. You can have free access to his work at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dario-Banegas