Teachers’ pedagogical intentions while using motivational strategies.

Teaching in a way that motivates students to learn and grow is a ubiquitous goal in language teaching and language teacher education. Although the existing literature has looked into various motivational strategies that can enhance or maintain L2 students’ motivation, there is currently little research on teachers’ mental lives behind their motivational teaching practices. This qualitative case study thus explored teachers’ pedagogical intentions while implementing motivational strategies. Drawing on data from semi-structured background interviews, classroom observations, and post-lesson stimulated recall interviews, this study shows that teachers’ enactment of motivational strategies was influenced by their awareness of the intentions to motivate as well as the intentions to facilitate student learning. Furthermore, the study provides evidence of the potential of stimulated recall for awareness-raising. Based on these findings, we provide practical recommendations for using stimulated recall for maximising the pedagogical potential of motivational strategies in the language classroom.