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Volume 24 Issue 1 May 2017

FOCUS ONThe Realization of Goal Setting and the Necessity of GuidanceƭƉǩīiĬƞd¸iŋǠŎ

Yusei AndoĪǛ ǞƬ

Tokai University, School of Humanities and Culture
Department of International StudiesŽƕģĩ ţȦĩȎ ĖȚĩƷAbstract
In this short paper, I consider the issue of goal-setting theory in L2 teaching and show how it isapplied to a real teaching situation. Since it was introduced by Locke and Latham (1990), goalsetting theory has been applied in many academic contexts and numerous research studies havesupported its application to L2 teaching as well. However, as an English student for three years atuniversity, I strongly feel that this theory has still not yet been fully utilized by teachers in theclassroom. The first half of this paper therefore deals with development of goal-setting theory
and its relationship to language teaching. In the second half, its application to a teaching situationis considered from a student’s point of view. Finally, I conclude this paper with a strong
suggestion that teachers should pay more careful attention to goal-setting theory in their teaching.
要旨
本論では、第二言語教育における目標設定理論について取り上げ、またどのように実際の教 育現場で適用されるのかを第二言語学習者の視点から検討した。Locke、Latham に提唱されて以来目標設定
理論に関する数多くの研究が行われ、第二言語教育への応用研究も盛んに行 われてきた。しかしな
がら、現在まで三年間英語を大学で学んできている筆者の視点からす ると、この理論が実際の言語教育現場において教員に十分に活用されているとは言えない。 よって本論の前半では目標設定理論
に関し言語教育と結びつけて述べた。次に、その言語教 育現場への応用例を学生の視点から検討した。以上の考察より、言語教育において目標設定 理論に対するより注意深い関心が必要であるという提案に至った。
Keywords: goal setting, motivation, language learning/teaching, student perspective 目標設定、動機付け、言語学習・教育、生徒の視点M

otivation has been one of thecentral focuses of teachers andresearchers in the field of L2teaching. There have been many
motivational strategies suggested in order tohelp them motivate students to learn thetarget language so that facilitates students’learning in the classroom and even outside
the classroom. I am a junior undergraduate
student majoring in International Studies at
Tokai University, and got interested in
English education two years ago. Upon
researching on motivational theories, I
realized that much of my language learning
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had been immensely influenced by the
degree of motivation I had at certain time,and how teachers helped me to keep it. This
noticing has made me far more interested inthis field. While research on motivation has
been highly developed over the past several
decades, it is also true that some teachers
have failed to utilize or even ignored thesemotivational strategies in a language
classroom. Therefore, my prime purpose inthis article is to help teachers realize theimportance of motivational strategies in aclassroom, and a goal-setting theory is
focused on as one of them. My secondary
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purpose is to show how important teachers’
help is when the theory is applied.
BackgroundA goal-setting theory was introduced byLocke and Latham in 1990, suggesting thatpeople are more likely to deliver a great
performance when they are provided withspecific, difficult yet attainable goals andthat feedback relevant to performance has
also a crucial role in allowing them to becommitted to seeking the goals (Locke &Latham, 1990; Latham, 2003). Specific goals
refer to ones with specific dates, time orother components to be attained so that
performers work on it on a step-by-stepbasis with clear visions. In this regard, it isreasonable to assume that this theory isreadily and broadly applicable to a L2teaching situation since language learning or
acquisition requires a long-time anddemanding process for students.
However, looking around at my fellow
students at university reveals that most ofthem do not have so-called “specific,
difficult, yet attainable goals” for English
learning. For instance, Japanese university
students often aim to get a high score on the
Test of English for International
Communication (TOEIC) that many
companies require them to have. Similarly,
others might want to improve speaking
skills which enable them to be able tocommunicate with foreigners or English
speakers. These students are initiallymotivated to learn English, but from theperspective of a goal-setting theory, they areless likely to be successful because thesegoals are not specific. To make their goals
more specific, in the former case, students
should also care about “Specifically what scoreis necessary?” and “By what means it should beachieved?” In the latter case, “With whom do I
want to have a conversation?” and “What is my
purpose in having this conversation?” These arevital questions to be answered by students
themselves.
In my three years at university, I have spenta considerable amount of time talking withSPRING 2017

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my fellow students about our English
teachers and reflecting on the extent
teachers help students set and reach specificattainable goals. My provisional conclusion
is as follows: “A good English teacher” isoften referred to as an “entertaining, easyto-talk to, and sometimes funny teacher” by
students, but “a great teacher” is seen as one
whom students gain great benefits from andare somehow motivated by to learn language
for certain purposes. Reaching thisconclusion has also allowed me to realizethat many teachers in a way have succeededin motivating students tentatively, but only a
few of them have actually been successful in
helping them keep long-term, lasting
positive learning attitudes. Despite the factthat teachers are too busy to deal with every
aspect of learning, to go beyond merely
teaching language, teachers should try to
expend more effort and time on helping andencouraging students to more clearlyvisualize their language learning. In order toachieve this, I would like to suggest a goalsetting theory as a useful focused activity forteachers and students in the classroom.
Goal-setting Theory in Language
Teaching
Numerous studies have identified theimportance of goal setting in language
learning (Zimmerman, Bandura, MartinezPons, 1992; Alison, 1993; Kelly, 2001;
Haynes, 2011). In more specific terms,
Dörnyei (2001) concluded that goal setting
in language learning leads to essentially
positive outcomes because it helps learners
achieve a high grade in school. He also
categorized four mechanisms of goals in
performance: First, a goal helps students tofocus efforts and concentration on primarytasks, instead of being distracted byirrelevant activities. Second, having a clear
goal enables students to envisage how much
effort or time should be expended on
studying so that they are likely to manage
their learning. Third, students tend to beengaged longer in learning when they have agoal, and it is likely to last until their goal isachieved. Last, appropriate strategies forlearning can be applied, based on their
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specific goals. Aside from facilitating
already-motivated students, Alison (1993)
points out that goal setting plays ameaningful and effective role in motivating
unwilling, reluctant students to learn. As
such, goal setting has been widely accepted
as a meaningful process for L2 learners.
After recognizing the importance of goal
setting, it is now valuable to examine how it
isactually
appliedinlanguageteaching/learning. A goal-setting theory
consists of five principles: clarity, challenge,commitment, feedback, and task complexity.
It is highly desirable that goals students haveinclude these five features. Therefore,teachers who plan to utilize goal-setting
theory in their teaching should help students
to take these five aspects into consideration
when they ask them to set goals.
Putting Theory into Action
First, goals should be clear for both students
and teachers. Especially, when specifics suchas a date or score are clear, students are
more likely to be motivated to learn. Thiscan be exemplified by my personal
experience. The reason why I started
studying for TOEIC in the beginning wasjust because I thought it would be
important, and hence, my motivation did
not last for a long time due to my lack of aclear purpose. However, when I started
planning to participate in the study abroad
program offered by my university andconsequently a specific score and date were
determined, the incentives that I had forgetting the score greatly increased and lasted
continuously until I achieved the goal that I
had set for myself.
Second, challenging and difficult goals
within students’ range of capacities arenecessary for helping them commit
themselves to learning and for enhancing
their motivation (Bloom, 2013). In thisrespect, teachers should be fully aware of
the importance of comprehending students’levels of English by monitoring andassessing them. Failure to do this often
allows for students to be distracted fromSPRING 2017

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learning. In my own case I was always
struggling with this because I had a higher
proficiency than my classmates; so, most of
the tasks that we did in class were notchallenging or difficult for me. I clearly
remember one teacher at university who
thankfully always took great care of
students, and gave me an extra task or asked
me to foster a conversation in a class. His
kind consideration helped me keep
motivated and find value in the tasks that wewere assigned.
Third, it is important that students place acertain degree of value on goals so that they
are likely to start and keep on committing
themselves to achieving the goals. Moreoften than not, university students are
required to take English classes that do notinterest them and consequently lead them todevalue learning itself. The great teachersthat I have encountered, always attempted
to connect goals to students’ real-lifethrough highly imaginative situations. In
their classroom, for instance, vocabularybuilding activities for TOEIC, often
regarded as boring, were integrated with
job-interview activities or résumé writing
since TOEIC-specific vocabulary is directly
related to business situations. In this sense,
the goal was no longer merely to get a highscore on TOEIC, which we tended to finduseful only for job-hunting, but also to
improve authentic communication skills or
writing skills for a real-life purpose.
Fourth, feedback also plays a significant rolein keeping students motivated to strive for agoal
asPetchprasert(2012)
hascomprehensively reported. Students arehighly liable to be distracted from pursuinggoals, so providing them with feedback at
appropriate intervals and helping them not
to be distracted are essential for theirdevelopment. More importantly, feedback
also helps students realize where they are in
the goal-achieving process, and how muchthey have done and they should do to attaintheir goals. In retrospect, my learning has
always been related to, and supported by,
feedback from teachers and friends alike.
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Teachers’ feedback was helpful particularly
when pursuing certain goals such as getting
an “A” score in an assignment or English
proficiency test. Such feedback gave me aclear direction for achieving my goal. Peer
feedback was more related to psychologicalaspects such as being more confident or
feeling comfortable about using the target
language.
Last but not least, task complexity is one of
the important keys in goal setting. Despite
the similarity of task complexity to the first
aspect of task challenge (both involve acertain difficulty in achieving a goal), taskcomplexity needs to be dealt with in adifferent way. As mentioned above, students
are liable to be distracted fromconcentrating on the goal, or just fromlearning. In addition, students are more
likely to fail to reach a goal when the taskmerely requires them to make a slight effort
to achieve it. This is often seen amongstudious, diligent students. It is highly likely,
for example, that students will quit studying
if remembering all the vocabulary items
from a textbook is the only task required toget a good grade in an examination.
Conclusion
I would like to conclude this article bysharing my insights into the issues that I
have addressed above and discussing some
new ideas that I got from presenting at
CCLT3 and talking with other attendees.
First of all, applying a goal-setting theory ina language classroom has a crucial role inmotivating students, and more importantly,
teachers should be fully aware of this fact.
Following Oxford and Shearin (1994), I
have the strong feeling that goal-setting
theory has not been efficiently or regularly
utilized in language classrooms. By taking
the theory into consideration, students are
more likely to engage themselves in learning,and consequently, teachers’ expectations fortheir success are more likely to be met.
However, hearing real scholars’ voices andunderstanding their points of view andquestions gave me different and fresh
insights and reveals that some of them may
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make more efforts than I thought they do. I
found out that one of the obstacles thathinders them from taking great care of thisissue is caused by time limitation andobligation to follow school rules or norms.
These findings led me to think that closer
and frequent collaboration between students
and teachers is necessary in the classroom inorder to promote a goal-setting process forlearner development.
References
Alison, J. (1993). Not bothered? Motivating reluctant
language learners in Key Stage 4. London: CiLT.
Bloom, M. (2013). Self-regulated learning: Goal
setting and self-monitoring. Language Teacher,27(4), 47-51.
Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in thelanguage classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Haynes, L. (2011). Goal-Setting in EFL: Is it
really useful? Studies in Humanities, 15, 83-92.
Kelly, M. (2005). Motivation, the Japanese
freshman university student and foreign
language acquisition. JALT Hokkaido Journal,
9, 32-47.
Latham, G. P. (2003). Goal setting: A five-step
approach to behavior change. Organizational
Dynamics, 32(3), 309-318.
Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (1990). A theory ofgoal setting & task performance. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Oxford, R. L. & Shearin, J., (1994). Language
learning
motivation:
Expandingthetheoretical framework. Modern Language
Journal, 78, 12-28.
Petchprasert, A. (2012). Feedback in second
language teaching and learning. US-China
Foreign Language, 10(4), 1112-1120.
Zimmerman, B. J., Bandura, A., & MartinezPons, M. (1992). Self-motivation for
academic attainment: The role of selfefficacy beliefs and personal goal setting.
American Educational Research Journal, 29(3),663-676.

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Reader Response 1 to The Realization of
Goal-Setting and the Necessity of Guidance
Rob Stevenson
Kanda University of International StudiesA

s a learning advisor, I find myself
often discussing motivation withfellow advisors, teachers, andstudents. For advisors, motivation is a key
focus in our work and is dealt with directly.
In talking with teachers, it is often expectedof students to understand their own
motivation on their own, while students
themselves tend to be so accustomed tobeing led that they lack internal motivation.
Yusei Ando’s self-awareness to his own
studies and research into motivation is aremarkable achievement all teachers mightwish for their students to discover. A selfaware student can improve a class byfocusing on his own learning, as well as theclass as a whole. Yusei not only looked athimself and questioned what he and theteachers were doing and why, but also asked
his classmates about their own goals andmotivation. Yusei’s article brought up
questions that I often have when hearing
about students like him. I have to wonder
where and when that spark first appeared
for him to explore his own studies. Was thatcommitment to reflection always there or
did something, or multiple events andexperiences, lead to it?

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Ultimately the student must be aware of hisor her goal and capabilities towards
achieving that goal, especially in competingin today’s marketplace. A passive student
becomes a passive worker, and those types
of jobs cannot compete with today’s
globalization and automation. Students
today must be able to anticipate change andreact to it, which requires a nearly endless
supply of internal motivation. The sooner
and more frequently this is taught in school,
the better their chances. Even if a student
does not fully grasp the concept of theirown motivation in their years of schooling,with repeated activities over time focusing
on questions of motivation, the student islikely to become more capable of selfawareness.
In Yusei’s further studies, I hope heexplores further where motivation comesfrom and how it grows or withers. And
hopefully that will lead to stronger evidence
that teaching and learning motivation canhave effects beyond the years in theclassroom and help empower students tocreate new opportunities as they face thechallenges of technological and globalchange.
Author correspondence:<Email> stevenson-r@kanda.kuis.ac.jp

Yusei lays out a path for teachers to help
encourage and guide students towards
motivation. For many students like Yusei,
this is often not done directly. When I havetaught motivation directly, I often question
the effectiveness of such teaching. Somestudents are willing from the start, whileothers simply go through the motions andclaim to have been motivated, but
motivation to please teachers is not the kindof motivation that is intended or needed.
Can there be a way to tell the difference
between true internal motivation and simply
following directions? When does one end
and the other begin?

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Reader Response 2 to The Realization of
Goal-Setting and the Necessity of Guidance
Ben Thanyawatpokin
Himeji Dokkyo UniversityIn this article, Yusei Ando explores thepossibility of effectively using goalsetting theory in classroom. One of thefeatures that stands out for me the most isactually not the content discussed but rather
the point of view from which the article iswritten, that of an undergraduate learning
English in Japan. Upon reading the article, Ibegan to immediately notice the lack ofconsistent goals that my students have inmost communication classes that I teach.
Outside of a few test-based classes and asmall number of students who haveaspirations to go abroad, my students lacktangible goals that could apply to practicalusage of English.
Of course, the syllabi I make and thematerials I pass out all coalesce toemphasize “becoming able to converse in
English” or “writing academically and withgood structure.” However, to what extent
these official other-determined goals aremaking an impact on my students’development is not obvious. Many of theseofficial goals are more of a formality to set atone for a class rather than to help students
develop their own self-directed learning andcreate the impetus they need to become
motivated in the classroom.
If students themselves can set appropriate
goals for themselves, then they will start tounderstand how and why they should do toaccomplish a goal. However, even before
setting a goal there must be a purpose tolearning English. Simply by setting goals,
students do not immediately become

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motivated to learn. Here, Ando explains thatthe study abroad program at his university
served as the main catalyst to propelling him
to create and meet his own English-learning
goals. What of other students in otheruniversities that may not have as muchopportunity as Ando? While some students
are fortunate enough to be put into asituation where they can have long-termgoals involving the use of English, what ofthose who do not have the socio-economic
status, available time, or resources atuniversity to do so? There are still many
Japanese students that can legitimately say
they have never spoken to a foreigner faceto-face before. Perhaps in the future there
will be a higher concentration ofinternational presence in all universities andplaces of learning in Japan, but at this timegoal-setting could well be hindered by theimmediate resources (both pedagogical andpersonal) students have at hand at theuniversities they attend.
Reading this article, I have no doubt that
Ando is a truly blessed student. In a perfectworld, all of our students would have themotivation, drive, and resources that hedoes. As Ando's article and experiences
show, goal setting is an important part oflanguage learning. However, I feel that wemust also look into how to spur students
into formulating goals for themselves andhelping them to take a more hands-on
approach to their own education. This could
be a suggestion for more research into
learner autonomy or motivation, but there isalso a pressing need to analyze and critiquethe current landscape of education in Japan.
Author correspondence:<Email> bpotkin@gmail.com

What is your opinion about goal-setting or motivation?
Share your practice, experience, and ideas with the Learner
Development community by writing a short reflection andsending it to learninglearning.editor@gmail.com .

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