Page 34 - ELG1706 Jun Issue 448

INTERVIEW .

Mastering TIM GREEN

the art of

motivation

Views from Leeds University

International programmes keep academics in touch with ‘realities on the
ground’, Dr Martin Lamb, senior lecturer at Leeds University, tells EL Gazette

T ell us a little about your early career, your VSO international students. How do they differ in their approach
experiences and what led you nally to Leeds
and their strengths and weaknesses?
Our MA participants are certainly very multinational, and from an
University.
After a disastrous early foray into the business world, I did
from the international. True, native-speakers have automatic
a PGCE in history. But then I thought I’d put some distance between academic point of view the UK students’ needs are not that different
me and my future school pupils by teaching English abroad for a intuitive control of the English language, but they still have to
while. I didn’t return for seventeen years! master new academic genres like the masters-level assignment and
First I was in Sweden, then I joined VSO and was sent to dissertation, while some international students who have done
Indonesia for a couple of years and stayed on for four more with English-medium degrees are already expert communicators. On
the British Council. I did a masters degree at Lancaster in 1990–91, the other hand, we enjoy having home students on the course
then spent five years in Bulgaria, again with the as, having worked abroad for many
BC, before a further three years working on a Tesol has years, they often have high levels of
big ADB-funded language centre development intercultural competence and can help
project in Sumatra. I joined the School of the international students to integrate on
Education in Leeds in 1999 and, incredibly, I’m always been a very campus and beyond.
still here. What motivated Leeds to run
What is your main focus now in terms of international the MA in Tesol based in China?
projects and research? How popular is it and what has the
Since finishing my PhD in 2007, I’ve outward-looking feedback been from students?
continued to develop my research interest Last year was the course’s tenth
in language-learner and teacher motivation. profession, and Brexit anniversary and our vice-chancellor
I think it’s important for educators to better came out to lead the celebrations in
understand why learners put effort into some is not going to change Guangzhou. We run it in collaboration
things and not others, and how their interaction with colleagues at the Guangdong
with the teacher (among others) affects their that University of Foreign Studies. There
motivation. Learner motivation affects the are about thirty students each year, all
teacher’s motivation too. serving teachers in Chinese state schools
My latest projects have been looking at or private institutes, and graduates
motivation and methodology in Ielts preparation receive a dual masters degree certificate.
classes in the UK and India. With colleagues at This kind of international programme is
the University of Indonesia, I have been looking at important to us because it keeps us in touch with
the relationship between students’ online activity realities on the ground in international contexts
involving English and their motivation to study the of ELT. Such programmes don’t suit everyone of
language in class. course; for many students, experiencing UK life
Leeds offers a wide variety of postgraduate and culture first hand is part of the motivation for
ELT-related masters courses. Which are the most doing an MA – as well as taking a well-deserved
popular, and why do you think that is? career break…
Yes, we offer a range of programmes for experienced How are you predicting Brexit to affect
teachers – the standard MA Tesol and also specialisms Martin Lamb Leeds in terms of student numbers and the
in Tesol Teacher Education, Tesol for Young Learners choice of courses you offer?
and Tesol and ICT. These are some of the longest- The whole higher education sector in the UK
standing Tesol programmes in the UK, and when I travel abroad I is so intricately networked with Europe that a ‘hard’ Brexit could
will often meet people who did the MA in the 1990s – or even the have devastating consequences. Hopefully policy makers and/or
’80s. These days our most popular course is the MA Tesol Studies, our negotiators are sufficiently aware of this that some provision
which is for applicants with less than two years’ experience. This has will be made to allow the continuation of such well-established and
been the growth market in postgraduate ELT over the last decade. obviously valuable programmes like Erasmus and the many initiatives
Our USP is that this is not just a ‘lite’ version of the main MA Tesol that facilitate research collaboration. It will also be a problem for us
but has been designed with the particular needs of novice teachers in if EU students suddenly have to pay international fees. But Tesol has
mind, from start to finish. always been a very international outward-looking profession, and
Through your masters teaching you work with both UK and Brexit is not going to change that.
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