This thesis project was designed to review the impact of Precision Teaching on elements of motivation and self-efficacy of male pupils in Year 5 and Year 6. Precision Teaching (PT) is a formative assessment based intervention, incorporating the principles of the learning hierarchy (Haring, Lovitt, Eaton, & Hansen, 1978), to deliver individually tailored teaching supported by continuous assessment and feedback. A mixed methods design incorporated single case experimental designs and qualitative interviews with the purpose of exploring the impact of PT on attribution style, locus of control and self-efficacy of pupils. Data was gathered using an adaption of the Multi-dimensional Measure of Children’s Perceptions of Control (Connell, 1985), Myself as a Learner (Burden, 1999) and structured interviews with participants. Staff at three schools implemented Precision Teaching with participants following training in this intervention. Results indicate no significant direction of change for internal, powerful others or unknown control over learning for pupils completing PT sessions, with all pupils displaying high internal causal attributions for their learning outcomes. Wider variation in unknown and powerful others control responses during intervention phases indicates that some change may have occurred in pupil perceptions of these elements. Of the four cases described, evidence of increased self-efficacy was found in one case. Analysis of interview data suggested that mechanisms of challenge, feedback of learning changes, and increased competence were potential mechanisms of motivation change initiated by PT. The paper concludes that further research is required to explore these mechanisms with a wider range of participants, and the impact of PT through closer analysis of participant attributions and loci of control over learning outcomes.

Although there have been numerous studies on motivation in foreign language learning and on emotions in general education, little research in foreign language learning have focused on the relation between motivation and learners' emotions (Maclntyre, 2002), as this shift to the affective side of motivation has only recently been suggested. Thus, this study aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on how foreign language learning motivation is shaped by emotional experiences. In order to gain a better understanding of the emotional experiences originating during classroom instruction and their impact on foreign language learners' motivation, I carried out a qualitative study focusing on 18 students in an ELT programme in a Southeast Mexican university. Data was gathered through personal narratives, an Emotional Reactions Journal and semi-structured interviews. Analysis and interpretation of findings was done using a Grounded Theory approach in order to focus on the views of the participants themselves. Findings reveal the pervasive influence of emotional reactions on foreign language learners' motivation. Emotions, whether negative or positive, impact not only negatively but also positively. Emotional reactions reported by participants mainly originated from teachers' interpersonal skills and the classroom environment. Although participants in this study reported more negative than positive affective experiences, the outcomes of these experiences were positive. The Mexican socio-economic context played a crucial role in helping students transform negative experiences into learning and motivational strategies which proved to be beneficial, not only for their learning processes, but also for their personal development. The study highlights the crucial role language learners' emotional experiences have on their motivational behaviour and the significant influence teachers have on this. Recommendations for language teachers are offered so they can help foreign language learners minimise the negative impact of emotional experiences on their learning process, and promote positive emotions conducive to learning and energising learners' motivation.

Challenging behaviour in schools is a phenomenon focused on by a number of educational documents (Ofsted, 2010) and the media (Vasager, 2011). Challenging behaviour has been shown to have negative impact on a number of student and staff outcomes (DfE, 2012a). Staff outcomes impacted by challenging behaviour include increasing burnout (Crone, Hawken & Bergstrom, 2007) and decreasing self-efficacy (Mitchell & Hastings, 2001), which have been connected to negative impact on staff health (Hastings & Bham, 2003). Time allocated to staff training in schools is decreasing (Bubb & Earley, 2013), highlighting a need for research which considers how school staff can be supported in the limited time available. The impact of a behaviour plan based on solution focused and behavioural principles (developed by a specialist teacher) on students’ challenging behaviour was explored through single case experimental design. Further to this a randomised control design investigated the impact of whole school training relating to the behaviour plan on school staff burnout and self-efficacy. Results showed that the intervention reduced challenging behaviours to differing degrees of all 3 primary students included in the single case experimental design. The whole school training did not significantly impact the number of behaviour plans implemented in classrooms. However, training was shown to have significant positive effects on school staffs’ personal, general, and overall self-efficacy, with no impact on external self-efficacy. The training was also shown to significantly decrease school staffs’ burnout levels; specifically physical fatigue, cognitive weariness, and overall burnout levels, but not emotional exhaustion. This research suggests that the behaviour plan and the accompanying whole school training have the potential to increase teacher self-efficacy, decrease teacher burnout, and provide staff with a suitable intervention to manage challenging behaviour. Areas for further research are highlighted by the limitations and additional observations made during the research process.

School exclusion is a complex topic and receives ongoing attention nationally (Children’s Commissioner, 2012; Department for Education, 2013). A variety of strategies have been proposed to reduce permanent school exclusions. In recent years, however, the rates of permanent school exclusion in the Local Authority that serves as the focus for this research have increased (Anonymous Council, 2012), despite the strategies implemented. It has been suggested that the teacher is at the centre of the school system and that their viewpoints could be significant in determining the effectiveness of intervention strategies (Miller and Todd, 2002). As such, it appears important to explore teachers’ viewpoints in relation to preventing school exclusion. This was the undertaking of the present research. A Q methodological research approach (Stephenson, 1953) was adopted to explore the viewpoints of 47 secondary school teachers on strategies to prevent school exclusion. This approach brings together the advantages of qualitative and quantitative research methods and promotes more open communication around potentially complex topics in order to clarify participants’ subjective and diverse viewpoints. Follow up interviews were used to investigate the implications of these viewpoints for professional practice. The data from the Q methodological research was analysed using a by-person factor analysis. Four distinct viewpoints were identified within the group of teachers who participated in the research. These viewpoints were named: 1. Ability of school 2. Individual support 3. Early Intervention 4. Effective communication Thematic analysis of the follow up interviews led to the identification of the themes: support of the senior leadership team; time; funding; existing strategies; consistency; and teaching. These themes assisted in the identification of numerous implications for professional practice that could be helpful to ensure that future strategies, aimed at reducing permanent exclusions from school, are implemented effectively.

The major focus of the thesis is to investigate the complex dynamism of L2 demotivation. It is an attempt to reform previous thinking of demotivation and move the L2 demotivation mainstream research into a new phase that focuses on the complexity of its process and its development. The demotivational, motivational, and remotivational trajectories of language learners were examined through the lens of various key psychological and theoretical constructs including mindset, personality hardiness, learnerd helplessness, and the L2 Motivational Self System. The thesis consists of two studies that investigated the demotivation of female Saudi university students by using a variety of research methodologies, including qualitative in-depth interviews, quantitative surveys, and structural equation modelling. A primary explorative qualitative study was conducted aiming at examining the Saudi learners’ different explanations of their language learning experiences and their various perceptions of different demotivating factors. Semi-structured interviewes were conducted with 13 female learners of English in King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, SAUDI ARABIA . Analysis of the qualitative data showed that the language learning mindset played an important role in the language learner’s motivation, demotivation, remotivation, and resilience/vulnerability. However, the relationship between the variables that emerged in the qualitative data needed further investigation in order to be confirmed and generalised to larger populations. A secondary confirmatory quantitative study was carried out aiming at investigating the impact of having a particular language learning mindset on L2 demotivation. Using the key variables that emerged in the qualitative data, a questionnaire was desgined and administered to 2044 foundation-year university students. A number of tests were conducted to investigate (a) the relationships between the variables; (b) the differences between the growth mindset language learners and the fixed mindset language learners; and (c) the differences between the resilient and vulnerable language learners. The quantitative results confirmed all the hypothesised relationships assumed and established an empirical link between the language learning mindset and both L2 demotivation and L2 resilience. Finally, a model that assumed that L2 demotivation can be predicted by the fixed language learning mindset was hypothesised. A structural equation modelling (SEM) to empirically test and examine the hypothesised model was conducted. A set of causal relationships were examined simultaneously. The SEM analysis confirmed all the hypothesised causal relationships and showed that L2 demotivation can be predicted positively and directly by the fixed language learning mindset. It also showed that the fixed language learning mindset can lead to L2 demotivation indirectly via decreasing the ability to create a positive ideal L2 self and increasing L2 disappointment. Although all the studies were conducted in the Saudi context and with female learners, it is hoped that the wealth of data can serve as an empirical point of departure in the realm of investigation of L2 demotivation. Conceptualising L2 demotivation by focusing on the role of the language learning mindset and its contribution to the learners’ perceptions and responses to demotivating factors, seems to provide language educators with a new tool to minimise language learners’ demotivation and help them to rebuild their motivation. It also seems to provide future researchers with a new theoritcal model to investigate when researching L2 demotivation in different contexts.

This thesis investigates the interaction of emotion and motivation in language learning. By means of three independent research studies, I analyse the interaction of affective, motivational, and cognitive factors as they appear in relation to the context of a classroom. Rather than studying motivation, affect, or cognition in relative isolation in terms of their impact on language development, I argue that it is worthwhile to study the amalgams formed by these three forces by means of a dynamic systems–based research methodology. The research methodology employed for the first research study is primarily based on the concept of attractor states: salient and relatively stable states of a dynamic system. I demonstrate the existence of four main classroom states: interest, boredom, neutral attention, and anxiety. The factors forming the attractor basin for these states are cognitive, affective, motivational, and contextual in nature. This indicates that affect and motivation have an impact on language learners via the state they produce through their interaction with cognitive and contextual factors. In the second research study of this thesis, I analyse the self-regulation and perseverance of ten language learners from various backgrounds. I argue that a learner’s attractor basin produces a stronger and more positive attractor when there are strong motivational elements present, such as a well thought-out goal orientation. Although other factors may diminish in strength due, for example, to a new teacher with whom the learner does not get along, or a new topic that is no longer enjoyable, a well-defined and sufficiently internalised goal orientation can be the key to successful self-regulation and, ultimately, greater success in learning the target language. In the final research study, I demonstrate that the factors that contribute to the construction of the aforementioned state in the classroom are different for younger and older learners. For older learners, the motivational element plays a significantly more prominent part, while for younger learners the affective, cognitive, and contextual elements are more important. Furthermore, the older learners have the ability to analyse and deconstruct their classroom state, while this is not the case for younger learners. Instead, the experience of the classroom for younger learners is made up of an indistinguishable combination of affective, cognitive, and contextual elements, which combine into an overall feeling of “I like it” or “It is difficult”. Although this can result in the impression that a young learner’s state is determined entirely by affective elements, this is not, in fact, the case; rather, these states are most likely a combination of affective, cognitive, and contextual elements.

Background: There are many models of consultation in educational psychology literature, many of which provide a practical problem-solving framework or approach. The theory behind these frameworks is not always explicitly linked to what is done and why during consultation. An explicit theory linked to consultee’s learning, behaviour and motivation has the potential to make consultation and professional learning for staff more purposeful and effective. Aim: The main aim of this research was to explore the use of a theoretical consultation framework called Exceptional Professional Learning (EPL) in educational psychology practice. This research sought to develop a practical framework to implement the theoretical framework during consultation and to investigate the processes/mechanisms used by consultants and consultees to support internalised and sustained learning and motivation. Design: This research used an instrumental multiple-case study design. Consultations took place within four schools to support the implementation of emotion coaching using EPL. The main focus of this research was the implementation of the EPL components (autonomy, relatedness, responsiveness, authenticity and equity) during consultation to investigate the processes and mechanisms that occurred within each setting. Consultations were recorded and transcribed then the framework approach was used to analyse the results in each case study before mapping and interpreting across all case studies. Findings/conclusion: Many processes/mechanisms were consistent across all the case studies, such as the EP actively listening, nurturing relationships, acknowledging, reassuring and containing feelings in the relatedness component. The consultees would empathise, encourage, value one another’s ideas and engage in joint problem solving. Returning to the practical framework it was then possible to structure an EPL consultation session, to link it to theories of learning and motivation through the EPL components and to be clear about the consultant’s and consultee’s role through the processes and mechanisms employed.

This thesis investigated visual word recognition in bilinguals and monolinguals through the effects of word frequency, lexicality and repetition. The first series of experiments focused on whether bilinguals can suppress lexical access in a non-target language and the role of task demands in L1 and L2 lexical access. The next series of experiments further investigated the role of task demands, list composition and repetition in monolinguals. The ERP data show, for the first time, that in bilinguals, lexical access occurs in the non-target language, supporting the notion of a nonselective lexical access. Delayed lexicality effects in ERPs for L2 compared to L1 suggested a delay in lexical access for L2 in late bilinguals, although behavioural data showed a similar word frequency effect to L1. These conflicting responses have not been anticipated by current models of bilingual visual word recognition. However, monolingual data make clear that lexical effects can be modulated by task demands and list composition in behavioural responses. In monolinguals, the slower processing of less familiar items was enhanced by item repetition only when the task required a lexical decision and words and word-like letter strings were presented. Lastly, this thesis has demonstrated that current models of visual word recognition have not fully implemented these elements and have not predicted response times distribution or ERPs. Future models of visual word recognition should incorporate these elements to be able to characterise lexical access in bilinguals and monolinguals.

Directed Motivational Currents (DMCs) are a novel motivational construct which describe periods of highly motivated behaviour while working towards a well-defined and personally significant end goal (see e.g. Dörnyei, Henry & Muir, 2016). Such periods of motivation are found in diverse contexts and directed towards varied outcomes, yet are uniquely recognisable by the highly positive emotionality exhibited by individuals, who during this time often surpass even their wildest expectations. To date, DMC research has focused on qualitative accounts of the personal experiences of DMCs, and while this has offered a wealth of comprehensive data, key research strands remain unexplored. In response to this, this thesis comprises two complementary studies, each looking at a novel aspect of DMC theory and application. Study 1 takes a quantitative approach to research by addressing questions related to the recognisability of DMCs across continents and contexts, and considers basic questions such as how many people report having experienced periods of DMC-like motivation, what inspired them, and the durations they lasted. It additionally looks at the demographic factors of respondents to understand whether there are links between DMCs and either gender, age or nationality. The study uses a newly developed online questionnaire tool and involves a total of 1563 participants of 71 different nationalities. The results support the notion that DMCs are a well-recognisable and widely experienced motivational phenomenon in society, and indicate no significant links between DMCs and any demographic factors. In terms of language learning, the findings support the assertion that DMCs are found across a wide range of language levels and contexts. Study 2 addresses the practical applicability of DMC theory to language learning and teaching. This classroom intervention study – conducted in collaboration with Jessica Florent and David Leach – aimed to purposefully facilitate a group DMC experience in a class of 16 business English language learners. The basis of this study stems from the observation that within a classroom context, group DMCs can be thought of as intensive group projects. The study was structured around an ‘All Eyes on the Final Product’ project framework (Dörnyei et al., 2016), the end goal being the organisation of a large charity fundraising event. Data was collected throughout the five weeks from personal diary entries and Skype interviews with both students and teachers. Findings suggest the intervention was highly successful in creating a group DMC experience, and significantly, it was also found that students reported notable positive developments throughout the course, both in terms of their language learning and in other key skills. The cumulative conclusions presented in this thesis are therefore highly encouraging, offering strong empirical support to the claim that DMCs are a well-recognised and widely experienced motivational phenomenon which transcends borders and contexts. Results equally suggest that the purposeful facilitation of DMC experiences with varied groups of language learners in diverse contexts – to achieve dual motivational and educational aims – might be a very real possibility. Although positive results are reported, both studies venture into previously unchartered research territory and, in light of this, the conclusions put forward require validation and confirmation through further empirical work. Suggestions for future research are made.

Young people with Autism Spectrum (AS) are a population at risk of experiencing Mental Health Problems (MHPs); with anxiety being the most commonly reported internalising MHP for this population (Skokauskas & Gallagher, 2012). Schools have been identified as well placed to support pupils experiencing MHPs (DoH & DfE, 2017). The primary aim of the present research was to evaluate the Homunculi Approach (Greig & MacKay, 2013b) as an intervention for secondary aged pupils with AS experiencing anxiety. The secondary aim of the research was to explore factors affecting implementation of the Homunculi Approach. An embedded mixed methods design was utilised where the primary research aim (Phase 1) was supplemented by the secondary research aim (Phase 2). Phase 1 consisted of an A-B single case experimental design (SCED) with four participants across four different secondary schools. Anxiety was measured through: repeated behavioural observations and a weekly anxiety questionnaire (PI-ED); pre and post intervention measures, completed by the young people, parents and teachers (SCAS, SAS-TF and SDQ); and measures which occur organically within the Homunculi Approach intervention. Phase 2 of the research explored the factors which affected implementation of the intervention in schools by interviewing the school staff who delivered the Homunculi Approach. The data was collected using an activity theory framework. The findings from the research indicated the intervention was effective in reducing anxiety for two participants, and ineffective in reducing anxiety for the other two participants. Several implementation factors were identified which may have impacted on the effectiveness of the Homunculi Approach when delivered by members of school staff in secondary schools. The findings are discussed in relation to the literature. Limitations of the research, such as the small sample size and possible impact of external factors, are acknowledged. Possible implications and ideas for future research are presented.