Increasing students’ motivation by integrating projects on foreign languages into learning process

Chelyabinsk State University, Brat’ev Kashirinyh str., 129, Chelyabinsk, 454001, Russia

^* Corresponding author: elmira.koleeva@yandex.ru

Abstract

The article reveals the influence of extracurricular projects in a foreign language on the students’ motivation in non-linguistic areas of university education for learning a foreign language. Extracurricular projects include Olympiads, conferences and various competitions for translation, essays, videos and similar types of extracurricular activities. The article reveals the illumination of the problem of motivation in the psychological and pedagogical community and gives various points of view on the factors that contribute to increasing motivation for learning a foreign language through extracurricular projects. A survey of students with non-linguistic specialization of the university revealed the key positive and negative factors that determine the attitude of students to such projects. The insignificant number of project participants is explained by the lack of awareness among students and fear of failure. The factors encouraging participation were the interest in the format of the event, the expected benefits for professional development, the support of the environment and a sense of belonging to the faculty. On the basis of the results obtained, recommendations are given to increase the motivation of students to learn a foreign language through participation in projects in foreign languages, and the need to integrate extracurricular academic activity into the educational program is substantiated.