A preliminary study of the use of L2 motivational strategies in a business English course

Although teachers' use of second language (L2) motivational strategies has drawn more attention in recent literature, researchers have yet to validate the findings in the context of business English (BE) teaching, and teachers' perspectives have rarely been examined in detail. In the present study, 21 Hong Kong tertiary teachers of BE were asked to rate 10 macrostrategies in terms of frequency of use. Half of them, in semi-structured interviews, also expressed their concerns about the adoption of certain strategies in BE classes. The overall results showed that (1) a number of strategies were preferred by the BE teachers, (2) the BE teachers' motivational behaviour was similar to that exhibited by general English teachers worldwide, and (3) there were concerns unique to BE teaching. These results provide evidence that BE teachers have to shoulder additional responsibilities, and a new line of research focusing on L2 motivational practice in BE teaching is urgently needed.