Positive Oral Encouragement in the EFL Classroom, A Case Study through Action Research

Abstract

This article reflects upon the usage of oral encouragement as an extrinsic affective strategy in an English for specific purposes course for chemists and chemistry students in a university setting. Facilitated by action research as a case study, this paper reports on how oral encouragement increases motivation and thus, oral participation in the classroom for a low-intermediate student. As a side effect, oral encouragement in the form of praise also fostered the student’s self -confidence. Finally, it was found that classroom management played an important role along with oral encouragement and self-confidence in order to increase oral participation.