Spurring without a spur: Motivating L2 learners through token economy

With the belief that learning motivation relates closely to students' day-to day experience in the classrooms, an English Improvement Award Scheme was specially designed and tried out in a Hong kong secondary school. The aim of the Scheme was to stimulate higher learning motivation and better performance in the English subject through the provision of instant reinforcement. This token system rewarded improvement in dictation, composition, test and class participation. The performance of students at junior secondary levels was monitored for four months. With analyzed statistics on the token scores and questionnaires answered by a sample of 119 students and 12 teachers, this study aimed at evaluating the effects which the Scheme had brought in English learning and how well-received it was for both students and teachers. Copyright © 1997 Hong Kong Educational Research Association.