I laughed a lot. And when I noticed that the class was having fun, I was much more motivated. (R30)
This shows the significance of social context in classrooms, ‘which influence not only academic motivation and achievement, but also the individual development and well-being of students’ (Urdan and Schoenfelder 2006, 340). In competitive activities, students felt comfortable and motivated as they were very eager to win the game. This tendency centres around the premise of ‘arousal’ and confirms that ‘curiosity’ is a significant factor that impacts on ‘learner’s effort to complete an activity satisfactorily’ (Williams and Burden 1997, 126).
The ‘usefulness’ and ‘appropriateness’ of the activity also determined the reported success of the interventions. After Intervention 7, in which students were asked to practise circumlocution activity, F1 highlighted the usefulness of this lesson as it addressed one of their weak points:
We really cannot express ourselves; we get stuck in conversations when we cannot find the word. This happens to me as well. When I start explaining something, if I cannot recall the word, I break the conversation like I did not utter that sentence and I form another sentence. Therefore, this activity was very useful. (F1)
This is what Williams and Burden (1997, 125) regard as ‘perceived value of the activity’. They stated that learners’ engagement in activities depends on how much value they attach to the accomplishment of or involvement in an activity. Of critical importance here is the extent to which teachers will rely on students’ perceptions of the value of the activity. Over-reliance on this without considering students’ actual needs could be problematic. They may attach value to game-like activities that in fact do not address their needs. For this reason, students need to be made aware of what they need and teachers should justify their activity designs; students will then perceive the value of the activity even if those activities are not so popular.