ABSTRACT: The aim of this mixed method research is to find out positive changes in learning
and behaviour of the rural students of the nursery class in the government schools at Tehsil
Jaranwala district Faisalabad province Punjab Pakistan, by the use of motivational
expressions within the context of behavioral perspective of Skinner’s (1957) model of
reinforcement. The research makes hypothesis that the ELT teachers in government schools at
primary level in Pakistan use such techniques and strategies that do not motivate the students
in learning English as a second language (ESL) and the young learners especially in rural
context are less interested to learn English because teachers do not motivate the students in
the class. The researcher took a nursery class for 37 days and tried to motivate the students to
learn English and establish their interest in studies through different motivational expressions.
Moreover, a survey questionnaire, consisting of 13 close ended questions and 07 open-ended
questions was distributed among 28 male and female teachers of different schools to know their
views and comments regarding motivation and use of motivational expressions. The results
were presented quantitatively in the form of tables, graphs, frequencies and percentages. The
findings of the research results show that more than 75 % teachers agree to the view that there
should be motivation in the learners and the use of different motivational strategies, for
example motivational expressions, enhance the students’ interest in learning. Moreover, the
classroom teaching and the questionnaire results show that students become more motivated
towards learning English language when they are positively reinforced in the class. The results
can be used as key for seeing the reasons behind the failure of the students at schools as well
their misconduct in the society and can be a key to make improvements in both the areas