Working towards a motivational pedagogy for school programmes in additional languages

The teaching and learning of languages additional to English (L2) in English-dominant societies has reached a crisis point, with teachers often facing considerable challenges with recruiting, and then retaining, students. This article presents findings from a study in New Zealand, where the introduction of a revised curriculum has provided the opportunity for L2 teachers to reflect on current and future teaching practices. Data from interviews with teachers and curriculum support workers (advisers) are used to consider whether a learner-centred and experiential pedagogical approach might make a positive difference to L2 students’ classroom experiences, and thereby potentially contribute to alleviating the challenges of demotivated students, low enrolments and attrition.