Investigating students’ engagement and motivation within the context of the Pedagogical Residence Program

This article aims at reflecting on how the Pedagogical Residence Program (PRP) clears the way for residents to be conscious of the importance of promoting activities which students could be motivated and engaged in. As such, an analytical eye is turned upon six reflective reports, written by two residents, participants of the Spanish/English Group from the Department of Modern Foreign Languages at Federal University of Paraíba. In these reports, the residents discussed a sequence of activities that they proposed to a high school group. It is investigated how students’ motivation and engagement are described in their writings, as well as how residents employed strategies to get the students involved in the activities. The discussion relies on concepts, such as motivation (BROPHY, 2010; BROWN, 2000; DORNYEI, 1994; GARDNER, 1985; MITCHELL; SCHUSTER; JIN, 2020), class observation, the Pedagogical Residence Program (ANDRADE; SANTOS; FONSECA, 2019; BIAZI; GIMENEZ; STUTZ, 2011; LIRA; LIMA; MEDRADO, 2019; LIRA; MEDRADO; COSTA, 2020), and second language learning (LORENZUTTI, 2014; CUNHA, 2016). Results suggest that, although the residents faced challenges, they could create strategies which helped the students to feel motivated and, consequently, to engage in the activities proposed. Finally, it was also possible to observe the development of the residents’ sense of responsibility for a reflective teaching attitude that regarded students as active beings, taking their needs into consideration from planning to evaluation.