Unit 3: Student Motivation

By
Naveed Shahzad
What is Motivation?
 The word motivation is derived from a Latin word
‘movers’ which means to move. Motivation is a cause
of an organism’s behavior, or the reason that an
organism carries out some activity.
 Psychological theories must account for a “primary”

level of motivation to satisfy basic needs, such as those

for food, oxygen, and water, and for a “secondary”
level of motivation to fulfill social needs such as
companionship and achievement. The primary needs
must be satisfied before an organism can attend to
secondary drives.
Motivation in view of Psychologists
• “The term motivation refers to the arousal of tendency to act to
produce one or more effect”Allport (1935 )
• “Motivation is constant, never ending, fluctuating and
complex and it is an almost universal characteristic of
particularly every organismic state of affairs.” Maslow(1960 )
• “The process of arousing, sustaining and regulating activity”
Crow. L. D.(1953 )
• “The central factor in the effective management of the process
of learning.”B.R. Annandi (1981)
• “Motivation in school learning involves arousing, persisting,
sustaining and directing desirable behavior.” Lepper, Mark R.
(1998)
Cont…
Positive Motivation
This brings about positive response to the action that one
needs to undertake in order to achieve these goals.
Negative Motivation
It is being reinforced with fear, anxiety and such negative
feelings in order to have tasks and goals achieved.
Extrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic Motivation
It is operative when an individual is motivated by an outcome that is
external or somehow related to the activity in which she or he is
engaged. In other words, “Extrinsic motivation refers to rewards
that are obtained not from the activity, but as a consequence of the
activity.”(Morris &Maisto, 2002) This motivation arises from the
use of external rewards or bribes such as food, praise, free time,
money or points toward an activity. These incentives are all
external, in that they are separate from the individual and the task.
Example: a child may does chores not because he enjoys them
but because doing so earns an allowance and students who are
extrinsically motivated may study hard for a test in order to obtain
a good grade in the course.
Intrinsic Motivation
The motivation arises from internal factors such as a child’s
natural feeling of curiosity, exigent, confidence and satisfaction
when performing a task. People who are involved in a task
because of intrinsic motivation appear to be engaged and even
consumed, since they are motivated by the activity itself and
not some goal that is achieved at the end or as a result of the
activity. Intrinsic motivation is the ultimate goal in education at
every level.
Example: Children play game for no other reward than the
fun they get from the game
itself or students who are intrinsically motivated may study hard
for a test because he or she enjoys the content of the course.
Cont….
Students are likely to be intrinsically motivated if
they:
• Attribute their educational results to internal factors that
they can control (e.g. the amount of effort they put in),
• Believe they can be effective agents in reaching desired
goals (i.e. the results are not determined by luck),
• Are interested in mastering a topic, rather than just rote-
learning to achieve good grades.
Theories of Motivation
The Behavioral Perspective
For behaviourists, motivation is simply a product of
effective contingent reinforcement.
So, they emphasize the use of extrinsic reinforcement to
stimulate students’ task engagement. The reinforcement
can take the form of praise, a smile, an early mark or
loss of privileges such as missing out on sport.
The Humanistic Perspective
There are two theories of motivation from humanistic
perspective:
(a) Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow (1954) perceived motivation in terms of a
hierarchy of needs that can also conceiveas ‘motives’.
According to Maslow’s model, once basic
physiological needs have been satisfied, efforts are
directed toward achieving needs associated with safety,
love and belonging, and self-esteem.
b) Roger’s motivation theory

Carl Roger’s ideas are also influential in discussing the

nature of motivation and its impact to human lives.
Rogers argued that: Behaviour was influenced by the
individual’s perception of both personal and
environmental factors. People should listen to their
‘inner voices’ or innate capacity to judge what was
good for themselves, rather than relying on feedback
from external sources.
The Cognitive Perspective
“According to Santrock (2006) the cognitive perspective
on motivation focuses on students’ thought guide their
motivation. It focuses on students’ internal motivation
to achieve, their attribution (perception about the
causes of success or failure) and their beliefs that they
can effectively control their environment. It also
stresses on the importance of goal setting, planning and
monitoring progress toward a goal.”
(a) Achievement Motivation
John Atkinson and David McClelland described the need
for achievement as: “A stable personality characteristic
that drives some individuals to strive for success.
Students who have a high need for achievement are
motivated to become involved in an activity if they
believe that they will be successful.
(b) Weiner Attribution Theory
Attribution theory is concerned with the way in which an
individual’s explanations of success and failure influence
that individual’s subsequent motivation and behaviour.
Students may attribute success or failure to different causes,
depending on their beliefs about who or what controls
their success or failure.
Application of motivation in education
Motivation in education can have several effects on how
students learn and how they behave towards subject
matter. It can:
• Direct behavior towards particular goals
• Lead to increased effort and energy
• Increase initiation of, and persistence in, activities
• Enhance cognitive processing
• Determine what consequences are reinforcing
• Lead to improved performance.
Student Motivation
 Make it real (activities etc) Relevant to their lives
 Provide choices (makes them autonomous)
 Balance the challenges
 Seek Role Models
 Use Peer Models
 Establish a sense of belonging
 Adopt a supportive style
How to help motivating learners

According to Carol Ames (1990, 1992), there are six areas that can
influence students’
motivation to learn:
Task students are asked to do.
The strength of our motivation in a particular situation is determined
by our expectation that we can get success and the value of that
success. To understand how an academic
task can affect student’s motivation, we need to analyze them. Tasks
can be interesting or boring for students. And tasks have different
value for students.
The autonomy students are allowed in working.
Give students a range of options that set valuable tasks for them, but
also allow them to follow personal interest. The balance must be just
right. Too much autonomy is bewildering and too little is boring.
How students are recognized for their accomplishments.
Students should be recognized for improving on their own personal
best, for tackling difficult tasks, for persistence, and for creativity.
Grouping Practices.
Motivation can greatly influenced by the ways we relate to the other
people who are also involved in accomplishing a particular goal.
Evaluation Procedures.
The greater the emphasis on competitive evaluation and grading, the
more students will focus on performance goals rather than
mastery. Low-achieving students who have little hope of either
performing well or mastery the task may simply want to get it
over with. How can teachers prevent students from simply
focusing on the grade or doing the work “just to get finished”?
The answer is to de-emphasize grades and emphasize learning in
the class.
Scheduling time in the classroom
Scheduling often interferes with motivation by making
students move faster or slower and interrupting their
involvement. Therefore, teacher should be able to give
extended period.
Strategize with Struggling Students
When students are struggling with poor academic
performance, low self-efficiency or low motivation,
one strategy that may help is to teach them how to
learn. That is, to outline specific strategies for
completing an assignment, note-taking or reviewing for
an exam.