Motivating Students to Learn
Chapter 10
Motivation
Internal state that arouses, directs and maintains
behavior.
Something that serves to activate or energize
behavior and give direction to it.
Other Concepts
need desire want
• Motivation involves the processes that energize,
direct and sustain behavior. It can be thought of
as an internal process that activates, guides and
maintains behavior vertices.
Aspects of Motivation (3 Aspects)
Energize behavior
initiate behavior- change behavior – effort
‘What motivates people?’
Directs behavior
choose behavior- alternative action –solutions
‘What motivates people to choose specific things?’
Sustain behavior
persistence – sustain
‘Why do some individuals keep working while others have
stopped?’
Types of Motivation
• Intrinsic motivation
behavior is performed for its own
sake
the behavior is a reward itself
Examples:
Being interest in the activity itself
Welling to grow up (do it for yourself)
• Extrinsic motivation
Behavior is performed to earn something
Care about what to gain from doing
something
Examples:
earn a grade
avoid punishment
please people
The part of motivation psychologist study :
How and why we are motivated to act (behaviour)?
Psychologists try to understand and explain why
people act in particulars way in particular situations
through 5 theories:
Behavioral Learning Theory
Human Needs Theory
Attribution Theory
Self-Regulation Theory
Expectancy Theory
Behavioral Theory:
Going back to forms of learning
Classical Conditioning
Operant conditioning
Observational learning
Reinforces
Punishers
Modelling
Motivation to increase or decrease behavior
Human Needs Theory - Humanistic Theory
humans are driven to achieve their maximum
potential
unless they face obstacles (hunger, thirst,
safety, financial issues)
Maslow
Pyramid (hierarchy of needs)
Expectancy theory
Explain how people make choices
Motivational Force (MF)
Choose the highest motivational force
Expectancy (strength of persons’ belief about
performance (I can do this / I can’t do this)
Instrumentally: linking outcome to another
outcome (High level of performance – get an A)
Valence (value): is the outcome value to me
Motivational Force=
Expectancy X Instrumentalty X Valance
SO, if we believe that we can do a task
see the connection between the activity and our
success
and we value the result of success
the probability is high that the individual be part
of the activity
Motivation
MOTIVATION IN THE CHAPTER
CLASSROOM 8
KEy TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Terms Definitions
Possess by students who learn better by listening to teacher’s
Attribution theory explanations, records, or audio tapes.
Contingent/Conditional Extrinsic reinforcement to stimulate students’ task
reinforcement engagement in the form of praise, a smile, an early mark or
loss of privileges such as missing out on sport.
The degree to which they expect to be able to perform the
Expectancy task successfully if they apply themselves.
Refers to rewards that are obtained not from the activity, but
Extrinsic motivation as a consequence of the activity (external motivation).
Maslow’s concept that individual needs must be satisfied in
Hierarchy of needs this sequence: physiological, safety, love and belongingness,
esteem and self- actualization.
Intrinsic motivation Refers to rewards provided by an activity itself (internal
motivation).
Motivation The process that energize, direct and sustain behavior.
Need for achievement A stable personality characteristic that drives some
individuals to strive for success.
Social learning The theory that conceive motivation as goal- directed
perspective behavior that is closely linked to feelings of personal
effectiveness.
Value The degree to which they value the rewards they anticipate
from successfully completing a task.
The theory that postulates that the effort people are willing to
Value x Expectancy Theory expend on a task is a product of value and expentancy.
Implication for Educators
Behavioral approaches
• Remember that reinforcement to increase desired behaviour motivates further learning of this types.
• Recognize that student motivation is shaped by previous reinforcing experiences
• Know that students’ maladaptive attribution of success and failure, including learned helplessness, can be
modified. Cognitive approaches
• Understand the underlying factors in students’ behaviour, studying students’ carefully and using a variety of
information sources to discover why students behave as they do.
• Accept that students are not always motivated to be successful, and that the risk of attempting to succeed
may be overwhelmed by the need to avoid failure.
SocialonLearning
• Realize that motivating students by focusing increasingapproaches
mastery in more effective than emphasizing
performance
• Ensure goals. experience success, not just failure.
that students
• Be aware of their own biases and how these might affect the way they attribute success and failure in
• Remember that self-evaluation is influenced by observing others’ achievements, and by persuasion and high
individual students.
arousal in challenging situations.
Humanist
• Recognize that motivation is affected by learners’ approaches
judgements about their own efficacy.
• Become more concerned with the wider implications of student welfare, not just with stu- dents’ education.
• Be aware that some students are more concerned with feelings of safety, belonging and self esteem than
with the demands of the school curriculum.
• Understand that students who feel a strong need for group belonging will experience difficulties and lack
motivation to learn if teacher acts in ways that conflict with group mores.
• Acknowledge that teachers’ own beliefs and values can have a major impact on students’ motivation.
Humanist approaches
How can teachers Increase Students’
Motivation To Learn
• Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation
• Rewards
• Using Praise Effectively
• Teaching Students to Praise Themselves
• Try to apply our understanding of Theories
related to Motivation and apply them
