Sources of Motivation for Students

Motivation is the key to school success. Just as the actor asks a director "What is my motivation, for this scene?" the child turns to teachers, parents, and peers to discover the "why" of learning. Motivation is often defined as a need or drive that energizes behavior toward a goal.

The most common problem that teachers and parents face is lack of student motivation. Motivation can either come from within the student (intrinsic) or from outside (extrinsic). A child who is intrinsically motivated performs a task because of the joy that comes from learning new materials. A child who performs in school to gain parent approval, grades, or rewards is externally motivated. While research shows that those children with internal motivation may achieve greater success, teachers and parents often find that many children seek external reinforcers. Parents who ask questions that lead to more questions for a child are more successful in developing intrinsic motivation. For example, a parent that gives a child a special toy as a “reward” for reading a lesson about how an airplane works and for completing the related homework that requires answers to questions about the parts of an airplane will stimulate less motivation than the parent who helps a child discover how planes work by building a balsam plane and letting the child practice flying it. This parent can ask what changes the plane’s flight pattern. The child can then experiment, discover and generate new questions and new discoveries.

Motivation, as parents and teachers know, often varies depending on the setting, the people involved, the task and the situation. A child with a learning disability may be a very reluctant reader who resists reading a science assignment or writing the homework assignment but eagerly absorb all the teacher shows about vaporization of water in a science class. The key for each learner is to find that which motivates.

Not everyone is motivated by the same thing. When we ask students to tell us what motivates them they identify some practical reasons for advancing their education. If we ask a person why they bought a new car the answer would be quite different. However varied the reasons or motivations might appear be they all into one of the following five categories.

1. Intrinsic process — motivated by fun

Characterized by the enjoyment or pleasure derived from doing the work or assignment, the student undertakes the activity for the learning it permits, or the feelings of accomplishment it evokes.

Indicative Behaviour would be talking about how much one likes or dislikes the tasks that are assigned or volunteering freely for the activities that one enjoys most.

Motivational tip: stress the fun and create and enjoyable learning environment, let students delight in their experiences.

2. Instrumental — motivated by rewards

Characterized by a concern or expectation for tangible incentives (e.g. good grades, scholarship, advancing to next level, teacher's approval, wealth, dream job)

Examples of behaviour would be asking "What's in it for me?", talking about how much money one makes or should make or the relative wealth of others.

Motivational tip: make expectations clear, advise students what grade their efforts will earn and what that means in the long term, create an incentive program that is contingent on performance.

3. Self-concept external — motivated by reputation

Characterized by a concern for what others think, interested in preserving and enhancing his or her reputation among peers and teachers.

Frequent behaviours would be frequently ask for feedback, seeking praise and recognition for work performed, bragging or telling stories about accomplishments, being attentive to who gets the credit when work is finished.

Motivational tip: give open praise and recognition for achievements, give criticism in private, assign projects that highly visible to peers and academic community.

4. Self-concept internal — motivated by challenge/achievement

Characterized by a concern for meeting or exceeding one's personal standards of performance, does not desire feedback and tends to be self-driven.

Evidenced by seeking to perform the more difficult tasks, working best when one's skills are needed for the tasks, being interested in developing one's range of skills, performing the most important tasks with little supervision or direction.

Motivational tip: assign challenging exercises that requires the students aptitude for performance and achievement, create opportunities for students to develop their skills, emphasize the importance of skills towards the success of the project, try not to assign menial or mundane tasks. Avoid assigning menial or mundane tasks to these individuals.

5. Goal internalized — motivated by the cause/principles

Characterized by a need to believe in the cause, needing to know the purpose of the task, confident in the end result, uses value based principles to guide decisions and actions.

Behaviour examples are asking about the purpose of tasks, commenting on the strategy or focus of the exercise, being careless or lazy when one does not believe in the value or purpose of the exercise.

Motivational tip: communicate the vision, desirable end-goals, optimism for reaching these goals, tasks being performed help to achieve these goals.