What Motivates Students?

• In Event: Top 20 Principles From Psychology for Pre-K–12 Teaching and Learning

Abstract

The second category of principles focuses on academic motivation. From the perspective of psychological science, all students can be motivated to achieve at some times and in some contexts. The motivation category includes four major principles. We will present two that are highly relevant for educators.
Principle 9: Students Tend to Enjoy Learning and to do Better When They are More Intrinsically Rather than Extrinsically Motivated.
Students who are intrinsically motivated work on tasks because they find them enjoyable. In contrast, students who are extrinsically motivated engage in learning tasks as a means to an end, such as to get a good grade or to avoid punishment. Students engage in academic tasks for both intrinsic and extrinsic reasons. Nonetheless, intrinsic motivation is more enjoyable, and is positively related to more enduring learning, achievement, and perceived competence, and is negatively related to anxiety. Students who are more extrinsically motivated tend to disengage once the external rewards are no longer provided.
Extrinsic rewards, when properly used, are important in producing positive educational outcomes. Students improve their reading, writing, and mathematics skills when they do these activities repeatedly with teacher guidance and feedback, gradually progressing from less complex tasks to more difficult ones.
10. Students persist in the face of challenging tasks and process information more deeply when they adopt mastery goals rather than performance goals.
11. Teachers’ expectations about their students affect students’ opportunities to learn, their motivation, and their learning outcomes.
12. Setting goals that are short-term (proximal), specific, and moderately challenging enhances motivation more than establishing goals that are long-term (distal), general, and overly challenging.
Explanation: Goal setting is the process by which a person establishes a standard of performance. Three properties of goal setting are important for motivation. First, short-term or proximal goals are more motivating than long-term or distal goals because it is easier to judge progress toward proximal goals. Second, specific goals are preferable to more general goals because they are easier to quantify and monitor. Third, moderately difficult goals rather than very hard or very easy goals are the most likely to motivate students.
Relevance for Teachers: Teachers can work with students to help set proximal goals, but also show them how achieving these goals ultimately helps them to reach longer-term, distal goals. Also record student progress on goal attainment; when students do not achieve their goals, help them to understand the reasons and offer suggestions and strategies that will be helpful to them so that they can reach those goals in the future.
References:
Anderman, E.M., & Wolters, C. (2006). Goals, values, and affect: Influences on student motivation. In P.A. Alexander & P. Winne (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (2nd ed., pp. 369-389). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Locke, E.A., & Latham, G.P. (2002) Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57, 705-717.
Martin, A.J. (2013). Goal-setting and personal best goals. (pp 356-358). In J. Hattie & E.M. Anderman (Eds.), International guide to student achievement. New York: Routledge.

Author

• Sandra Graham, University of California - Los Angeles