DETERMINING STUDENT MOTIVATION 1

Homework Assignment #1: Determining Student Motivation

Breanna Carels

110220

Brandon University

07.751 Interpreting Educational Research

Dr. Alexa Okrainec

January 27th, 2019

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Reflective Response #1 – Determining Student Motivation

Student motivation varies tremendously within schools. I teach in a Kindergarten to

Grade 12 school and I have always been intrigued by student motivation and how it changes over

the years. As students go through the school system their motivation changes dramatically

(Daniels, 2010). I myself have firsthand experience with this change in motivation as I currently

teach courses from Grade 2 through Grade 12. My young students always appear eager to learn

and can be encouraged to push harder to be successful. On the other hand, you could have the

most intriguing lesson or do a dance in front of high school students and it will not change how

motivated they are towards their learning. Some students will respond to teachers attempts to

have them more engaged and motivated where others will continue to view their academic

learning negatively (Daniels, 2010). Student motivation is tied to student achievement and

success; therefore, this is the construct that I will delve into.

One method of research regarding student motivation was created by Hanna Eklöf called

the Test Taking Motivation Questionnaire (TTMQ). In this study Swedish children of a high

school level were tested. The test was used to determine general achievement motivation, but

can also be used for specific test-taking motivation (Eklöf, 2006). The questionnaire was

administered after completing a test. There were questions about motivation that directly related

to the test, as well as some general motivation questions. The results showed a link between

perceived task value and the motivation to perform well (Eklöf, 2006). It should also be

mentioned that test-taking motivation is related to general attitudes and self-concept (Eklöf,

2006). This measurement in summary showed that students needed to see the value in an

activity, project, or test in order to intrinsically motivate themselves. A study was done with

Chicago students where they were surprised and offered anywhere from a trophy to $20 if they
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performed well on a standardized test (Goodwin, 2018). Students who were offered this

incentive showed test results of having 5-6 months more learning than students who were not

offered the reward (Goodwin, 2018). What is an interesting fact to note is that these students

were not informed ahead, therefore they had not done any extra preparation for the test. So what

seemed to be an extrinsic motivator was actually the students taking the test more seriously and

intrinsically motivating themselves (Goodwin, 2018).

The above stated measure for the construct of motivation gave some valuable results but I

am proposing other forms of measure as well. This measure focuses specifically on the

motivation of students in relation to test taking. I think it is important to look at student

motivation in a more general sense. In Eklöf’s study students were being asked about the

motivation towards test taking which is an item of achievement that is highly valued. Students

generally will be more motivated towards a test then towards their day to day activities because

they see the immediate consequence of test achievement. Motivation is just as important in day

to day learning activities and is critical to student’s academic success. Therefore, I propose

creating a construct that measures student’s daily motivation in a subject area as well as their

motivation towards testing. Also based on the above study of Chicago students I see a benefit in

focusing on intrinsic motivators. Intrinsic motivation is not something that is focused on enough

as a construct (Goodwin, 2018).

Student motivation directly leads to student success and achievement. What will assist in

determining the differences in motivation from early years to senior years is developing a new

way to measure the intrinsic motivation of students. By the time high school students arrive in

our classroom there is very little that we as teachers or even parents can do to motivate the

student. Therefore, if we focus on motivation as a construct, and determine what is intrinsically

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motivating these students, we may be able to find ways to foster this motivation in all of our

students (Daniels, 2010).

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References

Daniels, E. (2010). Creating motivating learning environments: What we can learn from

researchers and students. The English Journal, 100(1), 25-29. Retrieved from Academic

Search Premier.

Eklöf, H. (2006). Development and validation of scores from an instrument measuring student

test-taking motivation. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 66(4), 643-656.

doi:10.1177/0013164405278574 Retrieved from Sage Journals.

Gall, M. D., Gall, J. P. & Borg, W. R. (2015). Applying Educational Research: How to Read,

Do, and Use Research to Solve Problems of Practice (7th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Pearson.

Goodwin, B. (2018). Measuring what’s inside: Why don’t we measure students’ intrinsic

motivation and curiosity? Educational Leadership, 75(5), 80-81. Retrieved from

Academic Search Premier.