Enhancing Students’ Motivation

By Annick M. Brennen

The ultimate goal of schools is to transform its students by providing

knowledge and skills and by building character and instilling virtue
(Sergiovanni, 1991). Students with various intellectual abilities, from
multicultural and diverse socio-economic backgrounds are the object
of this educational process. How can schools ensure that all students,
regardless of their social, economic, and intellectual statuses, learn
and become useful and productive members of society? Are all
students motivated to pursue and achieve academic goals on their
own? How can schools enhance students’ motivation to learn?

Thus, the purpose of this study is (1) to review the major motivational
theories and experimental findings on motivation between 1989 and
1998, (2) critique these theories and experimental findings; and (3)
state implications for teaching a chosen subject to college, high
school, or elementary school students. The writer of this paper, being
a vocational and technical instructor, will state implications for
teaching a subject in a post-secondary vocational and technical
institution.

Review of the Major Theories

Motivation has been defined as the level of effort an individual is
willing to expend toward the achievement of a certain goal. Biehler
and Snowman (1993) state that motivation is typically defined as the
forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and
continuation of behavior. Both definitions imply that motivation comes
from within a person; therefore, schools’ responsibility is to create the
conditions that will enhance students’ motivation to pursue academic
goals actively over a long period of time.

Theorists have developed several approaches to motivation which fall

in four broad categories. Adopting these approaches can assist
teachers in their endeavor to provide the right conditions for student
learning: (1) the behavioral view, (2) the cognitive view, (3) the
humanistic view, and (4) the achievement motivation theory.

The Behavioral View

The behavioral interpretations of motivation rests on B. F. Skinner’s
behavioral learning theories and focuses on the reinforcement of
desired behavior through the use of extrinsic reward. Biehler and
Snowman (1993) state that behavioral interpretations of learning help
to explain why some pupils react favorably to particular subjects and
dislike others. Social theorists, such as Albert Bandura, emphasize
the impact of students’ identification and imitation of someone,
pointing out their resulting positive academic outcomes.

Psychologists have noted that excessive use of extrinsic forms of

motivation such as praise and rewards may lead to resentment,
limitation of transfer, may cause dependency on teachers, the
undermining of intrinsic motivation, and viewing learning as a means
to an end. They suggest that to limit the negative effects of extrinsic
rewards, teachers should use extrinsic forms of reward only when
correct or desired responses occur.

The Cognitive View

The cognitive view of motivation emphasizes the arousal of cognitive
disequilibrium as a means to motivate students to learn something
new. For example, if students face a problem, they will desire to solve
it. This is consistent with Piaget’s concepts of organization,
adaptation, and schemes. According to Piaget, when people experience
a discrepancy between something new and what they already know or
believe, it produces a state of disequilibrium they are driven to
eliminate in order to achieve equilibration. To achieve this state of
disequilibrium, Jerome Bruner recommends posing questions that will
cause students to recognize gaps in their thinking, which they will
want to fill.

Cognitive theory emphasizes intrinsic motivation. When teachers

utilize intrinsic motivation techniques, such as the arousal of
disequilibrium, students value learning for its own sake.

The major limitation of the cognitive view of motivation is that it is

very difficult to "induce students to experience a cognitive
disequilibrium sufficient to stimulate them to seek answers" (Biehler
and Snowman, 1991).

The Humanistic View

Abraham Maslow, the most cited humanistic psychologist, advanced
in his book, Motivation and Personality, that people are motivated by
their individual needs to address certain natural concerns. These
concerns, in turn, can be ranked hierarchically in terms of
importance. He thus proposed a five-level hierarchy of needs:

1. physiological needs,
2. safety needs,
3. belongingness needs,
4. esteem needs, and
5. self-actualization needs.

Physiological needs are the most basic human needs such as hunger,
thirst, and shelter. Safety needs refer to the desire to find a safe and
secure physical environment. Belongingness needs allude to an
individual’s desire to be accepted by his peers, while esteem needs
refer to the desire to have a positive self-image and to receive
recognition from others. Self-actualization needs are at the top of the
pyramid and represent the concern for the development of full
individual potential. The main premise of this theory is that people will
not seek to satisfy higher needs, such as self-actualization needs,
unless the lower needs, called deficiency needs by Biehler and
Snowman, are met. In the educational setting, students will be led to
seek satisfaction and self-actualization if their basic needs for safety,
relaxation, belongingness, a clean and orderly environment are
addressed and met. Teachers, therefore, are in a key position to satisfy
these basic needs.

Biehler and Snowman (1993) pointed out that Maslow described

cognitive needs and aesthetic needs which play a critical role in the
satisfaction of basic needs. They said that Maslow maintained that
such conditions as the freedom to investigate and learn, fairness,
honesty, and orderliness in interpersonal relationships are critical
because their absence makes satisfaction of the five basic needs
impossible (p. 517).

The limitation of Maslow’s theory is that teachers may not know which
of a student’s needs is not satisfied; or even if they know, they might
not be able to fill that need. However, teachers can always enhance
students’ self-esteem by creating classroom conditions that will
increase students’ achievement.
Achievement Motivation Theory
The Achievement Motivation Theory rests on the belief that most
persons want to achieve and experience levels of aspiration. The level
of aspiration concept, stresses that people tend to want to succeed at
the highest possible level while at the same time avoiding the
possibility of failure (p. 534). The need for achievement is increased
when persons experience success. If students experience success their
need for achievement will thus be strengthened. However,
psychologists have observed that some females in some situations
may fear success if it interferes with relationships. Contributors to
Achievement Motivation Theory are John W. Atkinson and David
McClelland.

Psychologists have developed the Attribution Theory to explain the

factors to which students attribute failure. Low achievers tend to
attribute failure to a lack of ability, and success to luck. High
achievers, on the other hand, tend to attribute failure to a lack of
effort, and success to effort and ability. Bernard Weiner has been cited
in the Journal of Educational Psychology (1990) as one of the major
contributors of cognitions which include causal attribution, self-
efficacy, and learned helplessness.

Biehler and Snowman (1993) mentioned two limitations of the

Achievement and Attribution theories: (1) aspirations, need for
achievement, fear of success, and reactions to success and failure are
often difficult to observe or analyse; (2) and lack of consistency in
these behaviors (p. 522).

Review and Critique of Experimental Findings

A review of the available experimental findings between 1990 and
1998 revealed that research conducted focused mainly on aspects of
Achievement and Attribution Theories.

Researchers such as Sandra Graham and P. Barker (1990), Dale H.

Schunk (1990) conducted studies on aspects of attribution theory and
motivation and efficacy. Patricia Pokay and Phyllis C. Blumenfield
(1990); Thomas J. Berndt, Ann E. Laychak, and Keunho Park (1990);
Kathryn R. Wentzel (1997); Allison M. Ryan and Paul R. Pintrich
(1997); and Eric M. Anderman, Tripp Griesinger, and Gloria
Westerfield (1998) conducted studies on aspects of Achievement
Theory. The writer has identified several theoretical constructs from
these experimental findings.

Attribution Theory
Four theoretical constructs were identified from experimental findings
on aspects of Attribution Theory:

1. Teachers should refrain from providing unsolicited help during

performance of easy tasks because low achievers perceive this
behavior as a cue to their low ability. This in turn lessens their effort
in performing a task.

2. Students’ initial sense of efficacy (individuals’ beliefs in their

capabilities to exert control over aspect of their lives) for performing
well can motivate them to act in ways that enhance performance.

3. Students involved in self-regulated learning (students’

metacognitive strategies for planning, monitoring, and modifying their
cognition; student’s management and control of their effort on
classroom academic tasks) is closely tied to students’ efficacy beliefs
about their capability to perform classroom tasks and their beliefs that
these classrooms tasks are interesting and worth learning.

4. Students’ prior academic self-concept influence to a great extent

their subsequent academic achievement.

Achievement Theory
The following theoretical constructs were abstracted from
experimental findings on aspects of Achievement Theory:

1. Students are motivated to learn and achieve when they perceive

that their teachers care about them. Teachers who care were
described as demonstrating democratic interaction styles, developing
expectations for student behavior in light of individual differences,
modeling a "caring" attitude toward their own work, and providing
constructive feedback.

2. Students do not seek help (a) if they perceive that their self-worth is
threatened, (b) if their cognitive competence is low, (c) and if they
perceive little benefit in seeking help.
3. Students who are highly motivated and make use of learning
strategies are most likely to achieve. Different strategies may be more
or less important depending on how new the material is to the
student. If this is the case, teachers should emphasize domain-specific
strategies when introducing a new unit to emphasize strategies that
are less domain-specific later in the year, when the information is no
longer new.

4. Students are most likely to cheat (a) if their schools focus on

performance and ability as opposed to mastery, (b) if cheating is
congruent with their personal beliefs, (c) if their teachers emphasize
extrinsic factors, (d) and if there is anxiety and worry associated with
schooling.

The critique given here is in relation to what the writer has observed
in her classroom. In her school where emphasis is on performance,
students cheat routinely. This behavior may also be related to their
serious deficiencies in literacy and numeracy skills. Most students
who come to the school have seldom experienced success. This lack of
prior success affects their subsequent academic achievement, and it
gives them a sense of helplessness which is difficult to overcome. In
other words, students’ self-efficacy is almost non-existent. Very few
students engage in self-regulated learning because they have not been
exposed to learning strategies and techniques.

The writer has observed that students in her class with higher ability
than others resented being helped when performing a task. This
contradicts the result of the experimental study that suggested that
students with low ability resented being helped.

In general these experimental findings are helpful and can be used in

a multi-ability classroom, and they will help the writer improve her
teaching techniques.

Implications for Teaching

Before considering implications for teaching a subject, it is necessary
to identify the students who will be taught, and the educational
setting in which they will be taught. The students involved in this
study are adolescent and post-adolescent females, mostly high school
drop outs from low socio-economic backgrounds. Many of them come
from single-parent families, and a number of them are unwed
mothers.

The school is a post-secondary vocational and technical institution

which offers a competency-based curriculum. The emphasis,
therefore, is on the acquisition of job-related skills and on mastery. In
this study, students from the Office Technology program will be taught
Clerical Procedures. In this context, the term "training" will be
substituted for the term "learning."

Students taking the Clerical Procedures course need to:

1. Understand and value the training goals.

2. Understand the training process.
3. Be actively involved in the training process and the acquisition of
marketable skills.
4. Take responsibility for their own training.
5. Experience success.
6. Receive realistic and immediate feedback that enhances self-
efficacy and mastery.
7. Receive appropriate rewards for performance and mastery gains.
8. Experience a safe and well-organized environment that patterns
the work environment.
9. Have adequate time to practice and master skills.
10. Receive instruction matched to their learning style.
11. Be involved in self-evaluating one’s training and effort.

In an effort to meet these needs, the writer is proposing the following

strategies. The most important undertaking will be to arouse students’
interest in the training process. The teacher will do this by questioning
students about their personal vocational goals, and using examples of
coping models will relate the economic, social, and personal benefits
to be derived from having marketable job-related skills.

Since peer relationships are an important source of support,

companionship, and social development for this age group, the teacher
will implement cooperative learning as an effective method for meeting
students’ varied learning styles and for involving them actively in the
training process. Cooperative learning lends itself naturally to a
Clerical Procedures course in which students transfer their knowledge
through the use of case studies, simulations, and hands-on
experiences. However, the teacher will introduce the concept of
individual accountability to ensure that all students do their share of
work in a group. She will use also the peer tutoring and mastery
approach to learning, and will provide adequate supervision.

These students are no longer children, therefore, the teacher will

adapt her approach to match their level of development. She will do so
by increasing their locust of control in various ways:

1. allowing them to take responsibility for their own training

by following as much as possible their own interests and
setting goals,
2. providing opportunities to make choices,
3. engaging them in the process of self-evaluation, while
maintaining a certain amount of control and setting some
limits because of their dysfunctional background.

Since students have seldom experienced prior success, the teacher

will establish essential preconditions by (1) providing a very supportive
environment, (2) diagnosing what students already know before giving
a task or teaching a new skill, (3) choosing realistic and meaningful
training objectives and stipulating performance criteria, (4) assigning
sufficient time to practice a skill, (5) stressing overlearning, (5)
breaking down tasks into manageable units, (6) assigning tasks with
appropriate level of challenge difficulty, (7) giving frequent expert
feedback to encourage mastery.

To develop students’ self-efficacy and reduce helplessness, the teacher

will enhance students’ motivation by creating and maintaining
success expectations. She will ask students to write a contract which
will include (1) what job-related skills the students plan to learn, (2)
what activities they will engage in to develop these skills, (3) the
degree of proficiency they will reach, and (4) how they will demonstrate
that mastery has occurred. Most importantly, she will teach learning
and training strategies and techniques that will enhance their
performance.

Most students possess eighth-graders language skills, therefore, the

teacher will implement an individualized program to improve their
language skills. She will utilize computer-assisted instruction software
to help such students, since evidence exists that low achievers tend to
benefit from such an approach. Also, she will utilize the integration
approach by embedding and reinforcing language and basic maths
skills in the Clerical Procedures course.

The writer hopes that these few strategies will meet students’ needs
and will create the conditions to enhance their motivation to achieve.