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Kristin Bylund Thurnher University of New England March 18, 2012 Motivation to Learn

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When we examine theories from cognitive psychology and apply them to education we can understand learning motivation. By considering the theories of Self Determination, Attribution, Goal Orientation, Social Cognition, and Expectancy-Value we can understand how to successfully motivate our students to learn. The Expectancy Value Theory states that an individuals motivation is directly connected to whether or not they think they are going to succeed at the task and the value that the task has for them. Therefore students are more likely to engage in activities that they believe they will succeed in and they consider valuable to them. This is one of the most influential motivation theories. Individuals have four different reasons for valuing a task: the attainment value or how important it is for the students self concept to do the task well, the intrinsic value, or the students inherent interest in the task, the utility value, or if the task will be useful or helpful in the future, and the cost value or if engaging in the task is worth their time and effort. Students who value academic subjects for any of the task values are more likely to be later engaged in similar tasks in the future and thus lead to better opportunities for the students future. Therefore by understanding and creating positive task values in the classroom by implementing tasks which are interesting, engaging, useful, and considered important to students, teachers can increase motivation for students long term involvement in the subject. It is important for teachers to add fuel to the student interest fire and to engage students in a variety of tasks that bring out situational interest which improves motivations and comprehension. Although students may not be interested in a particular subject, teachers can bring out situational interest by offering their students choices, using a variety of interesting texts for different levels, and encouraging students to be active in their learning by thinking

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deeply and creatively, and focusing on important aspects of the task to understand the overall purpose. The Goal Orientation Theory identifies the reasons behind why a student is involved in the academic task. They answer the question to why a student is involved in a task. Students have either mastery or performance goals. A student who is involved in a task for the goal of mastery is engaged to actually master the given material. In this case a student exerts more effort and notes their progress. A student whose goal is related to performance goals, participates in the task only to show their ability of performing the task. In this case a student is only concerned with how their performance relates to other students and how they are being evaluated against their peers. Mastery goals are most beneficial because they students work more persistently with increased effort than compared against performance goals where students use ineffective cognitive and self regulating strategies. When teachers focus on student effort and improvement, students focus more on mastery goals. The Theory of Self Determination states that people are motivated to engage in activities that help them meet their basic needs such as the need for autonomy which gives a sense of self control and direction, the need for competence which gives them a sense that they are capable, and the need for relatedness which gives them a feeling of connectedness to a larger social network. The theory examines students who are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated as well as students who are amotivated or students who are neither intrinsically nor extrinsically motivated, and have a low level of confidence in their abilities and a low value for educational tasks. It finds that students are motivated to learn when they are self determined, intrinsically motivated, and believe that they have options and choices and their actions reflect their selfconcepts.

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Teachers who work to build student self determination can positively influence students intrinsic motivation and self perception of competence. Teachers have the power to bring out intrinsic motivation by giving students a sense of control and choice over their tasks and learning progress. To respect and maintain this intrinsic motivation to learn, it is important to give students recognition for their achievement after a task is complete rather than offering a controlling and expected reward which stresses performance goals rather than mastery goals. The Attribution Theory relates to how people reason why things happen to them. It is how we answer the question to why things happen to us in our lives which affects our motivation. When a student fails a test they ask themselves why he or she failed the test. The student can either feel ashamed and incompetent and not want to continue to learn about the subject or they can believe they did not study enough and try harder on the next test. The students perception of the stability, locus, and control over the occurrence has a major impact on their motivation. Does the student feel the outcome occurs constantly for the same event over time (stability)? Does the cause of the event come from internal or external sources (locus)? Does the individual believe that they can control the event (control)? By promoting a positive learning environment where results are never made public, prompt and explanatory feedback is given, and attainable goals are organized for students, teachers can sway students away from having negative attributes to situations and thus ensure student motivation. The Social Cognitive Theory considers a few theories. One is that motivation is based on the influence of an individuals personal attributes, environmental characteristics, and behaviors. Another is that people learn and practice new behavior that they have see in others particularly if the person observed is perceived as similar to the observer. Third, is the theory of self-efficacy, or the individuals belief that he or she has the aptitude to perform the task. A student with a

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high self-efficacy believes that they can successfully complete a task while a student with low self-efficacy believes that they cannot. Therefore it is important for teachers to help all students maintain their confidence in their ability to learn and be successful. To do this teachers should create a multidimensional classroom environment offering students a choice of a range of engaging and interesting tasks and activities to apply to different learning styles to allow students to express their understanding of knowledge in different ways in a non-comparing and performance oriented setting. By creating this type of environment, teachers ensure to give students a sense of autonomy in a positive learning environment to develop to develop a good self concept. By taking into consideration these theories teachers can sway how students view different aspects of the learning process and maintain their motivation thus ensuring knowledge mastery.

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References: Anderman & Anderman. (2010). Classroom Motivation. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education.

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Dear Parents I am excited to be working with your child this year and I hope to help them discover an intrinsic desire to learn. Although not all students are inherently interested in the subjects that I teach, I intend to utilize some behavioral psychology theories to help develop a natural joy for learning. After all when a student is interested in a topic they are more likely to retain long term understanding of the material which ensures their success in the future. I am going to implement the following theories: 1. The Expectancy Value Theory: Students will find value in academic subjects because I offer a variety of tasks that are considered interesting, engaging, and useful to students. Although I know not all students value certain topics, by using a variety of different activities I plan on creating situational interest in the topic. Therefore if the student is not interested in the topic but is interested in the task they will become interested in the topic through their interest in the task. This creates an innate motivation to learn and students who find value in the task are more likely to be involved with similar task in the future. 2. The Goal Orientation Theory: My classroom is a positive learning environment that focuses on student effort, improvement, and mastering a skill rather than how a student performs on a test in comparison to their peers. By stressing the value of improvement and mastery rather than performance students truly learn and retain main ideas and concepts rather than memorizing them for the test and forgetting them. 3. Self Determination Theory: Students are provided with choices and a sense of control over their learning which helps develop a sense of self determination and thus intrinsic motivation. By giving students a sense of autonomy by providing them options to express their learn knowledge in a variety of methods, they become inherently motivated to learn. I will keep you posted on the implementation of these theories as the year progresses.

Sincerely,

Kristin Thurnher