MOTIVATION Motivation tends to be lowest in environments that

are perceived as unwelcoming and untrustworthy.

Motivation plays a significant role in student When students have a strong sense of membership
learning. Students with high motivation levels tend to of the class and school, they are more likely to adopt
have the best learning outcomes. the values endorsed by the school. Students from
negatively stereotyped groups are most sensitive to
Motivation is particularly useful in encouraging cues of belonging and trustworthiness.
persistence in applying effort to a learning task and
trying new approaches. Although motivation is highly Teachers are authority figures who can set the tone
influenced by student characteristics and tends to for relations in the classroom, and make students
vary across different learning areas, the classroom feel they are valued group members. Provide plenty
context also plays an important role in influencing of opportunities for positive interactions with and
student motivation. among students. Try to create a sense of
belonging while also valuing students’ social and
There are many strategies that teachers can use to cultural identities. Activities that engender a shared
promote and support their students’ motivation. As sense of purpose will motivate students and
many theorists define Motivation as arising from a enhance their sense of belonging.
need to satisfy psychological desires for autonomy,
competence and connection or belonging, the 3. Enhance Task Interest and Engagement
following motivational strategies focus on meeting In classrooms characterized by positive attitudes
those needs. and emotions, and high levels of interest in the
tasks undertaken, students report greater motivation
1. Build Strong Relationships and perceptions of competence. Students who
Positive relationships with teachers are engage with activities and tasks relating to their
significantly related to positive motivation and to interests find learning easier, more enjoyable and
greater achievement. more related to their lives, and they perform better
than those without personalized content.
Motivation is affected by the level of emotional
and social support students perceive. Students who Linking content to existing interests of the students
believe their teachers are not interested in their also helps students to connect their prior knowledge
learning report more negative motivation and to academic learning. Interest can be fostered
experience lower achievement. through well-chosen texts and resources, as well
as activities that engender students’
Research has demonstrated that relationships with curiosity through provocative questioning or
teachers are particularly important for students. generating suspense. Interest is further enhanced by
Teachers need to show support and concern for all providing a choice of activities and using hands-on
students and be interested in their ideas and activities connected to the learning content, although
experiences, as well as what they produce in class. be wary of adding irrelevant or decorative details to
a task in ways that detract from learning outcomes.
Try to ensure you communicate a sense of caring for
how each individual student is doing. Students themselves might be able to adapt
Showing sensitivity and kindness to students academic problems to a context within their areas of
enhances the affective climate of the classroom, interest if invited, although task interest is not simply
whereas threats, sarcasm, directives and imposed a matter of allowing students to engage in work that
goals result in negative affective experiences for aligns with their existing interests.
students.
Promoting a positive affective climate in the
2. Promote Students’ Sense of Membership classroom can help improve students’ attitudes
of the classroom and the school. towards the subject being taught, and strategies
Students’ motivation is strongest when they such as humor can enhance their enjoyment of the
believe they are socially accepted by teachers and topic. The teacher’s enthusiasm for the subject or
peers and their school environment is fair, task can also help to engender students’ interest.
trustworthy and centered on concern for everyone’s
welfare.
 4. Emphasize the Relevance and mathematics as useful for eventually owning a
Importance of the Learning business, another may view mathematics as handy
Research finds that when teachers emphasize for calculating cricket batting averages, and another
the importance of learning a particular strategy or may simply enjoy math’s for its own sake.
piece of content, student motivation increases.
Students perceive more challenging classes as It is important that students feel that learning
more important, although it is necessary to find the activities are congruent with their personal identities,
optimal level of challenge: when challenge is too low as this makes them more motivated to persist with
or too high, students attribute low importance to the difficulty. If learning activities are at odds with
learning task. students’ personal identities (‘This activity is not for
people like me’), then difficulty is taken as proof that
Elaborating on and clarifying students’ the activity is pointless and unachievable.
responses and summarizing learning regularly
throughout the lesson send the message that the Knowing your students well means you can
learning is important. In addition, discussing the new promote interest in an academic topic by linking it to
knowledge students have developed through the the students’ recreational activities or career goals.
application of particular strategies encourages Otherwise, you can ask students to reflect on a
students to perceive those strategies as valuable. In curriculum unit and generate their own connections
contrast, emphasizing speed, coverage of content or so that they discover the importance and usefulness
accuracy over understanding, and failing to probe for themselves – this is also an opportunity to learn
students’ answers for explanation and justification, more about your students.
reduces the level of challenge and also implies that
student performance, rather than learning, is most Not all activities and lessons can be inherently
important. interesting to students, in which case it is important
to ensure you offer a rationale for why the activity or
Ways to communicate the importance and lesson is useful to the student and worth the effort.
relevance of a topic to students include:
increasing challenge Teachers can influence students to see their
 providing opportunities for students to grapple future adult self as dependent on
with the central tenets and abstract achievement. Posters and images of possible
principles of a topic careers might provide ongoing reminders so that
 inviting students to personalize a topic by students’ desired goals remain in mind. It is also
putting themselves into the context of a topic important that parents value school and subject
 discussing universal human experiences that areas. Some research shows that providing
relate to a topic information about the importance of a subject to
 inviting students to explore the relevance and parents leads to increases in student motivation and
importance of their current learning by achievement within that subject.
investigating how particular academic
concepts are used in their communities 6. Give Students Autonomy and
Responsibility
5. Connect with Students’ Goals, Values and
Identities Motivation is impaired when students feel they
When students see learning tasks as useful and have no control over a situation. Giving students
relevant to their goals, they develop more interest, choices and empowering student initiative enhances
persist longer and perform better. Students who see motivation, effort, interest, positive emotions and
their future adult self as being dependent on their perceptions of personal control and competence, as
educational achievement spend more time on well as achievement. Most students perform better
homework and have better grades. Students might on self-adapted tests in which they can select test
have between one and five core goals for their self- items from various options. Providing choices can
development and future plans. It is helpful if school also increase risk taking and help students develop
goal setting can tap into and co-ordinate with these interest for particular activities. However, for
goals. Students may value a learning area as students from some cultural groups, motivation
important for their self-worth and identity, or they might be highest when authority figures or peers
might value an area for its usefulness in make choices for them.
accomplishing future goals relevant to their career or
life plans. For example, one student may perceive
 It is important to carefully plan how to make
choices available to students, basing them on your One way to inspire increased motivation is to
students’ ability to understand and make choices. increase student’s expectations of success and their
Some students may need scaffolding to help them sense of self-efficacy. Tell students you believe in
make appropriate choices. Choices must be them and that they will learn a particular content or
appropriate for students’ abilities and needs, and be strategy if they study hard and are motivated.
a good match with student interests (although be
wary of trying to align all learning activities with Ways to ensure students experience success
students’ current interests at the risk of include:
compromising the quality of the learning or missing  ensuring optimal challenge
the opportunity to create interest and build  focusing on personal improvement rather
knowledge in a new subject area). It might be that than outperforming others
students get to choose from a list of topic-related  providing feedback which helps
activities provided by the teacher, or that they select students master content
their own tasks to work on. They might also be  helping students set realistic goals
involved in setting due dates, choosing student  structuring activities with clear processes for
working groups, and the order of task completion. engagement with the task
Being able to choose how to apportion their time, as  reinforcing key learning throughout the
well as among several different versions of a task, lesson, which increases self-efficacy as
might be most motivational for students with skills in students are clear that they are making
self-regulation. However, it is important that all progress
students, not just the highest-performing students,  giving frequent, positive feedback focused
get to choose activities and resources. on elaborating what students have learned
and understood
Some choices are more effective than others. The  attributing success to effort and strategies
best type of choices: rather than ability
 allow students to reflect their personal
interests, values and goals 8. Set Appropriate Goals and Provide
 are unrestricted choices, with no indication of Regular Feedback for Learning
which option to choose, rather than Goals can motivate students by providing a purpose
controlled choices for using different learning strategies and encourage
 offer choice between 2–4 options: more than students’ persistence and effort over time, especially
5 options increases thinking effort and when goals are related to mastery of content and
therefore decreases motivation, and less strategies rather than to specific performance. What
than 2 options undermine the perception of is more, when students perceive praise or feedback
choice as intended to facilitate their task mastery, they tend
 allow students to repeatedly return to a list of to feel their autonomy has been supported and are
options to make another choice rather than consequently motivated by the feedback. However,
making single or multiple choices at one time when students feel that the teacher is trying to
only control their learning and behavior, there is a
negative impact on motivation.
7. Develop Students’ Self-Efficacy
Students have important needs in relation to Goals direct attention and action, and they also
feeling competent. Motivation is strongly influenced mobilize effort and motivation. For example,
by students’ perceived expectations of success or research has found that when students were given
failure, which are in turn influenced by teacher goals for reading focused on conceptual themes and
expectations. Motivation, self-efficacy and knowledge content, they applied reading
achievement are positively affected when outcomes comprehension strategies with greater interest,
are represented as the result of student effort and effort and attention. Harder goals (that are
action. Optimal learning experiences occur when the acceptable to, and achievable by, the student) lead
student perceives the challenge of the task as equal to higher levels of motivation and performance.
to his or her skills to achieve it. When challenge and Difficulty can be interpreted as a need to increase
skills are unbalanced, learning activities are not attention and therefore heightens motivation.
rewarding and perhaps even evoke anxiety. The Perceiving a task as too easy makes it seem not
highest levels of motivation occur when there is both worth any effort, and motivation is consequently
high challenge and high feelings of self-efficacy. reduced. Likewise, perceiving a task as impossible
halts motivation and effort abruptly. Between these
extremes, increased difficulty enhances motivation. Emphasize the importance of motivation for success
in learning. Talk regularly about how students must
Set goals with students that are clear, measurable work hard and how effort helps them to get smarter
and provide a structured progression through by linking effort to outcomes. Ensure that you and
incremental goals to the final goal. Plan points at your students have the same perception of effort:
which to stop and measure progress towards the discuss what it means to try.
goal. Provide feedback that indicates to students
how they are progressing towards the goal and Help students differentiate between productive and
perhaps offers suggestions to foster achievement of non-productive effort by explaining that effort is more
the goal. than the time spent on a task but also means using
effective strategies, practicing and seeking help.
Feedback is most motivating when it: Take the mystery out of learning something new by
 allows and empowers students’ choice in demonstrating that it is all about strategy and
subsequent learning strategies motivation.
 reflects a belief in the students’ capability to
learn/complete a task
 is positive, frequent and elaborative References:
 is used to help students develop Oyserman, D. (2014). Identity-based motivation: Core
understanding process and intervention examples. Motivational
 is linked to clearly articulated high standards Interventions, 18, 213-242. doi: 10.1108/S0749-
742320140000018006
9. Provide Opportunities for Co-Operative Patall, E. A., Cooper, H., Robinson, J. C. (2008). The
Learning effects of choice on intrinsic motivation and related
Meeting students’ need for connection with others outcomes: A meta-analysis of research
can enhance motivation for the related learning findings. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 270-300.
activity. Students show increased motivation when
teachers provide frequent opportunities for them to Schweinle, A., Meyer, D. K., & Turner, J. C. (2006).
share their questions and what they have learned Striking the right balance: Students’ motivation and affect
with their peers. Students also often demonstrate in elementary mathematics. Journal of Educational
increased work effort when there is a sense Research, 99(5), 271-294. doi: 10.3200/JOER.99.5.271-
294
of collective responsibility for learning. In addition,
research shows students given collaborative Wigfield, A., Mason-Singh, A., Ho, A. N., & Guthrie, J. T.
learning opportunities engage in deeper-level (2014). Intervening to improve children’s reading
processing of information. motivation and comprehension: Concept-oriented reading
instruction. Motivational Interventions, 18, 37-70. doi:
Plan for student-to-student dialogue within a lesson, 10.1108/S0749-742320140000018001
and identify activities that can be undertaken in pairs
or groups. Develop group tasks in which tasks are
divided between students. Ensure each student has
a clear responsibility and accountability in relation to
a group goal.

10. Explicitly Teach the Concept of

Motivation and Talk About How
Motivation Supports Learning
Supporting students’ understanding of motivation
can aid their ability to self-regulate their levels of
motivation and help them to identify strategies and
behaviors that increase or lower their motivation.
Although motivational support strategies should be
embedded into instruction, it can also be worthwhile
to explicitly discuss motivation with students. This
helps students to understand the importance of effort
in learning and how finding ways to get motivated
can help them put in the necessary effort.