Cite this guide: Yarborough, C. B., & Fedesco, H. N. (2020). Motivating students. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [todaysdate] from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu//cft/guides-sub-pages/motivating-students/.
IntroductionFostering student motivation is a difficult but necessary aspect of teaching that instructors must consider. Many may have led classes where students are engaged, motivated, and excited to learn, but have also led classes where students are distracted, disinterested, and reluctant to engage—and, probably, have led classes that are a mix. What factors influence students’ motivation? How can instructors promote students’ engagement and motivation to learn? While there are nuances that change from student to student, there are also models of motivation that serve as tools for thinking through and enhancing motivation in our classrooms. This guide will look at three frameworks: the expectancy-value-cost model of motivation, the ARCS model of instructional design, and self-determination theory. These three models highlight some of the major factors that influence student motivation, often drawing from and demonstrating overlap among their frameworks. The aim of this guide is to explore some of the literature on motivation and offer practical solutions for understanding and enhancing student motivation. Expectancy – Value – Cost ModelThe purpose of the original expectancy-value model was to predict students’ achievement behaviors within an educational context. The model has since been refined to include cost as one of the three major factors that influence student motivation. Below is a description of the three factors, according to the model, that influence motivation.
Three important questions to consider from the student perspective: 1. Expectancy – Can I do the task? 2. Value – Do I want to do the task? • Intrinsic or interest value: the inherent enjoyment that an individual experiences from engaging in the task for its own sake. • Utility value: the usefulness of the task in helping achieve other short term or long-term goals. • Attainment value: the task affirms a valued aspect of an individual’s identity and meets a need that is important to the individual. 3. Cost – Am I free of barriers that prevent me from investing my time, energy, and resources into the activity? It’s important to note that expectancy, value and cost are not shaped only when a student enters your classroom. These have been shaped over time by both individual and contextual factors. Each of your students comes in with an initial response, however there are strategies for encouraging student success, clarifying subject meaning and finding ways to mitigate costs that will increase your students’ motivation. Everyone may not end up at the same level of motivation, but if you can increase each student’s motivation, it will help the overall atmosphere and productivity of the course that you are teaching. Strategies to Enhance Expectancy, Value, and CostHulleman et. al (2016) summarize research-based sources that positively impact students’ expectancy beliefs, perceptions of task value, and perceptions of cost, which might point to useful strategies that instructors can employ. Research-based sources of expectancy-related beliefs
Research-based sources of value
Research-based sources of cost
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ARCS Model of Instructional DesignThe ARCS model of instructional design was created to improve the motivational appeal of instructional materials. The ARCS model is grounded in an expectancy-value framework, which assumes that people are motivated to engage in an activity if it’s perceived to be linked to the satisfaction of personal needs and if there is a positive expectancy for success. The purpose of this model was to fill a gap in the motivation literature by providing a model that could more clearly allow instructors to identify strategies to help improve motivation levels within their students. ARCS is an acronym that stands for four factors, according to the model, that influence student motivation: attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction.
To use the ARCS instructional design model, these steps can be followed:
Strategies to Enhance Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and SatisfactionKeller (1987) provides several suggestions for how instructors can positively impact students’ attention, perceived relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. Attention StrategiesIncongruity, Conflict
Concreteness
Variability
Humor
Inquiry
Participation
Relevance StrategiesExperience
Present Worth
Future Usefulness
Need Matching
Modeling
Choice
Confidence StrategiesLearning Requirements
Difficulty
Expectations
Attributions
Self-Confidence
Satisfaction StrategiesNatural Consequences
Unexpected Rewards
Positive Outcomes
Negative Influences
Scheduling
Source: Keller, J. M. (1987). Development and use of the ARCS model of instructional design. Journal of Instructional Development, 10, 2-10. Self-Determination TheorySelf-determination theory (SDT) is a macro-theory of human motivation, emotion, and development that is concerned with the social conditions that facilitate or hinder human flourishing. While applicable to many domains, the theory has been commonly used to understand what moves students to act and persist in educational settings. SDT focuses on the factors that influence intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, which primarily involves the satisfaction of basic psychological needs. Basic Psychological NeedsSDT posits that human motivation is guided by the need to fulfill basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
Continuum of Self-DeterminationSDT also posits that motivation exists on a continuum. When an environment provides enough support for the satisfaction of the psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness, an individual may experience self-determined forms of motivation: intrinsic motivation, integration, and identification. Self-determined motivation occurs when there is an internal perceived locus of causality (i.e., internal factors are the main driving force for the behavior). Integration and identification are also grouped as autonomous extrinsic motivation as the behavior is driven by internal and volitional choice. Intrinsic motivation, which is the most self-determined type of motivation, occurs when individuals naturally and spontaneously perform behaviors as a result of genuine interest and enjoyment. Integrated regulation is when individuals identify the importance of a behavior, integrate this behavior into their self-concept, and pursue activities that align with this self-concept. Identified regulation is where people identify and recognize the value of a behavior, which then drives their action. When an environment does not provide enough support for the satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, an individual may experience non-self-determined forms of motivation: introjection and external regulation. Introjection and external regulation are grouped as controlled extrinsic motivation because people enact these behaviors due to external or internal pressures. Introjected regulation occurs when individuals are controlled by internalized consequences administered by the individual themselves, such as pride, shame, or guilt. External regulation is when people’s behaviors are controlled exclusively by external factors, such as rewards or punishments. Finally, at the bottom of the continuum is amotivation, which is lowest form of motivation. Amotivation exists when there is a complete lack of intention to behave and there is no sense of achievement or purpose when the behavior is performed. Below is a figure depicting the continuum of self-determination taken from Lonsdale, Hodge, and Rose (2009). Although having intrinsically motivated students would be the ultimate goal, it may not be a practical one within educational settings. That’s because there are several tasks that are required of students to meet particular learning objectives that may not be inherently interesting or enjoyable. Instead, instructors can employ various strategies to satisfy students’ basic psychological needs, which should move their level of motivation along the continuum, and hopefully lead to more self-determined forms of motivation, thus yielding the greatest rewards in terms of student academic outcomes. Below are suggestions for how instructors can positively impact students’ perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Strategies to Enhance Autonomy, Competence, and RelatednessAutonomy Strategies
Competence Strategies
Relatedness Strategies
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Additional Strategies for Motivating StudentsBelow are some additional research-based strategies for motivating students to learn.
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This teaching guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Which of the following are contextual factors in motivation?Contextual factors of motivation include organizational culture, cross-cultural values, physical environment, rewards and reinforcement, group norms, communication technology, leader behavior, and organizational design.
What best describes motivation motivation ______?MotivationThe desire to achieve a goal or a certain performance level, leading to goal-directed behavior. is defined as the desire to achieve a goal or a certain performance level, leading to goal-directed behavior.
What are the needs identified by McClelland as the basis for motivation choose every correct answer?McClelland's Human Motivation Theory states that every person has one of three main driving motivators: the needs for achievement, affiliation, or power.
Which of the following would be characterized as motivating factors by Herzberg's two factor theory?This concept puts forward two factors that motivate employees: job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction.
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