Motivation

Affective factors (long-term emotional states and disposition) such as motivation can have a significant impact on learning. These factors not only affect how well one can concentrate, process information, and retain information, but can also lead students to use effective or ineffective study habits. Psychologists often describe students’ motivation in terms of dimensions like these:

• intrinsic (or internal) cf. extrinsic (or external) motivation
• learning cf. performance motivation

Many psychologists focus on the intrinsic / extrinsic distinction today, while some educational psychologists used the classic learning / performance motivation distinction. These two actually overlap with and correlate with each other rather well, and in this article, we'll focus on the intrinsic / extrinsic categories.

+ Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation

Intrinsic (internal)	Self-motivated, motivated by personal or intellectual interest
Extrinsic (external, pragmatic)	Motivated by external factors, e.g., reward-driven (grades, test scores, admission to a good school or program, job placement, financial rewards...)

The intrinsic and learning orientations often correlate with each other; and likewise, the extrinsic with the performance orientation.

+ Learning vs. performance motivation

! Learning

Motivated by desire to learn, gain understanding, and gain mastery of contents

Performance

Motivated by desire for positive evaluations (e.g., scores, grades), and avoiding negative evaluations / bad grades 1 Basic types of motivation There are healthy and unhealthy forms of motivation, and psychologists typically distinguish between intrinsic (internally driven) and extrinsic (externally driven) types of motivation. The following distinctions can apply to students of all ages, workers, or anyone undertaking any kind of activity. 1.1 Intrinsic motivation This is internal motivation, where the student has an intrinsic interest in and motivation for what s/he is studying or doing. That is, the student is internally motivated by his/her own personal goals or desires. Such motivation leads to the most successful learning; such students typically use more effective learning strategies and study habits, focus on deeper understanding of conceptual knowledge, and thus, they tend to be more successful. This can include the following subtypes (and these can overlap with each other). Personal. The student takes a personal interest or pleasure in the subject. Intellectual. The student derives intellectual satisfaction from the subject, and has a strong intellectual interest in the field. Social. In learning a foreign language, the student has a desire to integrate socially and culturally into a different culture, have friendships in the second language, and to some degree identify with the culture and its people, and develop a second language and bicultural identity. In learning a language, this kind of motivation is a particularly strong intrinsic motivation, which can lead to the most successful language learning. Intrinsic motivation involves successfully meeting the basic psychological needs, according to versions of motivational theory such as Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Autonomy: Learning out of a sense of personal choice and desire, and thus, learning something because one wants to do so. Growth: Successful learning leads to a sense of personal / intellectual growth, achievement, or even mastery of the material, which in turn feeds the student's sense of self-esteem. Connectedness: Learning in some way contributes to a sense of social connection, e.g., in studying and forming friendships with fellow students, or due to the potential for social connection, e.g., by learning a language to later become a part of a linguistic community. For some learners, this need may be less important. These are described in more detail below. 1.2 Extrinsic motivation Extrinsically motivated students are not motivated by an intrinsic interest or desire for what they study, but by external factors and pressures. Such students are motivated by goals such as getting good grades, good test scores, getting into a good school, or getting a good job. Such students typically rely on less efficient study and learning methods, such as simply memorizing material for exams, rather than seeking a deeper understanding of conceptual knowledge. There are several types of extrinsic motivation below. The utility and internal obligation seem somewhat like intrinsic motivation, and can lead a person to be more productive, but the person’s heart and desire are not fully committed; they are internalized, but not fully internal (i.e., not a part of the person’s deeper desires or will). • utility motivation: the person finds or views something to be personally important or useful • internal obligation motivation: the person feels like “I need to do it” or “I have to do it” - the person has internalized and feels a sense of need or obligation. • external obligation motivation: the person does something due to demands imposed by others or by the situation • performance motivation: the person wants to perform well, and at some level, this is a need to be seen by others as performing well – they seek affirmation or approval from others; thus, the focus is on external performance, not real learning or growth • rewards motivation: the person is expecting a reward for successful accomplishment, such as money, recognition, or good grades • punishment avoidance motivation: the person wants to avoid threats, pressures, or punishment for poor performance – this can be the most demotivating of all 1.3 Other types There exist a couple of other types that have been researched much less. There are those who have lost their motivation, who have been discouraged or have given up hope of success; this state is called amotivated or demotivated. Demotivated / amotivated * Discouraged, depressed, and/or burned out Learned helplessness May blame others or distrust teachers Sense a lack of control Yet another category , especially for college students, might be a “stop gap” or temporary motivation. This describes students who have not yet found their motivation or goals; they may have entered college not knowing what they want to study or why they want to study, and/or have not yet found any career or life goals. They operate under a sort of temporary, short-term motivation, which may look like the extrinsic and/or demotivated types, until they decide on their goals and gravitate toward a more coherent type of motivation. 2 Basic psychological needs Motivation is based on certain core psychological needs that all people have. Intrinsic motivation is based on and leads to fulfillment of these needs, while extrinsic motivation entails a lack of fulfillment of such needs. These innate psychological needs form the basis for self-motivation and personal development, which must be satisfied to develop well-being and health. These are universal to all humans, though some may be more salient than others at certain times and will be expressed differently based on time, culture or experience. These needs are universal necessities that are innate, not learned, and seen in humanity across time, gender and culture. These needs are competence, relatedness or social connectedness, and autonomy. Competence (or growth, self-development). People seek to grow, develop themselves, and experience mastery of what they are learning. Relatedness (social connectedness). People want to interact, be connected to, and form relationships with others, and they want to care for others and experience caring from others. In learning or other endeavors, people are more satisfied if the process or the end result involves or leads to deeper social connectedness. Autonomy (free will, personal desire). People want to have a sense of control over their lives, their happiness, their learning, and their activities. They want to the the agents of their own lives. Thus, they want to do things that they really desire to do, not what they have to do. Learning because they have to goes against their free will and sense of control. However, this does not mean being independent of others, since social relatedness is another component of motivation. Autonomy A number of studies have found that offering people extrinsic rewards for something that they enjoy (intrinsically motivated behavior) undermines the intrinsic motivation as they grow less interested in it. Initially intrinsically motivated behavior becomes controlled by external rewards, which undermines their autonomy. Other external factors like deadlines, which restrict and control, also decrease intrinsic motivation. Situations that give autonomy as opposed to taking it away also have a similar link to motivation. Studies have found that increasing a participant’s options and choices increases their intrinsic motivation for such activities. Competence Giving people unexpected positive feedback on a task increases people’s intrinsic motivation to do so, since the positive feedback fulfills people’s needs for competence. In fact, giving positive feedback on a task served only to increase people’s intrinsic motivation and decreased extrinsic motivation for the task. Negative feedback has the opposite effect (i.e., decreasing intrinsic motivation by taking away from people’s need for competence). Relatedness The need for relatedness supports intrinsic motivation as well, though for some people or some situations the social component may not be as strong. 2.1 Related personality and psychological traits Motivation is related and correlated with the following traits. Self-concept, including self-esteem Ideal & future self (the kind of person you want to be in the future, or think you should be) Self-efficacy: One's sense of effectiveness as a learner (from experience & mastery of content; modeling – vicarious experience; social persuasion – encouragement from teachers) Emotional intelligence: Self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, social skills; includes the ability to delay self-gratification to pursue goals, and awareness of ones’ motivation Language & cultural identity; this is particularly relevant to dealing with English as a second language (ESL or L2). 3 Study habits and learning styles Intrinsic or learning oriented motivations are associated with better study and learning habits. Extrinsic or performance based motivations correlate with weaker study habits. Consider which categories you tend toward in your different courses or endeavors. Your motivation may be different in different subjects or courses, as well as in regard to using English. 4 Suggestions for cultivating motivation 1. sense of competence (or growth) • provide encouragement, praise • provide specific, helpful feedback 2. sense of autonomy • build / spark curiosity • nurture any existing motivation • use informational language, not controlling language • communicate rationale for learning, activities, rules, etc. • if possible, provide options, choices 3. sense of connectedness • acknowledge and accept their negative emotions • positive interaction • positive feedback • be warm, friendly, affirming, positive (parents: unconditional love) • make learning enjoyable • teach your kids at home instead of sending them to hagwons