Can Teachers Motivate Students to Learn?

As I have stated before, and can guarantee I will state again, having a prosocial classroom climate is of the utmost importance to teachers who want to be effective.  Before I get into the article I will be discussing today, I wanted to bring up this graphic model I found on another article. It shows the best way to go about developing a prosocial classroom and, as you can see, “Teachers’ Social/Emotional Competence and Well-being,” “Effective Classroom Management,” “Healthy Classroom Climate,” and “Students’ Social, Emotional, and Academic Outcomes” are all centrally important. 

The prosocial classroom: A model of teacher social and emotional competence and classroom and student outcomes.

Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The Prosocial Classroom: Teacher Social and Emotional Competence in Relation to Student and Classroom Outcomes. Review of Educational Research. 79(1), 491-525.

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It is well known that student motivation is integral in their academic success.  Is it the teacher’s job to motivate students to learn? Is that even possible?  “This study aimed to make a contribution to this line of research by examining the relative importance of teachers’ instructional behavior and efficacy beliefs to explain variation in student motivation,” (Thoonen, Sleegers, Peetsma, & Oort, 2011).  Working under the assumption that the way in which teachers create learning environments to suit their students’ specific needs and interests would positively affect different aspects of the motivation of their students, the authors “used psychological theories on motivation and current conceptions of learning and instruction to identify several elements of a supportive learning environment that affect students’ motivation to learn,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).  

Students’ Motivation to Learn

Goal orientation is important to a students’ motivation.  It affects how students experience learning tasks and the meaning given to learning opportunities.  “Students with a mastery goal orientation have learning goals focused on the development of competence or task mastery,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).  These students will view school as a challenge and this is what causes the student to focus on the task at hand.”Mastery orientation is positively related to perceptions of academic efficacy…and leads to an increase in self-regulated learning and higher achievement,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).

Performance avoidance orientation refers to the student avoiding unfavorable judgments on their ability level. “A performance-avoidance orientation is focused on avoiding showing incompetence, and this avoidance orientation is viewed as evoking processes that are antithetical to the intrinsic motivation construct,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).  It has been suggested in research that students with the performance avoidance orientation have reduced opportunities to expand knowledge.

Intrinsic motivation refers to a student doing a task or assignment simply for the enjoyment of doing it.  The will to do the assignment comes from within, not from outside factors.  Extrinsic motivation refers to a student doing a task or assignment because they will get a desirable outcome from it.

Students’ Motivation and Teachers’ Teaching

Research in recent years has shown that an increase in students’ self-regulation has positive effects on their motivation and performance. A model that fosters self-regulated learning is called process-oriented instruction. 

“Process-oriented instruction implies that the external control of the learning process by teachers shift gradually to an internal control over the learning process by students themselves.  Furthermore, teachers using process-oriented instruction focus on knowledge building in the domain (subject-area), pay attention to emotional aspects of learning and treat learning process and results as social phenomena (Bolhuis 2003). Performaing process-oriented instruction facilitates independent learning, supports students to become proficient learners and prepares them for lifelong learning,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).

Cooperative learning also influences student outcomes.  Motivational and learning perspectives form the theoretical basis of cooperative learning.  “Drawing on motivational theories, it is assumed that positive interdependence (cooperation) is based on intrinsic motivation and interaction which encourage and facilitate learners’ efforts,” (Thoonen et al., 2011).  This potentially results in positive relationships, psychological well-being, and high academic achievement.

So can teachers really motivate students to learn?

Simply put, yes and no.  Students already possess determining factors of their motivational levels.  Some students are intrinsically motivated, while others are motivated extrinsically. Some students are motivationally goal oriented while others exhibit performance avoidance characteristics.  There are things that teachers can do, however, to foster students’ motivation such as developing self-regulation and employing cooperative learning techniques.  Motivation levels are not simply due to students’ intrinsic levels, but also rely on the teachers’ techniques.

Thoonen, E. E. J., Sleegers, P. J. C., Peetsma, T. T. D., & Oort, F. J. (2011). Can Teachers Motivate Students to Learn? Educational Studies. 37(3), 345-360.