7407_Moivation

Discuss some of the psychological factors you would bear in mind if you were attempting to improve your students’ motivation. There are a number of factors within individual learners that influence their own ability to learn. Satisfactory learning is unlikely to take place if there is insufficient motivation to learn. Motivation can be divided into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic is where it comes from within the individual, and extrinsic which, comes from what the individual has imposed on him/her by the environment. The presence of motivation is considered by most teachers to be essential to effective communication and learning. Motivation arouses, sustains, and energises students. It also helps in the direction of tasks. Tutors of further education are aware of the relative ease of teaching highly motivated students, and of the frustrations and difficulties arising from lessons with students who, for example see no link between their aspirations and the content of a cirriculum. The former usually exhibits behaviour which is calculated to assist the process of communication, the latter may display a resistance which makes effective communication difficult or impossible. Teaching in Further Education 3rd Edition L.B. Curzon In younger children it is extremely important that achievement motivation is used, such motivation can consist of marks or grades, school reports, tests, and, most important teacher approval. In older students achievement motivation is just as important. The teacher has the task of creating a learning environment which relates the learners ability to his needs. The teacher must take into account an individual learner’s motivation and goals, and what the expected outcome of the course is. However, the teacher should not make goals or aims too hard or too easy to attain. If too hard to attain then the student can feel de-motivated and then the teacher will have failed. If too easy to attain then students can get bored and fed-up as the challenge is not great enough, and stimulation lost. Short-term goals are best set instead of long-term goals, this way students' can see achievement sooner and motivation will be kept high. Tasks should be set to the student’s level of abilities, lesson material and communication should be meaningful and should arouse intellectual curiosity and should involve students actively and personally taking part in their learning. The intensity of our interest in activity, as well as the amount of effort that we expand on it depends on our feeling of personal involvement in that activity. Kolesnik 1978 The level of communication during a lesson should be pitched carefully by the teacher, so that the students remain motivated. The planning of a lesson is extremely important, variety and different learning activities are important, fatigue can set in any lesson which, accompanies boredom and will lead to motivation loss by the student. Curiosity should be maintained by the teacher at all times by keeping in control of classroom management. If tests are used, evaluation should be conveyed to students as quickly as possible so that students' can see what they have achieved, this will keep motivation running high. Competence should be recognised and reinforced by praise by the teacher. If a student does fail in a test or paper then this should be seen as an occasion to take a step back and look at where the student is going wrong. It must not be seen as a failure, as this will demote the student and all motivation gained will be lost. The teacher should look at what the student is good at; encouragement by teacher or other peers will keep the student highly motivated. Showing expectancy and faith in a student can be a powerful incentive. If the teacher shows the class or an individual that he/she believes in their ability then any change is more likely to occur. In studies it has been demonstrated that pupils with high self esteem will perform better at a consistent level than pupils of the same ability with low self-esteem. Pupils with a high self esteem, seems to be due to in large measure to parental attention, encouragement, things which make a child feel part of a valued and responsible member of a family. Anxiety can also play a large part in motivation; the learner’s level of anxiety can be a useful aid to learning. However, too much can have an inhibiting effect and interfere with it. The degree of anxiety varies from pupil to pupil from task to task, the more difficult the task then the more anxiety. One of the largest fears of anxiety is the fear of failure. Pupils find success to be rewarding, be at by the teacher or parents, and they build up expectations which they have to work ever more harder to fulfil. Overall, motivation consists of internal processes which spur us on, variety, encouragement, belief, will help to build security, esteem and the ability to carry on. At the end of the process will come confidence, self-control, and self-actualisation.