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In t r in s ic Mot ivat ion amon g

S t uden t s an d T each er s
P aper by
S an dh ya Gat t i
N ovember 8 , 2 0 1 0
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The most important attitude that can be formed is that of the desire to go on
learning.
- John Dewey, 1938

GOAL OF THE PAPER

The aim of this paper is to understand and analyse the nature of Intrinsic
Motivation as a concept. This informal study is conducted to try and
come up with techniques and strategies, if possible, to enhance
motivation levels among students and teachers in schools across the
country.
STEPS TAKEN TO ACHIEVE IT
The writer has conducted an informal survey through a descriptive
questionnaire for teachers (Indus School) in trying to understand
teachers perspective of the concept. The rest of the paper is based on
personal observations, experiences as a teacher and readings on
motivation.
The study is secondary in nature for most part, except for the responses
from teachers on the questionnaire on motivation. The data gathered is
descriptive and not quantitative. It has not been analyzed per se as the
responses were not as many as expected to make generalizations or
specific statements. Some of the responses have been used anecdotally
in appropriate contexts. The writer also wanted to record and document
some face-to-face interviews with students from different age groups to
bring in more authenticity into the study, but could not do so due to
paucity of time. However, this desire still remains and would like to revise
the paper once the student interviews are carried out.
PART I: INTRODUCTION
Importance of This Study
One of the major concerns among schools of all kinds today is the
growing disinterest for academics and schooling in general among the
student community. In most traditional schools, students go through
academics because of parental pressure aggravated by the highly
competitive schooling system. Bright students move up because of the
fortunate ability to rote-learn most of the content during examinations;
while the rest of them labeled average and slow - almost give up. These
are the ones that just go with the flow of life. They do well if fortune favors
otherwise they become part of the oblivion. Paradoxically, the brighter
ones end up with no different life. They join the oblivion too, only with
better buying facilities.
So, the question is did these teeming millions of students do things they
were motivated to do? Were they driven by their own choice? The most
likely answer to this will be an emphatic No. If we asked young people
today why did they go to school, they probably wouldnt have an answer.
And if they did, it would be the usual, conditioned clich.
The difference in how a motivated childs mind functions in comparison to
the general school going child was starkly brought home to me once
when I had to give a six-year old an entrance examination. He was an
Indian, with parents moving back to India from the U.S. They were
school-hunting and the school I worked in was the closest to where he
lived. I started a simple conversation with the child, but the child did not
let me keep it simple. He challenged me and answered my questions with
another question (something six-year olds in India wouldnt normally do).

In the course of the tte--tte, I happened to ask him what his desire to
become once grown up was. An astronaut, was the immediate and
assured reply.
Here was a little kid, all of six, who clearly knew what he wanted out of his
life. When Id asked the same question to grade 10 students, a few days
ago in the same school, a couple of them could not think beyond
doctoring and engineering. The others had no idea what they would do.
And this was at a stage when they had to leave school and make crucial
life-changing decisions.
Student thinking hasnt changed much today. In the more progressive
schools the problem is entirely different. Since children come from
affluent families with their life secure as they perceive it, they see
schooling as a routine of necessary evil.
The writer, through this paper, will try to see if we, as teachers, can do
something about this and make academics an interesting part of school
life. To see, if we can help students find a higher purpose that will make
them want to learn for the sake and the joy of learning, of discovering the
world through exploration and exchange of thoughts, ideas and
feelings.
Motivation is an extremely important but a much used, over-used, abused
and a very clichd subject. Motivation influences learners in complex
ways. For example, in a single situation there may be numerous factors
motivating learners to engage in a behavior and an even greater number
of factors motivating them to avoid that behavior. A thorough
understanding of the principles of motivation will enable us to get students
moving - to want to participate and do their share in the instructional
process.
PART II: UNDERSTANDING MOTIVATION
Defining Motivation
Interestingly, the Websters Pocket Dictionary only defines motive as a
need or a desire for something and states motivation as simply, a noun.
There are several others psychologists, social scientists, educationists
who have made an attempt to define the term.
Sometimes, terms like motivation seem very obvious in its meaning and
one wonders if it needs to be defined. All of us know what it is. Yet, when
asked to define, most of us fall short of the right words.
Personally, if asked to define, Id say, it is an innate urge to think or act
irrespective of whether the thought or the action is good or bad.
To me, objectively speaking, the goodness or badness of ones motive,
for the purpose of definition, is immaterial as both these qualities are
relative, and depends on the context of an individual.
The derivation of the word motivation refers to getting ourselves or
someone moving. When we motivate ourselves or someone else, we
develop incentives within or without - we set up conditions that start or
stop behavior. In education, motivation deals with the problem of setting
up conditions so that learners will perform to the best of their abilities in
academic settings. We often motivate learners by helping them develop

an expectancy that a benefit will occur as a result of their participation in

an instructional experience. In short, motivation is concerned with the
factors that stimulate or inhibit the desire to engage in a behavior.
PART III: KINDS OF MOTIVATION
Once during an interview, I was asked if it was really possible to motivate
someone or, if it was just an inborn quality either one has it or doesnt.
Frankly, that question stumped me. I had to think. I put the same question
in the questionnaire for teachers, and almost all of them stated very
confidently that students can be motivated. I wonder if the teachers felt
the import of that question the way I did during that interview. On a lot of
deliberation, I realized that indeed, it is not in our power to motivate
someone whether a child or an adult. However, it is possible that I may
rub off my own enthusiasm and happiness of purpose on to someone
else. And hope that my enthusiasm may spark an interest and enable the
subject in question to look into him/herself to find a similar purpose that
will drive all his/her further actions.
This brings me to the part where people have tried to categorize
motivation as intrinsic and extrinsic. The categorization is tricky and the
term extrinsic motivation is rather a paradox in itself. As far as my
understanding goes, motivation is a personal term and can only be
intrinsic. It is something that comes from within an individual. What comes
from outside are incentives and it definitely plays a role in affecting the
degree of motivation a person has, but then we can say extrinsic
incentives and not extrinsic motivation. A motive lies within an individual
and outside factors may enhance or inhibit it with incentives or nonincentives.
Lets look at extrinsic motivation first.
a)

Extrinsic Motivation

Usually we see that most people try to motivate others with rewards and
incentives to achieve a goal. However, most of the times it creates short
term results because the person has no real interest in doing that. For
example, a student that has to pass a test will be motivated by the grade,
however, he has no real interest in learning the topic so once he has
achieved his goal he wont have anymore interest in pursuing to learn
more about the topic.
I know of a school, which refrains from using either rewards or
punishments. This school has the least behavioural issues and has the
most enthusiastic learners and teachers. How is that possible? On deeper
examination, one will see its the culture established by the school since
its inception. Most schools, one finds, is steeped in the habit of rewarding
and punishing to get anything out of the students. And students are so
conditioned to this culture, that without it, they wouldnt know how to go
about their academics. For, if the crutches of rewards and punishments
are taken away, there is little that the school can offer to keep the
students engaged. Everything in these schools is driven by the biggest
carrot of all marks, grades and percentages. All those unfortunate
enough to not manage to be in this category, are shown the stick
literally or metaphorically. So much so, that if students had their way
school would be the last place they would like to be. Eventually, these two

factors determine student achievement in most mainstream, traditional

schools.
Artificial reinforcements or extrinsic motivators may lead to merely shortrange activity while actually reducing long-range interest in a topic.
Therefore, it is essential that extrinsic motivators be backed up by intrinsic
motivators or that the extrinsic motivation becomes internalized through
engaging teaching-learning processes. If this does not happen, the result
is likely to be a reduction in the very behavior we want to promote.
One of the most frequent failures in education is that students rarely say
that they find studies or academics to be intrinsically rewarding. This is a
critical problem. One of the most straightforward conclusions of research
from the past two decades is that extrinsic motivation alone is likely to
have precisely the opposite impact that we want it to have on student
achievement (Lepper & Hodell, 1989).
It is, therefore, clear that if students and teachers have to be successful
as a team in academics, it is important to create learning processes and
an environment that creates among students an urge to pursue
academics for solely personal reasons.
b)

Intrinsic motivation

Some theorists maintain that there is only a single kind of intrinsic

motivation, which can be described as a motivation to engage in activities
that enhance or maintain a person's self-concept.
It is common knowledge that a child, till the age of six or seven, is highly
intrinsically motivated to explore the world around him/her. The learning is
rapid and almost always enjoyable. The child is engrossed in the
investigation of things and thrilled with its findings. Ironically, come to
think of it, this is also the time when the process has the least adult
interference. Once the child enters school, the process takes a steady
road down hill until it reaches a point, where it just stops and to make
matters worse, stagnates.
This makes it clear that there is something inherently wrong in the way
schools and adults intervene in the learning process that puts an end to
intrinsic motivation, and the system has to rely on external incentives to
keep schools running.
Theorists like Malone and Lepper (1987) have defined intrinsic motivation
more simply in terms of what people will do without external inducement.
Intrinsically motivating activities are those in which people will engage for
no reward other than the interest and enjoyment that accompanies them.
It is an axiom of most motivational theories that motivation is strongest
when the urge to engage in a behavior arises from within the learner
rather than from outside pressures. Bruner (1966) has stated the
relationship between motivation and learning in an apt way:
The will to learn is an intrinsic motive, one that finds both its source
and its reward in its own exercise. The will to learn becomes a
"problem" only under specialized circumstances like those of a
school, where a curriculum is set, students are confined, and a path
fixed. The problems exist not so much in learning itself, but in the fact

that what the school imposes often fails to enlist the natural energies
that sustain spontaneous learning.

What are the factors that will help enlist the energies that sustain
spontaneous learning? Well examine them in the next part.
PART IV: FACTORS DETERMINING INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Malone and Lepper have integrated a large amount of research on motivational

theory into a synthesis of ways to design environments that are intrinsically
motivating. The synthesis has come about after an understanding of factors that
promote motivation. The factors that enhance motivation are subdivided into
individual factors and interpersonal factors. Individual factors are individual in
the sense that they operate even when a student is working alone. Interpersonal
factors, on the other hand, play a role only when someone else interacts with the
learner.
Below is a description of each.
a)

Individual Factors that enhance motivation

i)

Challenge:

One of the most powerful individual factors influencing intrinsic

motivation is challenge. This is an individual factor because a
person can be challenged without involving other people. Of
course a challenge could involve other people, as when a person
makes it a challenge to win a competition. People pursue tasks
that are challenging. Learners are challenged when they direct
their activities toward personally meaningful goals in such a way
that attainment of the goals is uncertain - when neither success
nor failure is guaranteed. The belief that they are making
acceptable progress toward a goal, along with the expected
satisfaction of goal attainment, enhances self-efficacy and
sustains motivation. As students work toward these goals, they
are motivated to the extent that they receive feedback and feel
that their eventual success will enhance their self-esteem.
The following four factors influence the contribution of challenge
to motivation.
Goals can be either supplied by the teacher or developed by the
learners themselves. Goals can be short-term or long-term. While
short-term goals may be more immediately compelling, longrange goals are often more important. An ideal motivational
system involves short-term goals that lead to long-term goals.
The most important characteristic of goals is that they must be
personally meaningful. Personal relevance can be increased by
making clear the links between an activity and competencies or
outcomes valued by the learner, relating material to a fantasy or
imaginary context that the learner finds emotionally appealing, or
eliciting interpersonal motivations such as cooperation,
competition, or recognition that appeal to the learner.

Even when goals are supplied by the teacher, it is important that

the learners "buy into" or internalize these goals. Although it
seems obvious that it is best that students develop their own
goals (and this would also contribute to control, which is another
factor that contributes to intrinsic motivation), a serious problem is
that students themselves may set goals that are too easy or too
difficult to attain or difficult to define. A major step in promoting
self-motivation (discussed later) is to help learners develop
strategies for setting goals.
Self-esteem is related to motivation because learners consider
themselves to be good or competent to the extent that they
succeed at challenges that they consider to be important.
ii)

Curiosity

A second factor influencing individual motivation is curiosity. This

is an individual factor because a person's curiosity can be
aroused without involving other people. Curiosity is stimulated
when something in the physical environment attracts our attention
or when there is an optimal level of discrepancy between present
knowledge or skills and what these could be if the learner
engaged in some activity. Novelty and interest are good
synonyms for the motivational use of curiosity.
There are two types of curiosity that can stimulate intrinsic
motivation:
Sensory curiosity occurs when physical factors such as changes
in tone of voice, light, or sound attract the attention of learners.
Cognitive curiosity is evoked when learners believe that it may
be useful to modify existing cognitive structures.
The concept of optimal discrepancy suggests that curiosity is
strongest when new information does not match what we currently
know but is not so different as to appear to be completely strange,
irrelevant, or impossible to attain. Learners are motivated most
strongly by curiosity when learning tasks present them with
knowledge or problems at an optimal level of discrepancy.
iii)

Control

A third factor influencing individual motivation is control, which

refers to the basic human tendency to seek to control one's
environment. This is an individual factor because a person can feel
in control without involving other people. Of course interpersonal
factors such as winning a competition or gaining recognition could
contribute to the feeling of control.
There are three elements that influence the contribution of control
to intrinsic motivation.
Cause-and-effect relationships - Learners perceive themselves to
be in control when they see clear cause-and-effect relationship
between their own actions and obtaining desired benefits. This

means that a good way to enable learners to feel in control (even if

they are studying something "because they have to,") is to let them
see the cause-and-effect relationship between something they
really care about (and would freely choose) and the topic they are
studying in class.
Powerful effects - Learners perceive themselves to be in control
when they perceive the outcome of what they are studying to be
truly worthwhile rather than something trivial. An educational
objective could meet the preceding guideline (showing a causeand-effect relationship), but still not be worth caring about. But if a
person can say, "Because I learn this, I'll be able to do something I
really care about!" that person feels in control.
Free choice - If students perceive themselves as doing something
because they want to instead of because they are being forced to
do it against their will, they will fell in control of their learning.
The feeling of loss of control is one of the most powerful antimotivating factors in education. When students feel their teachers
are using controlling techniques (rather than those that promote
autonomous choice), they are likely to show reduced intrinsic
motivation, and this has been shown to result in lower academic
performance as well as substantial deterioration in other important
characteristics (This is a major factor behind the need for using
natural rather than artificial reinforcement whenever possible.
iv)

Fantasy

The fourth factor influencing individual motivation is fantasy, which

plays a role when learners use mental images of situations that are
not actually present to stimulate their behavior. By engaging in
activities related to learning, learners may use their imaginations to
meet challenges, satisfy curiosity, exercise control, or experience
interpersonal motivations without directly participating in the
imagined activities themselves.
There are three factors that influence the degree to which fantasy
influences intrinsic motivation:
Emotional elements can make learners more willing to engage in
an activity by making it fun or exciting to participate. This usually
involves building a game around the learning activity.
Cognitive elements can make learners more willing to engage in
an activity by enabling learners to imagine themselves actually
using the specified skills in real life.
b)

Interpersonal Factors that Promote Motivation

In addition to individual factors in motivation, there are other
factors that arise from interactions with other people.
i)

Competition

Competition motivates behavior because people can enhance

their own self-esteem when they are able to make comparisons of
their own performance to that of others. While all learners appear
to be motivated to some extent by competition, the importance of
competition is greater for some learners than for others. These
differences are often related to the person's previous experience
or to the importance that cultures or subcultures place on
competition versus cooperation.
However, there are schools of thought that argue vehemently
against competition. Parents, teachers and society in general
believe that its a competitive world and that unless a student
constantly competes with peers, there is little chance of surviving
worlds tough ways. Educationists like John Holt and Herbert Kohl
believe that competition is the reason for the worlds problems like
unfair distribution of resources, social & economic inequalities
leading to wars between nations. Unwittingly, by placing undue
importance on competition, schools become the perpetrator
instead of an antidote to societys and the worlds problems at
large.
Personally, having seen alternate schools function on the basis of
cooperation rather than competition quite successfully, with
children coming out of these schools becoming independent,
sensitive thinkers and exuding a quiet confidence, I have come to
believe that the only competition worth the fight is the one against
oneself.
ii)

Cooperation

A second interpersonal factor in motivation is cooperation, in

which learners derive satisfaction from working toward group
goals. As was the case with competition, the motivating force of
cooperation is stronger for some persons than others, and these
differences are often related to the person's previous experience
or to the importance that cultures or subcultures place on
cooperation.
In a world that is increasingly looking for people with team skills
and better interpersonal communication, it is important for schools
to find ways to enable students to work together more often,
appreciate differences of thoughts, opinions and cultures.
Children coming from highly competitive and individualistic
schooling often fail to live up to team expectations at the work
place, despite being brilliant academic achievers. Teachers have
to create conditions and environments at school that drives
students to want to learn together and for each other. Individual
growth of personality as the peripheral outcome, happens
naturally.
iii)

Recognition

A third interpersonal factor in motivation is recognition. Most

people enjoy having their efforts and accomplishments
recognized and appreciated by others. In order to obtain
recognition, the activity of the learner must be visible to others.

There are three ways to achieve visibility: (1) the process of

performing an activity may be visible, (2) the product of the
activity may be visible, or (3) some other result of the activity may
be visible (for example, an article may appear in the newspaper
listing the names of people who participated in a science fair).
PART VI: SUMMARY OF INTRINSIC MOTIVATION
When people engage in behaviors without coercion, it is usually because they
were motivated by one or more of the preceding individual or interpersonal
factors. When learners do not engage in desired behaviors, teachers can often
stimulate learning by introducing more of these factors into the instructional
setting. It is often useful and practical to appeal to more than a single source of
motivation. The specific factors that will influence particular students will vary,
depending on the personality and previous experiences of the learner and the
specific subject matter.
An incentive that motivates one learner may actually inhibit the behavior of
another learner. For example, a competitive spelling bee may stimulate students
to study harder if they think they can win the bee; but it may cause most of the
students to reduce their efforts, since they may think that they have little chance
of victory and that the bee is really a trick to coerce them into studying some hard
words.
The goal of the educator is to set up an environment in which students are willing
to put forth their best effort to master important goals..
It is also important to note that extrinsic motivators that supplement intrinsic
incentives do not necessarily have to have these deleterious results. If they are
done properly, extrinsic motivators can enhance intrinsic motivation. The most
important factor is that extrinsic incentives should not be perceived as a bribe by
the recipient. If additional inducements are necessary to persuade learners to
participate in an activity, it will usually be better to derive motivational
embellishments from Table 5.1 than to use more artificial inducements. For
example, if a child is reluctant to practice her multiplication tables, a parent or
teacher might be tempted to either (a) let the child play an interesting game on
the computer or (b) pay the child a rupee for each worksheet completed. The first
strategy would be far less likely to reduce intrinsic motivation. This is because it
builds upon the child's curiosity and fantasy, while the second strategy is likely to
be perceived as a blatant bribe - actually reducing the learner's feeling of control.
Although the focus of this chapter has been on motivation at the individual and
classroom level, it is important to note that policies initiated at broader
administrative levels also influence the motivation and academic
performance of students. Administrative policies influence such factors as the
ways students are grouped for instruction, the amount of peer interaction that is
likely to occur, the motivational value of instructional materials, the emphasis
given to normative as opposed to personal goals, the definition of success, and
the criteria for recognition. Administrators and committees that determine these
policies should be aware of the principles discussed in this chapter and of the
impact of these policies on the motivation of individual students.

10

Part VII: STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE STUDENT MOTIVATION

Based on Leppers research on factors that promote intrinsic motivation, some of
the techniques that teachers can follow to enhance intrinsic motivation are briefly
described below:
Control

Promote the learners' sense of control over activities

Minimize extrinsic constraints on the activity. (If an activity is of initial
intrinsic interest, avoid adding superfluous extrinsic control. If an activity is
of low intrinsic interest, use minimal sufficient external control.)
Reduce extrinsic constraints over time. (If it is necessary to use external
pressures or incentives, fade these over time.)
Minimize the salience of extrinsic constraints. (Make the constraints seem
logical; and embed them in the activity itself, if it is possible to do so.)
Challenge

Provide students with a continuously challenging activity.

Help students set goals of uncertain attainment, and give feedback
regarding current status of accomplishments. (Help students short-term
and long-term goals at intermediate levels of difficulty. Also help students
set multiple levels of goals, so that students at different levels will feel
motivated and so that students can move on to new goals as they attain
earlier goals. )
Curiosity

Provoke the learners' curiosity.

Highlight areas of inconsistency and incompleteness and focus on
paradoxes or possible simplifications that will provoke the interest of the
learners.
Focus on activities, domains of knowledge, persons, and problems that
are already of interest to the learners.
Fantasy

Make a game out of learning.

Help learners imagine themselves using the learned information in reallife settings.
Make the fantasies intrinsic rather than extrinsic
Competition

Competition occurs naturally as well as artificially.

Competition is more important for some people than for others.
People who lose at competition often suffer more than the winners profit.
Competition sometimes reduces the urge to be helpful to other learners
Cooperation

Cooperation occurs naturally as well as artificially.

Cooperation is more important for some people than for others.
Cooperation is a useful real-life skill.
Cooperation requires and develops interpersonal skills.

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Recognition

Recognition requires that the process or product or some other result of

the learning activity be visible.
Recognition differs from competition in that it does not involve a
comparison with the performance of someone else.
Contextualization

Highlight the functionality of the activity.

Present the activity in a natural, interesting context.
Present the activity in a simulation or fantasy context of interest to the
student.

In addition to the above, teachers can also do the following to help students.

Focus as much as possible on intrinsic rather than extrinsic factors to

motivate learners. When it is necessary to use extrinsic motivators, try to
make them temporary.
Look at motivation from the perspective of the person being motivated,
not from your own or from some other perspective.
Take steps to understand the motivational perspectives of learners by
communicating with them, by establishing rapport, by understanding their
individual and group needs, and by learning about their cultural heritage.
Be aware that learners may be motivated by many goals in addition to the
objectives of the instructional unit, and adjust instruction accordingly.
Don't guarantee success. Rather, make it clear that students are likely to
succeed if they put forth appropriate effort.
Communicate goals clearly to learners, so that learners themselves can
direct their own motivational energies toward attaining these goals.
Set up learning situations with an optimal degree of discrepancy. For
example, a learner should already know enough about a topic to see that
it would be enjoyable to learn a little more.
Help learners see clear cause-and-effect relationships between their own
actions and obtaining desired benefits.
Arrange events so that learners feel that they have freely chosen to
perform productive activities - not that they have been coerced into doing
so.
Create environments in which learners can vividly fantasize using
academic skills in realistic or enjoyable settings.
Use competition in such a way as to help those who succeed at it, while
minimizing negative impacts on those who lose.
Use cooperation rather than competition in situations where it would be
more productive.
Use recognition to motivate learners by making their successful activities
or products visible to others.
Present learning opportunities in an environment that is likely to evoke
positive feelings and emotions. Most importantly, avoid conducting
learning activities in settings that are likely to evoke negative feelings.
When physiological arousal is too high, take steps to lower it.
When physiological arousal is too low, take steps to increase it.
Help learners satisfy their basic needs, so that they can be motivated by
higher needs.

12

Encourage learners to attribute both their academic successes and

failures to effort, which is an internal, unstable factor over which they
have control.
Encourage students to be motivated by the urge to master important skills
rather than by achieving favorable comparisons with other students.
Encourage students to put forth effort, but define effort properly. Effort
refers to the productive use of time. Putting in more hours does not
necessarily reflect greater effort. Sometimes students need to learn to
make proper effort.
Focus as much as possible on achieving success, as opposed to avoiding
failure.
Have realistic, positive expectations for your students.
Be aware of the possibility of negative stereotypes and avoid letting these
influence your expectations or the goals you set for students.

PART VII: ATTRIBUTION THEORY OF MOTIVATION

Attribution theory (Weiner, 1980, 1992) is probably the most influential
contemporary theory with implications for academic motivation. It incorporates
behavior modification in the sense that it emphasizes the idea that learners are
strongly motivated by the pleasant outcome of being able to feel good about
themselves. It incorporates cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory in the sense
that it emphasizes that learners' current self-perceptions will strongly influence
the ways in which they will interpret the success or failure of their current efforts
and hence their future tendency to perform these same behaviors.
According to attribution theory, the explanations that people tend to make to
explain success or failure can be analyzed in terms of three sets of
characteristics:

First, the cause of the success or failure may be internal or external. That
is, we may succeed or fail because of factors that we believe have their
origin within us or because of factors that originate in our environment.
Second, the cause of the success or failure may be either stable or
unstable. If the we believe cause is stable, the outcome is likely to be the
same if we perform the same behavior on another occasion. If it is
unstable, the outcome is likely to be different on another occasion.
Third, the cause of the success or failure may be either controllable or
uncontrollable. A controllable factor is one which we believe we ourselves
can alter if we wish to do so. An uncontrollable factor is one that we do
not believe we can easily alter.

An important assumption of attribution theory is that people will interpret their

environment in such a way as to maintain a positive self-image. That is, they will
attribute their successes or failures to factors that will enable them to feel as good
as possible about themselves. In general, this means that when learners succeed
at an academic task, they are likely to want to attribute this success to their own
efforts or abilities; but when they fail, they will want to attribute their failure to
factors over which they have no control, such as bad teaching or bad luck.
The basic principle of attribution theory as it applies to motivation is that a
person's own perceptions or attributions for success or failure determine the
amount of effort the person will expend on that activity in the future.

13

There are four factors related to attribution theory that influence motivation in
education:
Ability is a relatively internal and stable factor over which the
learner does not exercise much direct control.
Task difficulty is an external and stable factor that is largely
beyond the learner's control.
Effort is an internal and unstable factor over which the learner
can exercise a great deal of control.
Luck is an external and unstable factor over which the learner
exercises very little control.
Based on the above, the following guidelines will help the teachers:
1. If we want students to persist at academic tasks, we should help them
establish a sincere belief that they are competent and that occasional
imperfections or failures are the result of some other factor (such as bad
luck or a lack of sufficient effort) that need not be present on future
occasions.
2. It is not beneficial for students to attribute their successes entirely to ability.
If they think they already have all the ability they need, they may feel that
additional effort is superfluous. The ideal attribution for success is, "I
succeeded because I am a competent person and worked hard."
3. When students fail, they are most likely to persist and eventually succeed if
they attribute their failure to a lack of appropriate effort. Therefore, it is
extremely important that when students perceive themselves as
unsuccessful teachers help them develop the conviction that they can still
succeed if they give it their best shot.
4. It is extremely hazardous to motivational health for students to fail
repeatedly after making a serious effort at academic tasks. When this
happens, they will either (a) stop believing they are competent, or (b) stop
attributing their failure to lack of effort. Both of these outcomes are likely to
reduce persistence at the academic tasks. It is important, therefore, to
arrange tasks so that students who work hard are able to perceive
themselves as successful.
5. It is important to define effort correctly and for the learners to internalize
an accurate concept of effort. In practical terms effort is most usefully
defined as devoting effective academic learning time to the task. Just trying
harder or spending more time doing ineffective activities does not constitute
effort. It is extremely important to make this distinction. If we use another
definition of effort, when we tell children that their failures are a result of a
lack of effort, we run the risk of leading them to believe that they have an
internal, stable characteristic called laziness, over which they have no
control. This will reduce motivation.
6. Excessively competitive grading and evaluation systems are likely to impair
the learning of many students. Competition will encourage students to
persist only to the extent that they believe additional effort will enable them
to succeed within the competitive atmosphere. In many instances, success
in competition is completely beyond the learner's control - no matter how
hard a learner works, another more competent and equally energetic
competitor is likely to win.

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7. It is useful to evaluate students at least partly (but not exclusively) on the

basis of their effort. This does not mean that the weakest students in a
class should receive the highest grades simply because they may spend
more time trying to master the subject matter. Ideally, course assignments
should be arranged so that diligent work actually leads to academic
success, and the teacher's evaluation should help students see this
connection.
8. In general, it is best for students to believe that it is their own behavior
rather than external circumstances that leads to success or failure.
Researchers refer to this as having an internal locus of control. While it is
good for students to have a realistic understanding of what's happening
around them, research shows that the most successful students have a
tendency to overestimate the degree to which their own behavior leads to
success or failure.
9. When students have a conviction that they lack ability, it is necessary to
take steps to circumvent or overcome this conviction. Such students are
likely to repudiate successes. For example, when they do well, they are
likely to have a sincere conviction that they were "just lucky." It is difficult to
alter this conviction. Changing this conviction is tantamount to altering the
learner's self-concept, and this cannot be accomplished in a short time.
Teachers must find areas in which the learner perceives himself or herself
as successful, and show connections between that area and the topic
currently under consideration. They can also focus heavily on effort as the
factor critical to success. While the teacher's long-range goal may be to
enhance the child's self-concept, the immediate goal is to promote
motivation with regard to the subject matter at hand.
10. When students reject the value of effort, it is important to change their
perception. This can be done by clarifying the meaning of effort and by
seeing to it that effort does actually pay off. In addition, if students attribute
their success to luck, it may be best to refrain from arguing with their
attributions, while simply praising or otherwise reinforcing them for their
effective use of academic learning time.
PART VIII: TEACHER MOTIVATION
Not only students, but also teachers, need motivation. Many tasks that teachers
must perform are not pleasant; they need to be motivated to perform these tasks.
It is desirable that motivation for teachers be as intrinsic as possible. For
example, most teachers are aware of many negative elements that are likely to
be present when students with special needs are mainstreamed into their
classrooms. Many of these teachers resist mainstreaming and resist the
consultation processes that could help them work with these students.
On the other hand, other teachers see positive as well as negative elements in
mainstreaming; for example, they may perceive working with mainstreamed
students to be a professional challenge. Success at teaching these students
would be a boost to their self-esteem, and so they are inclined to embrace the
challenge of having these students in their classrooms. By viewing their work with
these students as a challenge, these teachers are motivated to work harder than
they would have to work if such challenges were not present. It is important both
that others see to it that teachers find fulfillment and that teachers themselves
look for intrinsic motivation in their work.

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As important as student motivation is, how the teacher feels about her own work
and profession has a great impact on how students feel about academics.
a)

Factors Affecting Teacher Motivation

According to a study conducted on Teacher Motivation in India, some
of the factors that affected motivation levels among teachers were

A host of non-teaching duties given to the teachers left them with

little time or interest to focus on what they were really meant to do
engaging children in teaching-learning processes.
Poor remuneration to most teachers in most traditional schools
also make teachers feel putting in effort an unworthy exercise
Teachers in most schools lack appropriate qualifications, subject
expertise and skills required to engage students in a meaningful
academics
The difference between social backgrounds of teachers and
students also contribute to a drop in teachers interest in the
profession
Schools lack proper facilities, working conditions and support that
encourage active teaching. Many a time, an enthusiastic teacher
is disillusioned because of this reason
Lack of exposure, training and appreciation also dampens teacher
spirits
A great deal of workload in terms of documentation, filing and
report writing also saps a great deal of productive energies of
teachers

However, the researchers still did not find exact co-relations between
motivation levels and teacher qualifications, training, residence, gender
and pay scales. Only 25 30% of teachers worked hard regardless of
personal circumstances. Given the right stimulus and good monitoring,
teachers tend to sustain their motivation levels to a great extent.
The rest of the teaching community did not seem to have a personal
stake in making the education system work. They just drift along with the
system, while making sure the data that is fed upward is acceptable. The
teachers tend to relax once they get a job and their engagement with the
profession takes a backseat.
Amusingly, in many cases, teachers assume motivation akin to being
present at work everyday, compiling and sending data and maintaining
discipline. They are ready to work with administrators who they think are
just, but rapport with children, learning levels and classroom environment
are not seen as part of motivation both by administrators or teachers.
Considering the responses teachers give to what they understand of the
term, it turns out to be varied and the writer felt most of them were
doctored responses. Meaning, they seemed to be politically correct rather
than genuine, with the exception of a few.
To give a few examples
Some mentioned that motivation meant to do any work to the best of our
ability with positive attitude and is a continuous process. This seemed like

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a politically correct response. Another teacher, to the same question

stated that when she knows that the cause for which she is working is
being fulfilled. This kind of response may be genuine, but clearly shows a
lack of understanding of either the term or the desired response to the
question.
To the question on what keeps them motivated, teachers have responded
in vague terms like my principles in life or an extrinsic term like my
commitment towards the institution. It is important for teachers to
understand that sustainable motivation comes from the depth of their own
desire to be a teacher and nothing else.
b)

Societal outlook on the teaching profession

This may be a weak and a strong link to understanding teacher

motivation. While most teachers profess they love what they do, the
reasons they take up teaching is more of an alternative one than of
personal choice. Once during a focused group discussion, one teacher
very honestly admitted that teaching was the last thing she wanted to do
in life, but was forced to take it up due to family pressures. She wanted an
entirely different and ambitious career for herself. Though not many
teachers would be this honest, we can still see that the majority of women
take up teaching as an easy job or as one of the respondents to the
questionnaire said, for time pass. Nobody expects the income derived
from a teacher to be enough to actually support a family but rather a
means to earn some pocket money. The attitude is, if you cannot do
anything else, join teaching. I have even heard teachers themselves say,
that teaching is a great job, as it offers plenty of vacations. Once, the
head of an elite school remarked that teaching is the ideal profession for
women, as it gives them time for their children and gives them holidays.
Since the teaching profession does not carry with it the glamour of other
professions like say, medicine or even receptionists, the society has
come to term it as noble and label it a social service kind of a job. Men
do not think of being a teacher too often and though the number of men is
on the rise in schools, it is still very small. Some quite educated people
have remarked that men should not be in the teaching profession and that
it is a profile meant for women. Teachers have ingrained all these societal
beliefs and never sported a professional attitude towards their job.
All of these, overtly or covertly, have played a role in determining how a
teacher feels about her job and her levels of motivation. Though most of
them may have been forced to take a decision or may have seen it as
something they do with no other alternative, once a teacher, in their own
way, have tried to work hard and give, what they perceive to be, her best
to the students under their fold. Also, once in, they become almost
puppets in the hands of traditional managements, doing what is dictated
either by them or by educational boards, rarely using their creativity,
underexposed to the changes happening in the field, with no voice in any
of the policies designed by the state. Teachers indeed work very hard and
most often than not, the job is very difficult.
Fortunately, a lot of this attitude is changing and teaching is slowly
beginning to look like a profession rather than a service. Initially
teachers were equated to mothers. But now, it must be understood that
teachers are more than mothers. Their task is far more challenging and

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difficult than a mothers. Parents have a very subjective outlook towards

their children and will not easily accept a childs drawbacks, while
teachers cannot afford to be so. They have to be objective, caring as well
as clinical when required. The recent Right to Education Act 2009 has
also mandated that only qualified teachers be instated in schools.
Hopefully, this will change things for teachers. However, teachers also
need to take personal interest in their own professional growth and
become self-learners first, if they wish to change the way their profession
ought to be perceived by the world at large.
At the same time, school managements and policies also need to
combine efforts to raise the status of the teaching profession. At an
individual level, schools can do the following to keep teacher morale and
motivation at its best:

Have positive environments in schools for teachers with

appropriate and non-threatening listening channels
There must be justice and fair play in all dealings with the
teachers
Teachers must be trained regularly in new methodologies and
teaching strategies
There must be supervision of teacher work, but too much of close
monitoring may be detrimental to teacher efforts
Peer observation, collaborative planning and teaching help keep
teacher enthusiasm high
Teachers need to be given constructive feedback. This also
mandates the fact that, teachers need to receive feedback with
professional approach and use the data to improve their own
practice
Keeping paper work to a minimum, so that teachers have enough
time in school to plan better teaching sessions
There must be regular appreciation, public or private, of good
work
The managements must listen to and act upon concerns in a
timely manner
Te school can organize special lunches for both teachers and
non-teachers to extend their social network
Organize social activities outside of work and periodic teacher
celebrations
Provide people with zero absence a bonus 2-hour holiday so they
can get out of work early or come in late
Have Teacher of the Month award and have the name
prominently displayed the whole month.
Encourage teachers to seek out professional development
courses and approve reasonable requests
There could be fun raising activities to raise money for an all staff
holiday
Teachers can organize regular study groups where they can
discuss new ideas and happening in the field of education
Keeping challenges and expectations high but with a low stress
level

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PART IX: CONCLUSION

Thirteen years, kindergarten through twelfth grade, are spent by a student
attaining a high school education. For thirteen years, five times a week, six hours
a day - this enormous amount of time a student remains under the direction of a
teacher. The teacher thus, plays a significant role in the student's life. As one
becomes a product of one's learning, the student builds him/herself with the
teachings of a teacher. The teacher's knowledge, along with the teacher's
feelings, become integrated within the student's schemata. Should the teacher
not like teaching, the student emerges from the classroom with a dislike for
education. When the teacher loves his/her profession, the student learns to love
education. What makes a person love his/her profession? There are many
dynamics which coalesce into the person who loves his/her profession. The major
dynamic: motivation. When one understands the components involved in the
construct of motivation, one can better become and remain motivated. When a
teacher remains intrinsically motivated, loving the teaching profession, the
students not only learn the content taught by the teacher, but the students are
also become intrinsically motivated towards learning.

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Sites and readings sourced:

http://education.calumet.purdue.edu
Baumrind's research (1973, 1978, 1980)
Malone and Lepper Research on Motivation (1987)
Responses of 8 teachers of Indus International School to the questionnaire
on Motivation
http://p2pfoundation.net/ - Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
Teacher Motivation in India: Research paper by Vimala Ramachandran &
Madhumita Pal (Education Resource Unit) & Dr. Sharada Jain, Sunil Shekar
and Jitendra Sharma of Sandhan, Jaipur
http://e-how.com ideas to motivate teachers
Mar 20, 2001 - Anne Camilia article on Maintaining Teacher Motivation
Attribution Theory Weiner 1980, 1992

Paper by:
Sandhya Gatti
ITARI
Submitted on
08 November 2010

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