Education and motivation
While current efforts towards improving the quality of education internationally have been focusing on teacher preparation, curriculum developments, quality standards and better assessment tools, little attention has been devoted to the issue of motivating students themselves to learn. Although having better school administrators, robust and well-qualified teachers as well as advanced assessment and progress monitoring tools would enhance the quality of educational services, learning will not take place if students are not motivated to learn. Students with specific learning difficulties are no exception. In many cases, students with specific learning difficulties are thought to have no motivation to learn because of their specific learning difficulty: any motivation that they might have is depressed by their learning challenges. If such students are not motivated to learn, achievement gains will be very difficult if not impossible.
On the other hand, higher motivation to learn has always been linked to better academic performance, greater conceptual understanding, more satisfaction with school and better feelings of self-esteem and social adjustment (Gottfried, 2009; Ryan & Deci, 2000a). Usher and Kober (2012) compiled an excellent literature review on the subject of motivation and suggested that it is less discussed because it is such an amorphous and difficult subject. According to a National Research Council Report in the US (2004), more than 40 per cent of high school students are disengaged from learning. The same report also noted that motivation and engagement in school decline steadily as students progress from elementary to middle then high school. Bridgeland and his colleagues (Bridgeland, Dilulio & Morison, 2006) conducted a survey study to find out why students drop out of high school and discovered that 70 per cent of those students who dropped out reported being unmotivated as their primary reason. While almost all students recognise that learning is important, some are simply not motivated by academic endeavours or love of learning. Perhaps for those students, if learning is re-framed as a means to achieve certain goals, they would be better able to see its value.
The importance of motivation as an educational outcome stems from its strong relationship to achievement and performance in a variety of domains. Encouraging motivation among children is critical because it predicts motivation later in life (Broussard & Garrison, 2004). Gottfried (1990) found that academic intrinsic motivation at ages seven and eight predicts subsequent motivation, even after controlling for IQ, achievement and socioeconomic status.
This chapter focuses on research on variations in, and enhancement of, motivation in educational settings, and the factors associated with motivation in these contexts. Such research has informed both educational practice and theory related to learners in general; however, the particular aim of the current chapter is a consideration of children who are struggling with learning. The emphasis is not on one type of learning difficulty (which will be covered in other chapters of this book), but on research (and theory) that might inform practice targeted at any child who may struggle with learning and, hence, show evidence of de-motivation or disengagement from learning. Therefore, the theoretical discussion will be general to any area of learning. However, more detailed descriptions of research and practice will focus on work targeted at reading and writing (literacy for present purposes).
The rationale for focusing on literacy learning difficulties is that reading and writing acquisition have been the subject of educational research for many decades, and may be considered to have been studied more than most other education areas. In addition, the ability to read and write is still fundamental to achievement in most areas of the curriculum, meaning that problems in reading and writing can lead to poor learning in many other areas of education. Negative educational experiences related to difficulties in learning to read and write can be widespread, and such experiences can place children at greater risk of poor psychosocial development in addition to low academic achievement (Elbeheri, Everatt & Al-Malki, 2009; Everatt & Reid, 2010; Forrest-Bank & Jenson, 2015; Hallahan & Kauffman, 1997; Margalit, 2003; Ofiesh & Mather, 2012; Sorensen et al., 2003): indeed, the National Institutes of Health in the USA has proposed the view that reading (and related learning) disabilities are a major challenge to public health and societal welfare. Similarly, an understanding of the negative psychosocial responses to poor literacy learning may be provided by theoretical arguments relating literacy and emotional intelligence. Ideas related to emotional intelligence may support an understanding of the emotional processes associated with reading problems and how these may be influenced by the school environment and the interventions targeted at improving learning (for example, see Pellitteri, Dealy, Fasano & Kugler, 2006).
Researching motivation
In terms of research (and theories derived from such research), motivation can be considered the study of why individuals perform tasks as they do. Such research (see discussions in Graham & Weiner, 2012) often considers what factors lead to someone starting to perform a task (why is a behaviour initiated?), what leads to an individual continuing to perform a task (what sustains and/or directs a behaviour?) and to put effort into the task (the intensity or duration of a behaviour), and what leads to task performance stopping (why is a behaviour terminated?). Motivation also implies both thinking about an activity (cognition) and the feelings related to its performance (emotion). These are often associated with concepts of self-efficacy and self-esteem (i.e., self-concept), as well as planning and appraisal (aspects associated with metacognition). In educational fields, motivation is typically studied in terms of achieving goals, and is often related to learning achievement. However, motivation cannot be equated simply with achievement or learning. Achieving something does not necessarily mean that you must have been motivated – or that you experienced higher levels of motivation than in situations when something was not achieved. Furthermore, although achieving goals or learning something can have an influence on motivation, this is often context based. Failing to achieve a goal can be de-motivating in some contexts, whereas in others it might lead to increased effort (or motivation) to attain the desired outcome. Similarly, experiencing learning success can increase motivation to learn more, but it can also lead to the termination of task performance (and a reduction in the motivation associated with task performance) given that a goal has been achieved. Hence, there is a complex relationship between learning and motivation that needs to be considered when building educational models of motivation – and sometimes when considering motivation within a specific context of learning.
When research looks to investigate why someone does something, this is usually measured directly by asking the individual. Hence, measuring motivation has usually focused on questionnaires (sometimes interviews) to elicit views about a task. However, alternative behavioural measures have also been used to assess continued engagement in a task, which can be seen as at least one indicator of motivation to perform/complete a task. Both sorts of measures can lead to conclusions about motivation, though neither will necessarily fully explain a person’s motivation. One measure of engagement that could be used to assess continued interest in school work in general is the Student Engagement Instrument (see Betts et al., 2010); though see also the Student School Engagement Measure (Hazel, Vazirabadi, Albanes & Gallagher, 2014) for a similar measure of engagement. In terms of questionnaires, the Inventory of School Motivation has been used across a range of contexts around the world (McInerney & Ali, 2006; Nasser, 2014). The Motivation for Reading Questionnaire (Wigfield & Guthrie, 1995) has also been used in a variety of research studies, including those looking at changes in motivation following interventions targeting literacy (e.g., Daki & Savage, 2010). Other, typically questionnaire-based, tools can be used to assess motivation, engagement and helplessness (see De Castella, Byrne & Covington, 2013, for a discussion of examples). In education, motivation is strongly linked to achievement, so for the teacher, well-organised tasks and assessment of learning may be the logical way to determine the child’s willingness to engage in and complete work. Again, though, as discussed above, such task completion also need not give a complete picture of student motivation. Hence, a range of measures may be best to give a fuller picture of motivation – or the measure chosen needs to be appropriate for the research question asked.
A brief look at the history of motivation theories will help with an understanding of some of the concepts related to motivation. Some of the earliest theories in the field argued for motivation to be associated with needs – often needs that have a biological basis. Maslow’s (1943) hierarchy of needs theory is the most often quoted; though there are more modern perspectives that relate needs and the intensity of task performance (for example, see Kenrick, Griskevicius, Neuberg & Schaller, 2010). An alternative (though related) historical focus on motivation came from the study of drives, as specified in theories such as those of Hull (1943) and Spence (1958). The mixing of ideas related to achievement, needs and drives is probably best exemplified by early expectancy-value theories of motivation (such as Atkinson, 1957). Here, a tendency to perform a task is based on a combination of (i) an achievement motive, which is often seen as a relatively stable personality trait or need/drive, (ii) the likelihood of successful completion of the task, which may be associated with perceived task difficulty, and (iii) the value of success, which is typically seen as an emotional state, particularly in terms of pride of accomplishment. Such theoretical viewpoints led to motivation being associated with aspects of personality and emotion, as well as issues related to learning and self-appraisal. Hence, this book will cover a range of areas (cognitive, learning, behavioural, personality, emotion, etc.) that have been considered as impacting on motivation, in addition to discussing some of the main theoretical concepts derived from those areas, and the implications for educational practice across different groups and settings.
More modern versions of expectancy-value theories have been a particular influence on current educational research linked to motivation (e.g., Durik, Vida & Eccles, 2006; Wigfield, Tonks & Klauda, 2009). These viewpoints place an emphasis on internal constructs, such that expectancies are more related to self-efficacy or personal views about competence; as well as a range of task-specific values such as the importance of doing well (attainment value, which seems most consistent with the original views of pride), the pleasure derived from performance of a task (often viewed as intrinsic value), the relationship of a task to future goals (utility value), and the costs associated with undertaking a task. An individual’s perceived level of competence, or self-efficacy, is maybe the most important concept for current consideration – though task-specific values can complicate things and will be considered when we look at different learning tasks (such as mathematics, reading and writing), including as part of the practical issues covered in the rest of the book. Competence/self-efficacy has been shown to be an important factor in a range of studies within educational settings (see, for example, Pajares, Johnson & Usher, 2007; Pintrich & DeGroot, 1990; Schunk & Pajares, 2009). Self-efficacy has also been found to be positively related to academic achievement (Schunk & Pajares, 2009). Hence, despite some of the potential theoretical problems with separating interpretations of expectancy versus self-efficacy (see Williams, 2010), there are important practical applications of these concepts, particularly for children who are struggling with learning a fundamental skill (or range of skills) vital for educational attainment (i.e., those struggling with reading and writing). Children (and adults) who expect to do well (i.e., show evidence of self-efficacy) on average tend to do better than those that have low expectations about success. Those with higher levels of self-efficacy have been found to exert more effort during task performance, to be resilient against problems that may get in the way of task completion, and to choose more challenging tasks – many of the features that are associated with motivation. Hence, part of the task in avoiding negative impacts on motivation may be to build appropriate levels of self-efficacy, which would suggest that the individual must have, at least, some level of expectancy of success.
The opposite of the above may be just as complex. In at least some cases, the child who is failing to achieve expected levels of performance will show evidence of low educational attainment that may be related to poor affect, low self-concept, loss of control and feelings of helplessness that are associated with low levels of motivation; and each of these negative consequences may, in turn, negatively influence achievement still further. This spiral of negative consequences may need to be overcome in many children with learning difficulties to increase the chance of improved educational outcomes, both in typical teaching settings and also when implementing learning interventions. If a child can overcome his/her learning difficulties early in school, then this should increase confidence and allow them to better cope with pressures in later life. Furthermore, resilience can maintain motivation even in contexts where learning is challenging, particularly when accompanied by reasonable levels of self-efficacy that have developed through experiencing success. In contrast, a child who has not had experience of overcoming challenges related to his/her disability may show negative affect (increased stress or anxiety), which can undermine motivation and self-efficacy, and lead to lower levels of achievement.
Of course, the impact of expectancies need not be specific to those with learning difficulties. Perceptions of the importance of school achievement, even for those who may be achieving at reasonable levels, can impact on the relationship between academic performance and negative affect (see Hettinger, 1982). Relatively successful learners may not be aware of their own success, particularly in the relatively competitive environment of modern education (and society). The need to succeed ‘more’ may place enormous pressures on any learner. Hence expectancies, self-efficacy and motivation are all inter-related: what the learner has already achieved needs to be linked to current and future learning that is appropriate to develop motivation further. These perspectives argue for teaching methods that support the development of new skills based on a platform of those previously acquired, as well as the gradual attainment of additional skills (these ideas will be covered further in subsequent chapters). Such methods of teaching and learning would seem more likely to develop self-efficacy (learning based on experience of achievement, as well as expectations of achievement), as well as those attributions that are more associated with resilient self-efficacy and motivation.
Learning and motivation
Learning something new has the potential to be both exciting and rewarding. However, as mentioned above, there are also task-specific aspects to motivation, and the factors (both internal and external) that influence motivation, which means that the task to be learnt is an important consideration. Although any task can be motivating or de-motivating, what makes it motivating or de-motivating will depend on a range of differences between individuals, as well as the context in which the task is encountered. (Many of these internal and external issues will be covered in subsequent chapters, but the present chapter introduces some of these concepts.) As such, motivation is an aspect of learning in any classroom and for all parts of the curriculum. However, there is the perception that some tasks (and some curriculum areas) may be more likely to instil interest and enjoyment, and hence be motivating. For many children, sport or physical education has been considered one of those areas of enjoyment, and hence motivation. However, this may not be the case for all – some may look at physical education being on their timetable with feelings of dread: this may be particularly the case for those with dyspraxia (see Chapter 8). For others, mathematics may be a class where boredom and helplessness are the main feelings experienced – and for those with dyscalculia such negative feelings may be even more extreme (see Chapter 9). Yet, another child may find mathematics to be the subject that interests them most. Not only will individual differences influence these perceptions, but the way something is taught can be important: a good teacher can often instil interest in almost any subject, given an appropriate context or the right resources. The objective of this book is to provide ideas about how to support motivation across a range of circumstances, particularly when individual differences may interfere with learning, i.e., when aspects related to specific learning difficulties need to be taken into account.
In order to introduce some of the ideas that will be covered in the rest of the book, this chapter focuses on the task of learning to read and research that has provided a basis for an understanding of how reading is acquired (though more detailed ideas for supporting motivation in reading can be found in Chapter 5). As discussed above, reading and writing may be fundamental to learning in (and out of) school. Reading provides a basis on which to develop knowledge independent of the teacher – and writing is often the means by which the individual records new information and completes assignments. Hence, problems with reading and writing have often formed a basis on which to consider, and research, learning problems. A de-motivating attitude to reading, or a context in which reading is perceived as boring, may have a major impact on school achievement across a range of areas. In contrast, an interest in reading can form part of the motivation to learn a new subject. Hence, we will discuss some of the general ideas related to the learning and teaching of reading below. This should provide a context in which to consider some of the issues covered in subsequent chapters, as well as an appreciation of how motivation can interact with learning.
If we focus on data from research aimed at supporting the development of reading (and by association writing) skills, or intervention research targeted at those struggling with learning to read, then the main implication that emerges from such work is that procedures that reduce the likelihood of learning problems developing in the first place, and the availability of appropriate interventions when problems emerge, are both vital aspects of effective strategies to deal with specific learning difficulties. A common theme through much of the research on children with literacy learning difficulties is that for those who struggle with initial acquisition, catching up with their peers becomes increasingly difficult over time. This is partly due to the lack of practice that initial difficulties can lead to. If a child does not enjoy something, or finds it difficult, it should be no surprise to find them not practising the skill. Therefore, the negative effects of learning difficulties, and the consequent negative influences on motivation and engagement in learning, should be reduced through appropriate teaching methods and learning environments from the start of learning. Well-trained teachers (particularly those working in early learning contexts) equipped to deal with a diversity of learners (including those with special needs) and schooled in up-to-date teaching methods are the most effective way of reducing the negative consequences of learning difficulties/disabilities. For example, supporting phoneme awareness and letter-sound training from the beginning of learning to read can reduce the subsequent incidence of literacy-learning problems associated with dyslexia (Elbro & Petersen, 2004), and interventions based on similar themes show good outcomes when implemented early in literacy learning (Torgesen, 2005). In contrast, the same interventions left until the individual is older typically show lower levels of success, or require longer for the same levels of improvements to be found that, on average, occur with younger learners. This may be because (as suggested above) an older learner has more to catch up, due to the lack of learning provided simply by the act of reading. Equally, though, the consequences of experiencing failure in a basic educational skill can negatively impact self-concept and engagement, leading to a downward spiral of poor learning leading to lack of motivation to learn which leads to further problems with learning (see further discussions of this point in Chapter 10). Maintaining motivation, therefore, is a core component in prevention of the consequences of learning difficulties.
Positive outc...
