MOTIVATION
Motivation refers to the driving force that makes a
person to do something. For example; a man works
in two jobs to earn more money, a boy
learns his lessons to play computer
games, a student writes neatly to get a
badge. Motivation is what makes us to act, whether it is to eat something to
reduce hunger or read a story to complete a book review form. These
motives involve biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that
activate certain behaviors.
Motivation is of two types; intrinsic motivation & extrinsic
motivation. Extrinsic motivation refers to the motivation when the learner
does something to get an external reward, whereas intrinsic
motivation motivates the learner
to experience a
rewarding result.
Student motivation is important because students need motivation
for them to do effective learning. Without any motivation the students sitting in a
classroom won’t achieve anything.
Theories of motivation
· Behavioral view – Completing a task
in order to get a reward only.
· Social cognitive view
· Humanistic view - Motivation influenced by
fulfilling different levels of need ( Roza,2013)
Factors that influence motivation
·
Values and beliefs of one’s culture
·
Emotions
·
Degree of competency
·
Prior knowledge
·
Perceptions
Students can be motivated using
external rewards at the beginning. And later the reward could be removed, once
the students are intrinsically motivated.
Reference
Yunus,K.R.M., Razali,M &
Jantan,R.(2011).HBEF2013: Educational Psychology. Open University Malaysia: Pearson
Roza,I.(2013,April).Motivation.
Unpublished lecture notes, The Maldives National University, Maldives.
