Introduction
Motivation is a very important aspect of the learning process whether in the classroom or outside. This is because it helps create a universal interest among students which leads to improved general success of the learners. The use of educational motivation theories is based on the assumption that each and every individual has specific needs concerning learning.
It is for this reason that motivational strategies are applied in learning with the aim of creating a central interest in a certain task. There are various strategies that have been used in learning settings especially in schools to give the students motivation to succeed in their academic endeavors. Some of these strategies involve certain learning activities that seem be of common interest to the students.
However, there are two basic theories of motivation in educational setting categorized by internal and external factors of individual students. This is because motivation has been said to be affected by a central part of an individual (Culatta, 2011, p. 1). Each of these theories have their advantages and disadvantages as well as different ways through which they can be applied in learning set ups.
Intrinsic motivation
As the name suggests, intrinsic motivation deals more with the internal factors that exist within individual students. Similarly, factors related to the task itself affects learning motivation. This is better demonstrated by what individual students like to do over other tasks. For instance, some students like reading more than others. In this case, such students are always motivated by their love for reading even if the task has no reward.
On the other hand, the students who do not enjoy reading find it difficult to read unless pressured to do so by some kind of reward such as excelling in an examination. Carl Rogers, a humanistic theorist describes this kind of learning motivation as one which exists within oneself without the need to consider external factors.
In this case, students do not require receiving external rewards as they get to build up their self-esteem through achievement of their desired goals which could be said to be internal reward (McDaniel, 2012, p. 1). This means that there is no external force driving the individuals to reach a desired goal/achievement.
This kind of motivation is significant in that individuals are motivated by their desirable behaviors and this helps them to perform tasks much better and they are more likely to succeed without much concern of the reward that may come along with the task. The advantage of intrinsic motivation is that students or even adults are ready to take responsibility of their actions.
This is because they act on the basis of a central locus from within and therefore they do not consider external factors as influences of the outcome of their actions. This leads to prevention of unnecessary blames such as to teachers and other external factors involved in a learning set up.
Such individuals have cognitive abilities of perceiving failure. Another important significance of intrinsic motivation is that it promotes long-term learning.
However, the process of encouraging intrinsic motivation in students is not an easy one as it takes quite a long period of time to get the students to gain interest in a particular subject or task. An instructional leader may use intrinsic motivation to create change in people by encouraging them to perform excellently in tasks not only for material rewards, but also to increase their self-esteem.
Extrinsic motivation
Contrary to the intrinsic motivation theory, extrinsic motivation is triggered by external factors rather than an individual’s interests. This means that external factors such as teacher’s efforts and possible rewards are the motivational tools. Thus, the desire for students to get these rewards is what puts them under the pressure of a successful outcome in a task.
In learning institutions such as schools, extrinsic motivation is applied as a form of a system that is aimed at forcing desirable behavior on students. The significance of extrinsic motivation is get students to produce positive results through the administration of negative consequences which when executed effectively leads to success.
Some of the external forces that are applicable external motivation include praise and recognition among others. Students who get external motivation during learning have the tendency to blame their failures on teachers, the kind of books they use as well as other environmental conditions.
Such learners are said to have an external control which makes them look at unsuccessful outcomes as failures rather than one-time mistakes and this leads to more lack of motivation. The most significant limitation of extrinsic motivation is decreased self-esteem in students or learners due to the resultant lack of self-awareness caused by the lack of internal center of control (Hingle, 2012, p. 1).
As a result, such learners tend to give up more easily than those who possess intrinsic motivational traits with the thoughts that they do not have adequate skills for certain tasks especially when they fail to succeed in a continuous manner. The advantage of extrinsic motivation is that learners who lack desirable goals of their own ends up succeeding in a certain task where the successful outcome may be the ultimate goal of the task.
Self-regulated motivation
This form of motivation is more directed to adult learners although it also applies to students. It is based on the theory that the only way to solve illiteracy or unsuccessful outcomes is by getting rid of what is termed as compulsion to schools. This system focuses on a free society that lets individuals choose what they want to do with their lives rather than children being forced to take up classes which they may not be interested in.
In most cases, this drifts the children further away from success. This theory is said to be legendary as the children are allowed to master the world on their own rather than being pressured into classroom learning.
However, this theory does not necessarily ignore the importance of school learning as it asserts that such interests in children and other individuals are better nurtured in schools where the dreams are kept alive and thrilling as much as possible with the use of needed freedom.
In this kind of motivation, the schools do not use external factors such as ratings and other rewards to influence the performance of students but rather the students have the freedom to achieve goals through self-determination. Instead, the students are given the chance to examine their progress which consequently facilitates development of self-evaluation skills.
This provides long-life learning skills to students which is very significant for them in running their lives after classroom learning. The most important significance of this kind of motivation is that it allows students to learn in their own ways rather than dictated methods and achieve their goals using their own set standards (Wang, 2001, p. 1).
The provision of freedom to learners helps create a positive environment where the students learn to cooperate with each other without being supervised. However, the process may be a difficult one as each student is faced with the challenge of achieving goals on oneself without any assistance.
This may involve hard decision making where the students have to choose wisely on their own. This can be used by an instructional leader to cause change by allowing individuals particular tasks of their choice and on their free will which would in turn result to increased positive outcome.
Conclusion
Motivation is a very important tool in any classroom or learning setup. The major significance of motivation in learning is to give every student the chance to succeed. This should not only involve meeting specific goals, but also giving the students the opportunity of excelling in any other endeavor in life especially outside the classroom.
For greater impact of motivation in any learning setting, engagement in educational activities and a stress-free environment are highly advised to promote individual improvement and creativity. For this reason, students who lack intrinsic motivation should be provided with behavioral rewards to help them build an internal motivation by increasing their self-esteem.
It is very important to give students every possible chance of succeeding and this is best done by using various kinds of learning strategies. This is because students are different and so are their needs. These strategies are necessary in facilitating optimal success for each and every student.
Reference List
Culatta, R. (2011). Theories of motivation. Web.
Hingle, L. (2012). Learning motivational theories. Web.
McDaniel, R. (2012). Theories of motivation in education. Web.
Wang, S. (2001). Motivation. Web.