Introduction
Motivation is one of the keys to organizing an effective educational process. Various rewards are considered adequate and frequently used to increase student engagement. Among the latter are verbal praise, a formal prize, approval from the teacher or peers, and numerous ratios of rating tables. Whether the above methods are always practical and justified as parts of the learning process remains open these days. The effect of rewards depends on the task a teacher tries to solve using this method.
Positive Impact of Rewards on Motivation
Encouragement should be pedagogically sound and announced to develop students’ academic performance. It is vital to ensure publicity while praising to draw other children’s attention to the distinguished student’s activity. Moreover, arousing in a class a desire to follow the good example is vital.
The positive impact of rewards on motivation is most often expressed when students generally have a high level of interest in the subjects but do not cope with tasks for various reasons (Seifert and Sutton 284). The latter can include an inability to understand the task format or get used to new requirements. As students mature morally, their system of encouragement develops from predominantly material incentives to mental ones (Seifert and Sutton 284). Reactions to encouragement provide the teacher with information regarding the children’s ego and ambition, their attitudes toward the cause, the rewards, and the true motivations for the activity.
Often, this is due to the need to do a lot of routine work or systematically complete homework that requires discipline. In general, children’s positive attitude towards the subject can reveal a lack of motivation to spend much effort on it. In this case, encouragement will be a good push factor, justifying the time and energy spent on the tasks. Moreover, this method can be effective in parallel with implementing the training task (Seifert and Sutton 290). In this case, encouragement will allow students to feel unity and to experience interest in working together within the framework of a particular subject.
Negative Impact of Rewards on Motivation
Nevertheless, in cases where, for any reason, the majority of students are not interested in a subject, encouragement can make the situation worse. For example, in a math class, students who are not motivated to learn the subject will resort to cheating, in the pursuit of a prize for making the fewest mistakes in their homework. Without a genuine interest in the discipline, children will choose the easiest way to get the desired reward, including using websites with solved assignments or adult help (Seifert and Sutton 278). On the surface, an increase in activity and engagement will be seen, but there will be no actual increase in learning efficiency. Moreover, students will become accustomed to studying in school, and education generally involves finding workarounds to get a satisfactory result.
Conclusion
Thus, the teacher’s method of encouragement, regardless of the type of educational organization, should be chosen with caution. It is essential to understand how to develop an internal interest in the subject and the current tasks of working with the student body. If pupils do not have a deep understanding of the role and importance of the subject for their future lives, encouragement can accustom them to dishonest performance and cheating.
Work Cited
Seifert, Kelvin, and Rosemary Sutton. Educational psychology (2nd ed.). Orange Grove, 2009.