Importance of Motivation to Learning

Learning is an active, life-long process of gaining new information, intentional or unintentional, that elicits a behavioral, emotional and/or mental change. According to Slavin (2006), motivation is an important element of effective instruction and is fundamental to the learning process (Slavin, 2006, p. 316). Motivation is vital to engaging students in learning activities and is critical in ascertaining how much the learner will extract from the activities they participate in (Slavin, 2006). Slavin asserts higher cognitive processes are used when students are motivated to learn and these students generally assimilate and retain more of the information assigned (Slavin, 2006). The role of motivation in the learning process is to engage students in learning activities, and influence learning outcomes.

While the teachers goal is to assist students with learning, Theobald (2006) states motivating students to learn can be difficult and challenging because "motivation is internal, it comes from within oneself" (Theobald, 2006, p. 1). Slavin (2006) states that it is the educator's responsibility to discover, encourage and sustain the students' motivation to learn by engaging the students in activities that promotes learning (Slavin, 2006). However, motivation is ineffective if an individual does not want to learn and is not willing to learn. Theobald (2006) asserts students cannot be forced to learn if the student do not want to learn and is not motivated to learn (Theobald, 2006). We are all motivated in one way or another, whether in a positive or negative way. "Students who are highly motivated to learn something are more likely than other students to consciously plan their learning, carry out a learning plan, and retain the information they obtain" (Slavin, 2006, p. 324). When students endeavor to gain the most from their learning experiences and find these experiences useful and valuable, Ormrod (2008) states these students have a strong motivation to learn (Ormrod, 2008).

References:
Ormrod, J. E. (2008). Human learning (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Slavin, R. E. (2006). Educational psychology theory and practice (8th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.

Theobald, M. A. (2006). Increasing student motivation: Strategies for middle and high school teachers. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.