Motivation Usage and Applications

According to Ormrod (2008), for motivation to be effective in performing a given task, people must expect that they will be successful; and people must see value in performing the task (Ormrod, 2008, p. 533). Motivation is increased through learning, the impartation of information. Theobald (2006) asserts that transfer depends on previous learning (Theobald, 2006, p. 80). Students are motivated to learn by learning new skills and strategies rather than performing task (Schunk, 1991). To effectively motivate students teachers should start the teaching process by relating new information to old learning. Moreover, Huang (2003) suggests that there is no single educational strategy that will accommodate all learners for all task, but educator should employ a wide variety of strategies to enhance the learning outcomes(Huang, 2002). Huang (2003) shares ten strategies to enhance learners' motivation:


• Establish a pleasant atmosphere and a learner community

• Establish learners' profiles

• Foster open, supportive and positive environment through communications

• Instructors set clear expectations and help students to set clear and precise learning goals.

• Encourage learners to develop inner voices and social voices through dialog and sharing.

• Be and enthusiastic and creative instructor by showing a genuine interest in students.

• Be well organized and flexible. Illustrate how the course material is relevant, meaningful.

• Provide students with opportunities to accumulate successes, to build their confidence, by creating opportunities for students to correlate effort and result.

• Provide regular, prompt and individual feedback on performance.

• Have student to perform self-assessment of their own progress (Huang, 2003, p. 89-94).
References:

Huang, L. (December, 2003). Ten Pointers for Enhancing Learners' Motivation. Business Communication Quarterly. 66(4), p. 88-95.

Motivating Students(2009). Vanderbilt Center For Teaching. Retrieved on April 16, 2010, from http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/interactions/motivating.htm.

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

Schunk, D. H. (1991). Learning theories: An educational perspective. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

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.