Student Motivation

The public education system in the U.S. has been under attack due to the lack of success it has experienced. Despite the abundance of resources other countries are still educationally outperforming the U.S. The determining factor doesn’t appear to be a lack of resources, curriculum, or teachers. The common denominator in the lack of performance in students is a lack of motivation. In search for the answer to the question, “What Effect Does Motivation Have on Student Performance?” several studies have been conducted and the research all seem to come to the same conclusions. In the following articles various forms of motivation are utilized and examined in an attempt to locate the answer to academic motivation. The studies provide tremendous insight into the techniques that should and should not be used when motivating students towards success. Personal motivation is not just some arbitrary factor in the business of education. Instead it is the determining factor when researching the possibility of student success or failure.

Literature Review

Creative, distinguished instruction is not the determining factor of whether or not learning takes place. A study written by Karen Clerk, “Student Perception and Success: “How Adult Learners at a Two- Year Technical Institution Perceive Instruction and How Their Perceptions Contribute to Their Overall Academic Success”. This study utilized quantitative methods and descriptive statistics in order to describe the data discovered (Clerk, 2010). The methods used add to the validity of the research due to the grounded methods used to conduct inquiries. This study includes adult learners who are attending a two- year technical university. It finds that the student perception of ins...

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...tic tend to perform better” (Pg. 5). The studies in this review had similar conclusions. Positive thoughts and varying levels of optimism, caused by incentives or internal sources do improve the overall performance of students in an educational setting. Holt’s paper, “Learning, Teaching, Thinking, and Emotions” supports the notion that in order for students, of any age, to be successful they must be equipped with tools to reduce their stress and anxiety. Feelings and emotions play an integral role in the academic success of students. In today’s medical fields doctors have acknowledged the importance of treating the whole person under the label of holistic medicine. The educational world would benefit from accepting the notion that learning does not take place in isolation but it is affected by many factors including the thoughts and emotions of the learner.