Interaction of Epistemological Beliefs and Motivation
Introduction
There are reasons to think that a student’s motivation to learn will influence his or her epistemological beliefs and these beliefs will also affect said motivation. Before proceeding to look at these possible interactions we should look at contemporary theories of motivation and theories about students' beliefs about knowledge and knowing. Unfortunately there is still no broad consensus about either topic so we shall look at the prominent theories of today. First we will glance at five theories of motivation, then peek at six theories about student epistemological beliefs, and proceed with a discussion of how motivation to learn can alter one’s epistemological beliefs concluding with some ways in which epistemological beliefs may guide motivation.
Motivation
There are many aspects that are theorized to have influences on student motivation and many theories were formulated attempting to capture the most important of them. Generally accepted and well articulated theories can be grouped into five families: expectancy-value theory, attribution theory, social cognitive theory, goal orientation theory, and self-determination theory. We will look at each briefly, summarizing their key constructs.
Expectancy-Value Theory, a later development of Achievement Motivation Theory, deals with the learner’s resultant achievement motivation (which results from the synthesis of hope of success and fear of failure). The motivation is considered a function of expectancy of achieving the desired outcome and (possibly multifaceted) value placed on the outcome or task. Attribution Theory claims a student’s motivation will result from his or her ascription of causes of outcomes ...
... middle of paper ...
... creator of knowledge and thus (via Self-Determination Theory) be motivated by desire for competence and due to a desire for autonomy. While these are reasons why one would want to engage in learning activities, it is not obvious that such reasons will be strong enough to compel one to action. What seems probable is that at lower levels of epistemological development, desire for autonomy may still exist but draw the learner only to a shallow depth of understanding. Furthermore, not having a personal responsibility for knowledge (if knowledge is seen as authority based) may drive one against self-directed learning.
It seems possible that when one has a belief in binary knowledge, one might extend such a simplistic black-and-white view to other domains, seeing ability as binary (thus more likely believing in an entity theory of intelligence). [Thanks Dan Greene]
Having known that adults are supposed to be self-directed, internally motivated and goal-oriented in the learning process, it is believed that Expectancy-Value Theory proposed by Wigfiled and his colleagues might be fruitful in explaining adults’ learning motivation in this case study.
“Motivation is a complex part of human psychology and behavior that influences how individuals choose to invest their time, how much energy they exert in any given task, how they think and feel about the task, and how long they persist at the task” (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). The biggest question educators face in today’s classroom is what motivates a student to do something and why? Virtually all students are motivated in one way or another. Research of student motivation suggests a theory that emphasizes a social-cognitive perspective. The cognition of students regarding academic work are influenced by social factors, such as messages from the teacher about the difficulty of the task, the perceived abilities of classmates, and the information about the importance of learning the material (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). In this paper the focus will primarily be on those elements within the classroom that influence student motivation and engagement.
Wang, S.‑K., & Han, S. (2001). Six c�s of motivation. In M. Orey (Ed.), Learning, teaching, & technology. Retrieved September 15, 2002, from University of Georgia, Dept. of Instructional Technology Web site: http://itstudio.coe.uga.edu/ebook/6csmotivation.htm
Many researches have been conducted to investigate what motivates students for better academic performance and whether it has a correlation with achievement motivation.
Keller, John M. (2006). What Are the Elements of Learner Motivation? Retrieved July 4, 2011
“Motivation is the process whereby goal-orientated activity is instigated and sustained” (Schunk, Pintrich & Meece, 2008. As cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010, p.284). Motivation comes in many forms and can be divided into two broad categories - extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivators are external factors which can motivate a student; rewards are an example of this. An issue with extrinsic motivators is that the desire for the learner to participate often lessens, once the rewards are withdrawn (McCullers, 1987). On the other hand intrinsic motivation comes from within - learning for the joy of it - where the desire to learn leads to a higher level of knowledge, and is a reward in itself. Kohn (1996, p.285) states that research suggests, “Rewards actually decrease interest in intrinsically motivating tasks, therefore sending the wrong message about learning” (as cited in Eggen & Kauchak, 2010a)
...motivation. However, SCT recognise the importance of social interactions and their influence of motivation. Furthermore, SCT is a social cognitive expectancy x value approach to motivation, reflective of Eccles and Wigfield’s (2001;2002) model of expectancy value theory. Similar to attribution theory, SCT determines that motivation is influenced by the environment and interactions with others and how these influence learners’ attributes and judgements. Conversely, SCT is unique as it determines that motivation and behaviour is influences through observation and cognition, disregarding Blooms (1956) domains of affect and psychomotor. Self-regulation is a recent development in SCT. Like SDT, self-regulation comprises of two categories, with learners being self-regulated or not. According to this theory, underachievement occurs when a learner is (Woolfolk et al. 2013).
Theories of Motivation What is the motivation for this? According to the text, motivation is defined as a set of factors that activate, direct, and maintain behavior, usually toward a certain goal. Motivation is the energy that makes us do things; this is a result of our individual needs being satisfied so that we have inspiration to complete the mission. These needs vary from person to person as everybody has their individual needs to motivate themselves.
It is first important to understand how motivation works in the classroom. There are infinite procedures teachers use to achieve desired effects from their students, but there are general patterns these motivational tools follow. In order for teachers to communicate with their students, they must identify with their needs on an individual basis (Gawel, 1997). This proposal is much akin to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which states five basic needs that must be met in order to achieve full motivation. These needs, in ascending order, are as follows: physiological, security, love and belongingness, esteem and self-respect, and self-actualization (Gawel, 1997). Each of these needs details a very important issue in motivation inside the classroom and out.
Pintrich, P. R. (2004). A conceptual framework for assessing motivation and self-regulated learning in college students. Educational Psychology Review, 16(4), 385-407.
Motivation is an important multidimensional construct that is consistently associated with achievement in school (Salanga & Bernardo, 2016). Hence, motivation plays a role in achieving success academically. Students with high sense of efficacy have the capacity to accept more challenging tasks, have higher abilities to manage time, have increased persistence in the face of obstacles, exhibit lower anxiety levels, show flexibility in the use of learning strategies and have a high ability to adapt with different educational environments (Elmotaleb & Sahalof, 2013).
Student motivation can be affected by several factors. These elements include parent involvement, teacher enthusiasm, rewards, peers, the learner’s environment, personal experiences, personal interests of the student, and self-esteem and self-image.
After a person is aware of their ignorance, they can seek knowledge by learning from others and discovering for themselves. Living a life where someone is constantly examining themselves is important because if they do not examine themselves, then they will not have knowledge about the things they do not know about themselves. Learning from others is a passive way of getting to know something because you are not trying to go out and experience it yourself and learn through experiences. Learning from others is crucial early on in a humans’ life. As humans grow up, they should start seeking more knowledge for themselves as opposed to learning from others because seeking knowledge for ourselves can help to get to the deeper truth about themselves or something else. In school, students often are learning from others instead of gaining knowledge themselves. When students start to discover knowledge themselves, they are trying to get to the truth and are interested in gaining knowledge about the
One contributing factor towards student success is student motivation. Motivation is reading unassigned books out of class that relate to the class subject matter, just to expand his or her knowledge. The need or want type of actions a persons’ mentality is, to reach a personal goal or objective of some sort. People’s motivational purpose in school can range from, higher earning potential, more job stability, greater benefits, and even just to gain more knowledge. In a YouTube video entitled “The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us” by Dan Pink, he suggests that three elements: purpose, mastery, and autonomy play a part towards true motivation. Autonomy is ones self-drive, while
The next theory is expectancy theory of motivation: expectancy theory of motivation suggest that we think about our future. We create different expectations about what is going to happen next, and we always want a positive outcome. We believe that we have the ability to get the best. This motivate us to work hard in order to achieve the goal towards we work. This theory of motivation is the best tool for students because if we hope then only we can work. If we use expectancy theory to motivate our students then we can aspect that each student have their own goal and positive expectation to achieve good