Academic
Motivation: Implications
Although much has been written about academic
motivation (and its conceptual grandfather/mother—Need for
Achievement), until recently little long-term developmental
research had been conducted (Covington & Dray,
2002). Longitudinal research helps to answer the question of
“which factors, singly and in combination, influence the
willingness to learn for its own sake, and whether these factors
change in number and saliency as individuals move from one level of
schooling to another throughout their educational careers”
(Covington & Dray, 2002, p. 34). A review of the relevant
literature (Gresham, 1988, 1987; Reschly, 1987; Rivera et al.,
1988; Wigfield and Eccles, 2002) suggests that:
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Most
students begin school with a global sense of competence and
interest/motivation in learning. As early as first grade,
students begin developing a more differentiated and complex set of
goals, values, and beliefs that influence their academic
achievement motivation. Children, in general, do not come to
school lacking academic motivation.
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A
student’s motivation changes across the school years.
Although most young students enter school with an optimistic view
of their personal abilities, and are generally positively motivated
to learn, academic achievement motivation decreases over time due
to child- specific and school environment changes. For most
students this change is normative and not
problematic. However, students “at risk” for, or
actually experiencing frustration with learning (e.g., students
with disabilities), are at greater risk for decreased academic
motivation. For example, Gresham (1997) concluded that
“the effects of repeatedly failed mastery attempts are
increased dependence on external approval, a perceived lack of
competence of self-esteem, anxiety in mastery situations, and
decrements in effectance motivation. By the time a learner with
learning disabilities is identified and labeled, he or she has a
well- established pattern of responding to mastery
situations”(p. 288). The consequences of decreased
academic achievement (effectance) motivation can result in a
variety of nonproductive behaviors (e.g., noncompliance on new
tasks, self-doubt, dependency on others, loss of interest).
Researchers have also demonstrated that a lack of motivation plays
a critical role in the achievement of students with learning
disabilities. According to Reschly (1987), “there is
considerable agreement, supported by reasonably strong, but not
definitive, evidence, that mildly retarded persons are more subject
to failure- set phenomena (involving reduced motivation and less
efficient learning even on simple tasks subsequent to experiencing
failures…” (p. 43)
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A
student’s motivation and behavior become more closely linked
with age. As students mature, the goals they set and their
academic-related beliefs and values begin to mesh with their actual
performance—they become more reality-based. Questions
still remain regarding the direction (unidirectional or
bi-directional/reciprocal) of the “cause” of this
change. Nevertheless, it is clear that a student’s
academic motivation and actual academic performance cannot be
treated separately.
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Utilization of evaluative feedback improves with
age. As students move through school they develop more
accurate and sophisticated understandings of the evaluative
feedback received from their educational environment.
Concurrently, the environmental feedback changes as reflected by
transitions to letter grades, differentiated group instruction, and
more frequent standardized testing. A student’s greater
sensitivity (with increasing age) to direct and indirect sources of
performance feedback can influence a student’s motivations in
a number of positive and/or negative ways.
