Conceptualizing student motivation

Abstract

Because classrooms are work settings in which students are engaged in compulsory activities and because the work involved is largely intellectual rather than physical, concepts and measures developed for studying motivation in free choice play situations have limited application to the study of student motivation for engaging in academic activities. More attention is needed to the cognitive aspects of motivation (not just its affective aspects) and to the value that students place on academic activity (not just their performance expectations and attributions). This article discusses these issues and offers suggestions about how teachers might become more successful than they are now in socializing their students to become motivated to learn. Motivation to learn in school means seeking to acquire the knowledge or skill that an academic activity is designed to develop, not merely getting the activity finished or doing the minimum necessary to meet requirements.