Use of Motivation in the Teaching-Learning

Process

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

In ideal classroom,
students
 Pay Attention
 Ask questions
 Want to learn
They do their assignments without complaint and study without being
coaxed and cajoled.
But, teachers often have students who don’t seem motivated to work
on the classroom tasks set out for them.
What is Motivation?
Motivation refers to getting someone moving.
An extrinsic motivators or rewards provide a tangible
incentive for students to do a specific thing, are
forces that arise from outside the individuals such as
honors, monetary rewards, medals and the like.
Extrinsic rewards are generally effective for short-
term goals only, and can often distract students from
fully learning or understanding the subject at hand.
The rewards also need to be consistent and
increased during certain times in order to work.
Intrinsic rewards, on the other hand, are driven by the desire to
engage in a behavior because it is personally rewarding. There is
no tangible item that the student can gain from performing an
activity; their self-motivation and emotional well-being is their
reward.

Some examples of intrinsic rewards would be helping build a house

because you find it brings joy to you, or playing an educational
game because you find it challenging and exciting. These examples
show an internal motivation to participate in an activity for its own
sake.
What do the studies say about the intrinsic and
extrinsic motivators or rewards?

Deci (1971; 1972) discovered that money as a

reward has detrimental effects on motivation.
• Bradley M. Allan, et al. (2011) stated that incentives can be a cost-
effective strategy to raise achievement among even the poorest minority
students in the lowest-performing schools if the incentives are given for
certain inputs to the educational production function.
• Paying students to read books yields large and statistically significant
increases in reading comprehension. Paying students for attendance, good
behaviour, wearing their uniforms, and turning in their homework yields a
similar estimate;
According to one study in 2007 conducted by a Cornell professor,
C. Kirabo Jackson, students who are rewarded for earning good
grades on AP tests tend to score higher on the SAT and choose to
attend college at higher rates than those who are not rewarded
for grades.
Children who are intrinsically motivated display a number of
behaviours that allow them to perform accordingly with their academic
abilities (Spaulding, 1992).

For example, children who are intrinsically motivated become deeply

involved in the task at hand and experience a feeling of enjoyment
(Amabile and Gitomer, 1984), and seek out challenges with the
intention of conquering them(Adelman and Taylor, 1990).
In conclusion:
• Rewards are often necessary when it comes to helping students achieve
their academic goals; however, they must be used correctly and in
moderation in order to be effective.
• Extrinsic rewards can be beneficial if teachers and parents understand that
it is for a short-term goal, and that the student will most likely only be
temporarily interested in the material.
• Although in some cases, extrinsic motivation can lead to intrinsic
motivation, where students look forward to earning intrinsic rewards. It is
true that it may take time to achieve those intrinsic rewards, but the
results will show long-term effects and can often build a student’s
character.