Effective Strategies To Improve Student Motivation For School Learning

Definitions of motivation

In the case of motivation, there is no conceptual ambiguity as it happens with other psychological processes and activities, and this is a positive aspect both for the evolution of the science of psychology and for the daily educational practices. Space constraints impose a limitation on the incursion into the literature that addresses the issue of school motivation. Thus, in the Great Dictionary of Psychology (Ardeleanu, Dorneanu, & Baltă, (2006) motivation is defined as "physiological and psychological processes responsible for triggering, maintaining and cessation of behavior, as well as the appetitive or aversive value given to the environmental elements on which it is exercised that behavior "( p. 773). In another paper of this kind, the authors prefer a more conceptual description of the motivation: "motivation is part of the relationship of behavior; thanks to it, the needs turns into goals, plans and projects; the subject actively seeks forms of interaction in such a way that certain relationships with certain objects are necessary or indispensable to functioning" (Doron & Parot, 2006, p. 513). In the above-mentioned approach, the development of motivation involves: channeling needs (learning); cognitive development (goals and projects); instrumental motivation (means and objectives); personalization (functional autonomy).

Turning now to other types of sources, Hayes and Orrell (1997) state that "the study of motivation is about exploring the underlying issues of our actions: how do we get to act and what kind of factors influence our actions” (p. 237) and Atkinson et al., (2002) define the motivation as "the study of wishes and needs relating to the factors that energize and direct behavior" (p. 441) Also, Reuchlin (1999), referring to the motivation, states that "it is particularly important to examine the factors that trigger the subject's activity, which guides it towards certain purposes that allow it to be extended if the goals are not immediately reached, or that stop at some point" (p. 391).

In the perimeter of Romanian psychology, Golu (2002) defines the motivation as "a specific form of reflection that signals to the command-control mechanisms of the personality system an oscillation from the initial equilibrium state, an energetic and informational deficit or a need to be satisfied” (p. 472). "An important definition also provides Zlate (2006) who considers that "motivation is an important lever in the process of self-regulation of the individual, a driving force of his entire psychic and human development” (p. 244). This means that selection and assimilation, as well as sedimentation of external influences, will depend on the motivational structures of the person. "A final definition of motivation, which we highlight, belongs to Popescu-Neveanu (2013) which reveals the specificity of the motivation in the following manner: "motivation fulfills a dual function in the person's system: a) having a reflective nature, the manifestation of causality in human behavior, motivation connects the person of the world and maintains it in the sphere of external determinism, which is vital for the person's being; b) being causally reproduced, transformed, and sedentary in time within the person, motivation operates a certain interruption in the chain of causes from the outside, gradually taking over it as the dominant command point in the person's behaviour (p. 705).

Typology of Reasons Involved in Learning Activities

Being a multi-purpose and extremely complex activity, motivation also shows a typology of quite varied motives, which in general remains relatively constant for most authors. We limit ourselves to summarizing only two which, of course, we present them in order the chronology of occurrence. Thus, Neacșu (1978), which dissociates the following types of motives: professional motives (explains the determination of the student to learn by his desire to prepare for the practice of a particular profession); socio-moral reasons (derived from the student's desire to be useful, to get the appreciation of others - teachers, colleagues or parents); individual reasons (refers to the need to affirm the student, the act of learning being made for "becoming someone"); relational motives (occurring on the background of relationships with other direct or indirect participants in the educational process); affective motives (such as fear of parents, shame of teachers, fear of the repercussions of getting a small grade); reasons for self-realization (are related to students' aspirations for personal fulfillment); stimulatory motives (materialized in praise, appreciation, encouragement); inhibitory motives (materialized in punishment, in conflict situations); motives grouped around a wish for success; reasons that are emphasized in the presence of some special skills in the instructive-educational process. All these reasons are perceived in everyday didactic activity according to the characteristics of the classroom but also according to the individual peculiarities of the pupils.

Also regarding the types of reasons, Pănișoară (2017) refers to Abraham Maslow's famous approach that identified several types of needs: physiological needs; security needs; membership requirements; needs of esteem; self-fulfillment needs. The conclusion of this typology is not to try to honor the needs of the last steps unless you previously satisfy those on the lower steps.

Ways to Boost Motivation for Learning Activity

Since the motivation is determined by a complex of variables, both inside and outside the subject, the teachers need to know what kind of motivation each student possesses in order to find the means and the ways to motivate him/her better for the activity learning. Identifying each type of motivation can be facilitated by knowing some indicators that are specific to one type or another. For example, in the case of intrinsic motivation, Barth (2002) considers that the main indicators are the following: a high level of concentration; the existence of spontaneous initiatives; the existence of an energetic attitude; the existence of a climate of free exchange and obedience to the other; expressing a shared pleasure; an expression of confidence. Based on the identification of the motivational structure of the pupils they work with, the teacher can design a specific strategy to amplify their motivation for the learning activity. The resources available to the teacher in this process are both the specialty literature and, above all, the didactic creativity, which is practically unlimited.

In relation to strategies that can amplify students' motivation for learning, we will selectively present some points of view by specialists. Thus, Osterrieth (1978) considers that among the possible ways of enhancing the motivation of the most important students are the following: permanent information of the pupils about the performances obtained at different types of activities; ensuring success in learning; the use of praise and not blame. Another author worthy of mention, Beauté (1994) lists other ways of enhancing motivation such as emphasizing the importance of content in different contexts of use, and also making students aware of the fact that learning inevitably implies and the consensus on the special efforts they have to make.

On the same note, Biehler and Snowman (1986) offer a series of suggestions for teachers, of which we selectively present the most important ones: making sustained efforts from teachers to make each subject interesting; using behavioral modification techniques to help students work for distant purposes; taking into account the individual differences between pupils in terms of their abilities, attitude towards school, individual work rhythm etc.; meeting the needs of the pupils (psychological, safety, affiliation, respect, etc.); increasing the number of attractive activities and diminishing the danger of non-involvement of students; providing (or creating) direct learning experiences that provide a realistic level of aspirations, enhancing self-confidence etc.; encouraging students who have problems, who have difficulties in overcoming them and developing self-confidence; the requirement for students to translate what they have learned into different educational disciplines into practice.

Very interesting and very effective are the proposals of other authors when it comes to enhancing students' motivation for instruction and learning. For example, Viau (1999) emphasizes the role of determining factors (conditions) for school motivation as levers of action to trigger and amplify it: the perception of the value of an activity; the perception of one's own ability to carry out an activity; the perception of the controllability (level of control over an activity). Regarding the perception of the value of an activity, it should be noted that the higher the value of an activity, the greater the degree of motivation of the students will be amplified. On the other hand, the more an activity will be perceived as less valuable, the less motivated and less interested in participating in its realization. As regards the student's perception of his/her competence to perform an activity, it can be stated that the pupil will become more motivated for an activity when he/she realizes that he/she possesses the necessary skills to accomplish that activity and less motivated in the opposite situation . Consequently, students need to be helped to develop skills to carry out the various school activities and to match their competencies to the various categories of tasks they will have to solve in the different moments of the training. They also need to be helped by the teacher to improve their perceptions of their competencies. In this sense, some authors (Marzano et al., 1992, cited in Viau, 1999, p. 176) offer teacher suggestions to help students improve perceptions about their own skills: students to set their own standards of success in a realistic manner and not to constantly appreciate through their colleagues; students should not be judged too severely when committing mistakes and understand the role and importance of error in the learning process (to distinguish between error and guilt/fault); in the work with mediocre students, the teacher divides activities into microactivity; when the context is favorable, the teacher allows each learner to define his/her own learning goals (goals must be clear and short-term), depending on their own capacities (the teacher must ensure that students know and want to use learning and self-regulatory strategies); students are aware of what they are doing well and what needs to be improved. Finally, with regard to the perception of the controllability of an activity, controllability means that the student anticipates, on the one hand, the way in which an activity will take place (its moments and sequences) and on the other hand the consequences or what follows of its deployment.

Viau (1999) offers a series of suggestions to improve students' perceptions of the level of control they can have on how learning is done: a) empowering pupils with the learning process in which they are involved, which assumes organizing, planning and managing learning. The teacher has to teach them how they can control their own learning and create the conditions to do it; b) organizing training and learning activities to enable students to make choices and take up learning; c) planning activities with a level of difficulty and complexity corresponding to the students' real abilities and possibilities, which are desirable factors in the causal attribution of the achievements (successes or failures) obtained in learning; d) instrumenting students with learning and self-regulatory strategies and their awareness of their importance in learning; e) raising students' awareness of the importance of attribution perceptions on motivation for learning and, implicitly, on school results/performance; f) avoid embarrassing or debilitating situations that can determine/affect the affective-emotional state of the students; g) emphasize the importance of the effort and time investment in learning, which are essential factors for success.

At all this, teachers can add others depending on context and specific didactic creativity