Motivational Plan

There are five basic theories of motivation. 1) Self-determination theory states that people have three basic needs. 2) Attribution theory wants to know why things happen. 3) Expectancy-value theory is interested in a person’s beliefs about abilities. 4) Social cognitive theory states that human behavior comes from their attributes. 5) Goal orientation theory wants to know the reasons for doing tasks. Self-Determination Theory The self-determination theory states that people have three basic needs. A need for autonomy, which is to feel a sense of self-directedness, the need to feel competent, and the need to be related to something.

People are motivated with the things that will help meet these needs. People are motivated when their actions are self-determined. “The more self-determined the motivation is, the more the person experience positive outcomes, including persisting in the activity” (Lavigne, Vallerand & Miquelon, 2007). People perceive they have choices available to them. This theory gives another reason for negative effects of rewards on intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when a student really wants to learn something. Students will be motivated if they feel they relate to what is going on. They also will be motivated if they feel competent.

If a student feels they are smart and can do a task successfully, they will be more motivated to get it done. If an individual has the three basic needs they will have self-determination. Attribution Theory Attribution theory wants to know why things happen. It might lead to negative feelings. It could cause someone to give up or try harder depending on the feeling. “Attribution (explanatory) thinking involves an appraisal of factors contributing to success and failure outcomes and is regarded as instrumental to motivation and goal striving in achievement settings” (Perry, Stupnisky, Daniels & Haynes, 2008).

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Stability is if the event is constant across time and situations. A cause that is stable is failing a test because they are not smart. Intelligence is unchangeable so it is a stable attribution. A cause that is unstable is not doing well because the student was sick when they took a test. Locus is the cause is either internal of external. Locus that is internal is thinking you do not have the ability or skills to do well. Locus that is external is outside factors. These could be the teacher grades hard, the classroom environment like too noisy or interruptions, or anything that is outside the students’ ability.

Control is the belief that a person can control events. If a student makes a bad grade on something, they can make two attributions for this grade. They could possible feel they just are not capable of doing the work or understanding the work. They could also feel they did not put forth a lot of effort and therefore could have controlled the grade. If it is a controllability issue, then the student is likely to try and fix it. Teachers can help students with the attribution theory by helping with stability. They can encourage a student that they are intelligent and capable of doing the work assigned.

They can also encourage a student which will help with internal locus. Expectancy-value theory Expectancy-value theory is interested in a person’s belief about abilities and their value of a task. Motivation is determined by one’s expectancies for success and one’s value of the task. How a teacher teaches can influence a student’s beliefs and values. There are four components to this theory. “Correspond to the students’ beliefs about how well they will perform on upcoming tasks and relate to their perception of being able to carry out their academic projects successfully” (Chouinard & Roy, 2008).

An example is a student who thinks they are logical will value problem solving. The intrinsic value is how interesting a task is to a student. If they like what they are doing, they will be motivated to finish it. The utility value is finding usefulness in a task. The student will be motivated if it will help their grade. The last component is cost. The cost value knows it will be worth their time to do it. Usually if a student knows the assignment is not going to be graded, they won’t bother to do it. Student results come from teacher expectancies. If a teacher thinks the tudents will perform poorly and they treat them this way, then they will not do well. If a teacher has high expectations for the students and shows them this, they will do better. If teachers believe that certain groups of students do not value educations, then they will have different expectations for them. Teachers also have different expectations based on culture areas and socioeconomic backgrounds. Social Cognitive Theory The social cognitive theory states “that most human emotion is the direct result of what people think, tell themselves, assume, or believe about themselves and their social situations” (Lantz, 1978).

Students are motivated by what they see in other people. If they see that their older brother or sister cannot get anywhere in life because they dropped out, they will be less likely to drop out. They also are motivated if they have a belief they have the ability to perform a certain task. Teachers can influence their beliefs. Teachers can take a weak student and pair them with a strong student to motivate them by what they see in the strong student. Teachers can also motivate them by convincing them they have the ability to do a task. Goal orientation theory Goal orientation theory constitutes a substantial and informative body of knowledge concerning motivational processes in achievement settings and particularly in educational contexts" (Kaplan & Maehr, 2007). The goal orientation theory wants to know the students’ reasons for doing academic tasks. There are two goals: mastery goals and performance goals. Mastery goals are tasks that truly master the material. Performance goals are tasks that demonstrate the ability. The theorists also look at approach and avoidance goals. Approach goals are positive motivation.

Avoidance goals are negative motivation. Students with mastery goals are looking to improve their competence. Mastery goals have been associated with increased effort. Mastery-focused classrooms are discussions that encourage all students to participate. Students who use mastery goals are often critical thinkers. Students who use performance goals are using cognitive skills. These are the five theories of motivation. They are used by educators everywhere. By understanding them, teachers can help encourage positive motivation and help the students achieve the best education possible.

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