What Motivating the Unmotivated Advises

• To bolster students’ academic interest, teachers can facilitate a learning environment that nurtures:

  • Incremental beliefs about intelligence
    i.e., the belief that intelligence can be increased through efforts

  • Adoption of mastery goals
    i.e., the desire to acquire additional knowledge or master new skills

  • Engagement in intrinsic motivation
    i.e., engaging in academic activities out of interest and enjoyment

What Is Motivating the Unmotivated?

Motivating the Unmotivated is a research study that sought to provide answers on why (i.e., causes) and how (i.e., underlying mechanism) students are motivated or unmotivated in their academic pursuits.

Based on three major theories in motivation literature i.e., the self-determination theory, the achievement goal theory, and implicit theories of intelligence (see Figure 1: Three major theories in motivation literature), the study investigated:

• the relationship between students’ intrinsic motivation, self-regulation, intelligence beliefs and goals adopted in Mathematics
• teachers’ intelligence belief and teaching methods, with an aim towards informing a follow-up intervention study

Figure 1: Three major theories in motivation literature ( available for download here )

While the project was set in Normal stream Mathematics classrooms, the findings and implications may be applied to a wider variety of teaching and learning contexts.

Why Motivating the Unmotivated?

The Motivating the Unmotivated research advances the education research frontier in these areas:

• it is a first where causal relationships between intelligence beliefs, achievement goals, learning engagement and performance can be derived
• it links teachers’ reported teaching preferences with their intelligence beliefs
• it links teachers’ feedback with students’ intelligence beliefs and achievement goals

It is therefore logical to expect findings from this result, if translated sensitively and accurately, to improve teaching and learning experiences in the classroom.

How It Works?

The Motivating the Unmotivated research study was conducted in 2 waves. All students in both waves were in Secondary 1 to 3 at the time of the data collection.

Figure 2: Motivating the Unmotivated – The Research Methodology ( available for download here )

Evidence from Motivating the Unmotivated

• Based on the research sample, five distinct motivational profiles of students emerged:

  

  Figure 3: Five Motivational Profiles of Students ( available for download here )

The Five Motivational Profiles of Students are:

• Autonomously Regulated (15.6%)
• Intrinsically and Extrinsically Motivated (29.3%)
• Averagely Motivated (38.1%)
• Control Regulated (12.6%)
• Minimally Motivated (4.54%)

Amongst the five motivational profiles, becoming Autonomously Regulated is considered optimum. Students who are autonomously regulated have these characteristics:

• highly self-directed
• enjoy and see the importance of the subject matter
• do not need pressure or rewards to engage in school

Further, the research team also plotted the five motivational profiles against the:

• four subscales of the Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (see Figure 5: Continuum of Self-Determination below for explanations on the subscales) i.e., external, introjected, identified and intrinsic
• intrinsic motivation levels, i.e., enjoyment, value, effort, competence and self-concept
• homework and revision time

Figure 4: Cluster Analyses of the Five Motivational Profiles ( available for download here )

Figure 5: Continum of Self-Determination ( available for download here )

The research team also found out that:

• Teachers’ and students’ beliefs about the nature of intelligence were not domain-specific, as evidenced by the positive correlations between academic and sport beliefs in both waves of the study.
• Students who believe intelligence may be increased with hard work (as opposed to being a fixed trait) tend to endorse mastery goals (as opposed to performance goals) in Mathematics. These students tend to enjoy, value, and feel competent in Mathematics classes.
• There is a positive relationship between teachers who believe intelligence may be increased with hard work and their usage of teaching methods that encourage and challenge students to think and achieve more in Mathematics.
• Although teachers’ intelligence beliefs did not significantly predict students’ intelligence beliefs, achievement goals, or learning motivations, teachers’ endorsements of teaching methods were correlated with students’ intrinsic motivations, enjoyment, value, effort, and competence in their Mathematics classes.
• Students who report higher levels of intrinsic motivation tend to perform better academically in test results at both waves.

How Can Teachers Get Started?

To bolster students’ academic interest, teachers can facilitate a learning environment that nurtures:

• incremental beliefs about intelligence

  i.e., the belief that intelligence can be increased through efforts

• adoption of mastery goals

  i.e., the desire to acquire additional knowledge or master new skills and

• engagement in intrinsic motivation

  i.e., engaging in academic activities out of interest and enjoyment

Related Links

The Motivation in Educational Research Laboratory (MERL) is one of the six centres of research excellence in the National Institute of Education of Singapore.

With Professors Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, creators of the Self-Determination Theory and founders of the Rochester Human Motivation Laboratory as consultants, MERL focuses on:

• Motivational issues in education and sports
• guided primarily by the Self-Determination Theory and other major motivational theories

On the MERL website, you’d find practical guides for teachers and practitioners in Singapore for direct application in Singapore classrooms.

Further Readings

• Singteach, Issue 48, 2014, p. 7-8, “Bringing Out the Best in Students”
• Singteach, Issue 48, 2014, “From Theory to Practice”
• Research Brief Series, No. 16-010, “The Power of Beliefs in Impacting Motivation, Motivating the Academically Unmotivated”

Research Projects

The following projects are associated with Motivating the Unmotivated.

• Motivating the Academically Unmotivated: The Why’s and the How’s
• Learning for Life, Learning with Fun: Igniting Students’ Intrinsic Motivation to Learn in the Classroom

Research Team

For enquiries on Motivating the Unmotivated, please contact the Principal Investigator Prof John WANG at john.wang@nie.edu.sg.

Principal Investigator

• Prof John WANG, Physical Education & Sports Science (PESS), NIE

Co-Principal Investigators

• A/P LIU Woon Chia, Psychological Studies (PS), NIE
• A/P TAY Eng Guan, Mathematics & Mathematics Education, NIE
• A/P NIE Youyan, PS, NIE
• Ast/P Stefanie CHYE Yen Leng (formerly of NIE)
• A/P Gregory Arief D LIEM, PS, NIE
• Prof CHIU Chi-Yue, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Prof HONG Ying-Yi, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Prof Edward DECI, University of Rochester
• Ast/P LIM Boon San Carol (formerly of NIE)