Motivation & Self-Regulated Learning

According to Schunk (1990) motivation is the process in which goal directed behaviour is encouraged as well as maintained. Furthermore, as Weiner (1990) postulated that for educational psychologists, learning is an indicator of motivation (p.168), therefore motivation is related to the use of knowledge yet not the development of it. However, curiosity is a strong motivator of learning. Thus, instructional strategies should be designed to appeal the intended learners. One way to ensure it is rewarding which aims to increase the probability of its reoccurring yet some might also reduce the natural interest of the learning task. Thorndike supports rewarding by stating that it increases importance on pleasant consequences of behaviour that can be repeated and this is called as Law of Effect. Therefore, according to this claim, any behaviour, which is followed by unpleasant consequences, has a chance to be stopped.

There are different views and theories regarding motivation. Goal Setting Theory states that time to achieve a goal, the difficulty or complexity of the goal and orientation of the goal should be taken into consideration for learners to ensure the probability of the success in achieving an outcome. Moreover, according to constructivist view, it is stated that students are more motivated to learn if they involve actively in learning process by using their previous knowledge as well as interests. Finally, according to Motivation Theory by Maslow, motivation is the outcome of people’s attempts at fulfilling five basic needs namely as physiological, safety, social, esteem as well as self-actualization. Thus, they are able to create internal pressures, which influences people’s behaviours.

As Bandura (1977) indicated that setting goals is a significant source of motivation and goals can be divided into two as distal and proximal goals. Distal goals are to meet in future while proximal goals are quickly achievable goals. Learners’ confidence level is highly crucial in persistence of a task. When learners have high confidence in their abilities, they shows high persistence toward the task. To elaborate, the term self-efficacy by Bandura (1997) highlights the beliefs in one’s capabilities to execute something.

Additionally, self-regulation by Schunk and Zimmerman (1994) elaborates the process of whereby students activate and sustain cognitions, behaviours as well as affects that are systematically oriented toward the attainment of their goals. Hence, self-regulation is a process that students not only activate but also sustain cognitions, behaviours, and affects that are systematically oriented toward the attainment of their goals. So self-regulated learners set goals for their own learning. They also attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behaviour and they are also guided by their goals as well as the contextual features of the environment. According to Zimmerman (1986) self-regulated learners are metacognitively, motivationally and behaviourally active participants in their own learning process. Regarding metacognitive processes, self-regulated learners plan, organize; self-instruct and self-evaluate at different stages during their acquisition processes. In terms of the motivational view, self-regulated learners deem themselves as self-efficacious, autonomous and intrinsically motivated.

To conclude, self-regulation is not a singular aspect yet is multidimensional in scope, it is a cycle. First, learners engage in forethought or planning and then volitional control over performance takes place by monitoring their progress toward goal attainment, making judgments regarding their performance. Thirdly, self-regulated learners evaluate their performance by making improvements for their future since they tend to make adaptive changes in order to enhance future performance.

In terms of the implications, in order to enhance self-regulation skills, learners should be taught strategies by teachers. In order to sustain curiosity of the learners and enhance their motivation, teachers’ tone of voice should vary by also using relevant humour so as to create meaningful learning. Teachers need to also facilitate group activities as well as implement information gap activities in class. In order to increase learners’ self-regulation, challenging yet attainable opportunities to set learners’ goals need to be provided by teachers so that they can manage the ways to attain those goals by modelling as well as directed reflection.