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S. Won Park
Introduction
Motivation has been defined as a desire or disposition to engage and persist in a task (Schunk, Pintrich, & Meece, 2014). When a student wants to read a history book on the Civil War, we can say that he or she is motivated to learn about American history. The student may learn, however, of a TV program about his favorite singer and decide not to engage in reading the history book on this particular day. Motivation thus refers to a state of being moved to do something, a movement that drives a person’s behavior. Students without motivation feel no impetus or inspiration to learn a new behavior and will not engage in any learning activities.
Educational researchers have long recognized the role of motivation in learning and have studied motivation from various perspectives. Their efforts have produced a rich foundation of motivation theories. Early motivation theories reflected the traditional behaviorism approach, an approach that considered the basis of motivation to be rewards and punishments. Other theories looked at drives and needs. Over the last 30 years, however, researchers have studied motivation primarily from a social cognitive approach. This approach focuses on individuals’ beliefs and contextual factors that influence motivation. This chapter provides a brief overview of the major social-cognitive theories of motivation and discusses how the theories have informed the field of instructional design technology. The chapter concludes by introducing several technology examples designed to enhance student motivation.
Theories of Motivation
Expectancy-Value Theory
Expectancy-value theory suggests that the two most immediate predictors of achievement behaviors are expectancies for success and task value beliefs (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). Expectancies for success refer to students’ beliefs of whether they will do well on an upcoming task (Wigfield, 1992). The more students expect to succeed at a task, the more motivated they are to engage with it. Such beliefs are closely related to but conceptually distinguished from ability beliefs. Ability beliefs are defined as students’ evaluations of their current competence at a given task. Ability beliefs are concerned with present ability whereas expectancies for success are concerned with future potential.
Task value answers the question, “Why should I do this task?” There are four possible answers to the question: intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value, and cost (Wigfield & Eccles, 1992). Intrinsic value is pure enjoyment a student feels from performing a task. When they are intrinsically interested in it, students are willing to become involved in a given task. Attainment value refers to the importance of doing well on a task. Tasks are perceived important when they reflect the important aspects of one’s self. Utility value is the perception that a task will be useful for meeting future goals, for instance, taking a Chinese class to get a job in China. The las