Motivation In Learning

Every person who ever conducted any training knows that some students are more interested in the topic than the others. It happens not because of an imperfect training program or lack of teacher’s charisma. No, the most significant difference is in the motivation of students. So, how to motivate them to achieve the best results?

How It Works

According to Wikipedia, motivation is the reason for people’s actions, willingness, and goals. A person has to want to achieve something, and this desire is a power that causes the following steps.

Talking about learning, motivation in most cases is not in the knowledge acquiring process or knowledge itself. The motivation is in the things that a student can do with this knowledge after he/she obtained it. For example, a student may visit foreign language courses to find a job in an international company.

There is one more thing that every teacher has to know. There is no point in addressing motivation issues without the context of the learning process. Even though every student has the chain Reason > Learning > Action > Result in his/her mind, only a few can analyze it and do everything necessary to complete it. Let us check these transitions in detail and see the possible scenarios.

Learning Transitions

Reason > Learning is quite easy to address. Here a teacher is playing an active role, and a student is passive. Both a student and a teacher knows why the training is needed. A teacher can usually easily see what the reason for a student was, and a student understands why he needs learning.

However, these are some exceptions in this scenario. In most cases, these are people who were forced to learn something, and they do not know why they have to learn something.

Learning > Action is significantly harder. The situation is the opposite — now a student playing an active role, and a teacher is passive. A student has to plan the way to achieve a result and start working on it. But a teacher may still guide a student, give him/her advice, and share the best practices.

The number of issues grows at this phase. A student has to have a clear vision of his/her goal, which may be problematic if he/she did not complete the learning transition. Also, a student may be afraid to act because of a lack of experience, possible complications, and other reasons.

Action > Result is the hardest and the most prolonged transition here. First, a teacher can no longer help a student. Second, a student has to overcome lots of unexpected obstacles to achieve a goal. Third, the result may not be as valuable as expected, and a student has to continue learning. All these things demotivate a student a lot.

Then there is a question of analysis. Every person who managed to achieve some result can ask himself was it worth it. And the answer may not be easy to accept either.

The positive side of this transition is the fact that a student achieved a goal. He/she discovered new areas, gained experience, and successfully realized a plan.

Is It Really Important?

Yes, it is. Without motivation, a person can not even understand why he/she has to do some actions. It is very hard (sometimes even impossible) to achieve anything without mentioned transitions. And the number of unexpected issues and problems can make the situation even worse.

A common mistake of a student is a lack of understanding of this whole process. If a person does not know what he/she wants, then it is impossible to build a plan. Without a plan, it is unclear what to do next and how to adjust the process. And the chances to succeed under such circumstances are extremely low.

A common mistake of a teacher is to think that a student knows what he wants. It may be true in some cases, but most of the students have only a direction, but not the path. A teacher has to help a student to understand the actual goal, develop a reasonable plan, and support in doing the first steps.

And the problem that both a student and a teacher may face is indifference. The other party may not care about the result. That is why motivation is so important here, as there will be no transitions and no effect without it.

Best Practices

An obvious recommendation for a student is to understand the learning transition chain and prepare himself for the difficulties of the latest stages. It also makes sense to find a teacher that has professional experience in the area of learning — such a person can share his/her own experiences.

As for the teacher, this person has to have not only professional experience but also have excellent communication and soft skills. They are needed to do not suppress a student’s initial desire and will to achieve a result. These things are the core of motivation.

It is crucial both for student and a teacher to find common ground and agree on the learning process. Having this foundation, they can align the expectations and start work. Such an approach may solve many issues and overcome multiple difficulties in the learning process, including student’s motivation.