Cognitive Theories of Motivation
n Expectancy-Value Theory
n Goal Theory
n Attribution Theory
1. Define expectancies and values, and explain how they influence students’ motivation.
2. Compare and contrast the two types of mastery and performance goals.
3.
Identify
attributions that enhance motivation and those that lower
motivation.
Developmental and Cultural Differences in Motivation
n Developmental Changes in Motivation
n Cultural Differences in Motivation
4. Explain the major developmental changes in motivation, and identify gender and ethnic differences in motivation.
Serious Motivational Problems
n Learned Helplessness
n
Anxiety
Applications: Enhancing Students’ Motivation
n Student-Level Techniques
n Classroom-Level Techniques
5.
Identify
student-level and classroom-level strategies for enhancing
motivation.
6.
Explain
how learned helplessness and anxiety affect students’ motivation to
learn.
Summary Key Concepts Case Studies: Reflect and Evaluate
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What
do you think thinking
has to do with motivation? According to cognitive theories of
motivation, changing students’ motivation to learn requires
changing their cognitions:
n expectations for success,
n valuing of learning tasks,
n goals,
n beliefs about ability, and
n
explanations
of successes and failures.
That’s a pretty tall order. But before we discuss how to motivate student learning, let’s review what motivation is. When students “cram” for a test in order to get a good grade, they are exhibiting extrinsic motivation, which focuses on external rewards for their behavior. When students study out of interest or enjoyment, they show intrinsic motivation, in which learning is itself the reward. And some learning may be prompted by both, as when a student wants a good grade (extrinsic motivation) and enjoys the subject matter (intrinsic motivation).
Our
goal as teachers is to foster academic
intrinsic motivation, in
which students exhibit curiosity and persistence and focus on mastery
of knowledge and skills (Gottfried, Fleming, & Gottfried, 1994;
Gottfried & Gottfried, 1996). From elementary school through high
school, students with high academic intrinsic motivation have
positive views of their ability and show greater achievement and
lower anxiety than students with lower academic intrinsic motivation
(Gottfried, 1990; Gottfried, Fleming, & Gottfried, 2001). To
encourage academic intrinsic motivation in all students, we first
need to understand the thinking that underlies students’
motivation.
Expectancy-Value Theory
What motivates students to participate in class, study, or complete homework assignments and projects? According to the expectancy-value model, the answer involves two components (Eccles et al., 1983; Wigfield, 1994):
1.
Expectancy:
students’ expectation for success (Can I do this task?).
2.
Value:
reasons for undertaking a task (Do I want to do this task?).
Expectancies and values affect students’ motivation for school tasks, as well as their performance, effort, and persistence (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000).
Expectancies: Students have different expectancies for success. Some children and adolescents with positive expectancies believe that they can succeed on a task when they are presented with a new challenge, while others with negative expectancies believe that they are likely to fail. Expectancy depends on the student’s competency belief, the belief that one has the ability to perform a task or succeed at an activity (Eccles et al., 1983). Competency beliefs are determined by past experiences, our interpretations of those experiences, and social and cultural factors such as parental beliefs and gender-role stereotypes (e.g., males are better at math; females should be nurses and teachers) (Eccles, 2005; Hyde & Durik, 2005). Competency beliefs influence elementary school students’ interest in and performance on academic tasks (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000, 2002).
Values: Why do students choose to complete academic tasks?
A middle school student might be motivated to complete a science project because of intrinsic value—satisfying interest, curiosity, or enjoyment. An elementary school student might study vocabulary words because of attainment value, the intrinsic importance of being good at a task. A high school student might choose to take calculus to better prepare for college;
Cognitive
Theories
Module 16 :
Gender-role Stereotypes. Gender-role stereotypes, such as the idea that girls can be nurses but not doctors, influence our beliefs about our ability.
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this
activity has utility
value,
extrinsic
usefulness for meeting short-term and long-term goals. Students also
might choose to engage in tasks or to avoid tasks because of their
cost,
or the expense of engaging in the activity. Cost can include:
n energy exerted (amount of effort needed to complete a task),
n time away from other activities (e.g., going to the mall), and
n
psychological
risks (anxiety, fear of failure, social consequences of success).
Many factors influence how we value a task (Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Roeser, & Davis-Kean, 2006). For example, a high school girl may decide to take calculus because she likes math (intrinsic value), is good at it (attainment value), and needs it for college (utility value). She has developed these values based on her view of herself (self-schema), long- and short-term goals, competency beliefs about math, and positive past experiences. Her parents’ beliefs about math and their expectations for her success, as well as gender roles and cultural stereotypes, are external factors that also affect task values.
The values students have for academic tasks or subjects influence their achievement-related choices. For example, the value elementary school students place on reading is predictive of the number of English courses they will choose as high school students (Durik, Vida, & Eccles, 2006). Values are also related to adolescents’ achievement-related choices, such as course selection decisions, involvement in sports, occupational choices, and anticipated college major (Eccles, Wigfield, & Schiefele, 1998).
Think
about your past experiences in school. Describe your expectancies and
values. Do they differ for different subjects?
Goal Theory
Individuals form goals for a variety of academic and nonacademic pursuits. An achievement goal includes both the reason for choosing to do a task and the standard that individuals construct to evaluate their performance (Ames, 1992; Pintrich, 2000). For example, an adolescent may want to earn better grades to gain admission into college and decide that successful perfor mance means earning a
B in history. Achievement goals orient individuals toward competence and help organize their behavior (Hyde & Durik, 2005). Goal-oriented behavior can be described by two types of mastery goals and two types of performance goals, as shown in Table 16.1.
Students with mastery-approach goals, referred to as mastery-oriented students, focus on improving intellectually and acquiring new skills and knowledge even if they experience failure (Ames, 1990; Dweck, 1986). Students who hold performance-approach goals are also intrinsically motivated (Middleton & Midgley, 1997; Pintrich, 2000).
However, the goal of these students is to demonstrate their ability to others and outperform others (Ames, 1992; Dweck & Leggett, 1988).
Rather than showing a motivation to approach achievement situations (as with mastery- or performance-approach goals), students with mastery-avoidance goals and performance-avoidance goals want to avoid situations in which they might fail to achieve mastery or might look incompetent. Mastery-avoidant students judge their competence by personally-created, absolute standards, such as avoiding a strikeout when coming up to bat or avoiding the possibility of answering a question incorrectly. Perfectionists are considered mastery-avoidant because they never want to be wrong or incorrect (Pintrich, 2000). In contrast, performance-avoidant students are concerned with judging their competence relative to others, such as failing a test they believe others will succeed on (Elliot & Church, 1997; Elliot & McGregor, 2001).
Mastery
and performance goals can work together to enhance students’
motivation. Mastery goals are important during the process of
skill acquisition, while performance goals tend to promote interest
once skills have been developed (Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 1997).
For example, mastery goals may be necessary for learning to calculate
fractions in fourth grade and learning to write term papers in high
school, but once students have acquired proficiency at these skills,
they may need to adopt performance in goals in order to maintain
their interest. Students also may adopt both types of goals when
learning. For ex-
Performance-approach Goals. Some students are motivated to show others their ability, like the girl showing off her spelling ability.
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TA B L E 1 6 .1 Comparing Mastery and Performance Orientations Mastery Performance
Avoidance
State
Approach State
Focus: mastering task, learning, understanding
Standards: self-improvement, progress, deep understanding of task
Outcomes:
n intrinsic motivation, interest
n deep-level learning strategies to enhance understanding and recall
n preference for challenging tasks and moderate risk taking
Focus: being superior, being the smartest, besting others
Standards: getting best or highest grades, being best performer in class (comparing to the norm)
Outcomes:
n intrinsic motivation
n effective, but often superficial, learning strategies
n
low
anxiety and positive self-efficacy
Focus: avoiding inferiority, not looking stupid or dumb in comparison to others
Standards: not getting the worst grades, not being lowest performer in class (comparing to the norm)
Outcomes:
n surface-level learning strategies (e.g., memorizing, studying only what is likely to be on the test)
n self-handicapping strategies (e.g., not trying, procrastination, minimizing participation, making excuses for incomplete work, possibly cheating)
n
anxiety
and negative feelings about failure
Sources:
Ames, 1990, 1992; Anderman, Griesinger, & Westerfield, 1998;
Church, Elliot, & Gable, 2001; Elliot & Church, 1997; Elliot
& McGregor, 2001; Fuchs et al., 1997; Harackiewicz, Barron,
Pintrich, Elliot, & Thrash, 2002; Harackiewicz, Barron, Tauer,
Carter, & Elliot, 2000; Middleton & Midgley, 1997; Pintrich,
2000; Pintrich & Garcia, 1991; Stipek & Gralinksi, 1996;
Turner, Thorpe, & Meyer, 1998; Urdan, Midgley, & Anderman,
1998.
Self-efficacy and self-regulation: See page 297.
Cognitive
Theories
Module 16 :
Focus: avoiding misunderstanding, avoiding not learning or not mastering task
Standards: not being wrong, not performing incorrectly relative to task
Outcomes:
n disorganized studying
n increased test anxiety
n
negative
feelings about failure
ample, students who are interested in a topic (mastery-approach) may be motivated to perform well (performance-approach). Conversely, students who initially approach learning with performance goals might develop interests as a result of their engagement in the activity (Hidi, Weiss, Berndorff, & Nolan, 1998). High school students consider both grades and interest to be their major motivators (Hynd, Holschuh, & Nist, 2000). Students who pursue both mastery and performance goals have greater interest and intrinsic motivation, higher self-regulation and self-efficacy, and better grades than students who adopt only one or neither type of goal (Barron & Harackiewicz, 2000; Midgley, Anderman, & Hicks, 1995).
Describe
your own goal orientation in school. Does your goal orientation
differ depending on the subject?
>><<
Attribution Theory
Think about a time when you studied for a test and were surprised to find out that you received a lower grade than expected. What caused this outcome? Did you not study enough, or not understand the questions? Did you think the test was unfair? According to attribution theory, humans naturally seek to understand why events have occurred, especially when the outcome is important or unexpected (Moeller & Koeller, 1999; Weiner, 1992). We all try to explain our performance through causal attributions, interpretations of events based on past performance and social norms (Weiner, 2000).
To better understand how attributions influence students’ motivation, consider the three dimensions of attributions.
1.
Locus:
where we place the cause of the outcome. Do we believe our success or
failure results from internal
causes such as ability and effort? Or do we believe our success or
failure is due to external
causes
such as asking the teacher for help? Compared to external
attributions, ability and effort
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attributions for success lead to higher levels of pride, confidence, satisfaction, and self-esteem (Graham & Weiner, 1996).
2. Stability: whether we perceive the cause as being stable or unstable over time. We expect future success when we attribute success to a stable cause (the typical effort you make every time you study). However, our expectation decreases when we attribute failure to a stable cause, such as our belief that the teacher makes her tests too difficult (Weiner, 1982). Our expectations for future success are not hampered when we attribute failure to an unstable cause—say, missing several classes because of illness.
3. Controllability: our personal responsibility for the cause of the success or failure. Was success or failure controllable (the amount you studied) or uncontrollable (unfairness of the test)? Attributing success or failure to the amount of effort generally leads to positive expectations for future perfor mance, because we believe that effort is under our control (Weiner, 1994). Our future motivation is not likely to be affected by attributing success to uncontrollable causes such as luck. However, when we attribute failure to uncontrollable causes, such as believing we have low ability that cannot improve, we might experience shame and avoid situations that may lead to failure (Covington & Omelich, 1984a; Graham & Weiner, 1996).
Table
16.2 shows common attributions students make and characterizes them
according to locus, stability, and controllability. For example, two
students who get the same grade on the same test might make
completely different attributions for their performance. The
attributions we make are affected not only by our own beliefs about
our ability, but also by the evaluations others make about our
academic performance. Let’s examine these two factors next.
BELIEFS ABOUT ABILITY
Attributing success and failure to ability has different effects on motivation, depending on our belief about ability.
Individuals with an incremental view of ability perceive ability as unstable and controllable; they consider it to be ever-changing (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). When students with an incremental view attribute success to their ability, they will be motivated to continue to improve their knowledge and skills. When they attribute failure to low ability, they will become motivated to find alternative strategies for succeeding next time.
Students with an entity view of ability believe that ability is stable and uncontrollable; they see it as fixed and unchangeable (Dweck, 2000; Molden & Dweck, 2000). When such students experience success, they want to continue to demonstrate their competence if they believe that competence is valued by others, such as teachers and peers (Stipek, 2002). When they attribute failure to lack of ability, their expectations for future success diminish, negatively affecting their motivation to learn (Dweck & Sorich, 1999; Hong, Chiu, Dweck, Lin, & Wan, 1999).
Think
of a recent academic success and a recent failure. What attributions
did you make for each?
TEACHER REACTIONS AND EVALUATIONS
Teachers’ reactions when evaluating students’ performance affect the attributions students make (Reyna & Weiner, 2001; Weiner, 2000). Because sympathetic responses foster a belief in students that their performance is due to uncontrollable causes, students tend to make low entity attributions when teachers praise or reward them for easy tasks, offer unsolicited help, express pity for failures, or fail to blame students for poor performance (Dweck, 1999; Graham & Barker, 1990; Graham & Weiner, 1993). When teachers tell students to work harder after poor performance, students also make entity attributions if they believe they are already trying as hard as they can (Ames, 1990). In contrast, high
Attributions.
Do you attribute your academic successes to controllable causes,
such as studying, or uncontrollable causes, such as luck?
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TA
B L E 1 6 . 2
Controllable “I always study hard, no matter what the subject.” (typical effort)
“I
asked for help from the teacher this
time.”
(unusual help from others)
“I always ask for help when I don’t understand.” (typical help from others)
Cognitive
Theories
Module 16 :
Locus, Stability, and Controllability Dimensions of Attributions
Internal External
Stable Unstable Stable Unstable
“I studied a lot for this exam.” (effort on a particular task)
“My math skills have been steadily improving.” (incremental view of ability)
Uncontrollable “I am just not good at math, and it doesn’t matter how hard I study.” (entity view of ability)
“I
was sick during the exam and couldn’t concentrate.” (illness or
mood)
“The teacher doesn’t like me.”
(teacher bias)
“The tests are always very hard.”
(task difficulty)
“I had good luck guessing on the multiple-choice items that I didn’t know.” (luck)
“I couldn’t concentrate because the room was noisy.”
(testing environment)
school students—but not elementary school students—tend to make high-ability attributions when teachers react to successes with neutral feedback or more demanding criteria (Brophy, 1981; Meyer et al., 1979).
Teachers’ own beliefs about ability may also influence students’ attributions. Many teachers tend to have an entity belief about ability, believing it to be fixed and unchangeable (Oakes & Guiton, 1995; Reyna, 2000). Teachers with this belief tend to pass judgment more quickly on the basis of initial performance and to resist changing their judgments when students’ performance contradicts their initial assumptions (Butler, 2000; Plaks, Stroessner, Dweck, & Sherman, 2001). If teachers with an entity view of ability hold low expectations for students, their initial perceptions may lead students to attribute failure to low entity ability or teacher bias (stable and uncontrollable attributions), with serious motivational consequences. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and minority students are more susceptible to low-ability messages from teacher expectations and behaviors (Banks & Banks, 1995; Graham, 1990; McLoyd, 1998).
Teachers
also should be careful not to praise students for being smart.
This can lower students’ motivation because it implies that
learning is about looking smart and not making mistakes (Dweck,
1999). Children praised for their intelligence on performing a
cognitive task believed intelligence to be innate and disliked it
when tasks became more challenging (Mueller & Dweck, 1998).
Middle school students of all
ability levels who believed that intelligence is fixed thought that
poor performance in school implied low intelligence and that making
an effort meant they lacked intelligence. They also reported that
they would consider cheating if they did poorly on a test (Dweck &
Sorich, 1999; Henderson & Dweck, 1990).
As
you may already have noticed, expectancy-value, goal, and attribution
theories overlap. As Table 16.3 illustrates, the theories are
complementary—they work together to give us a more complete
understanding of students’ motivation. To change students’
motivation, we also need to understand
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Attributions
due to:
Feelings:
TA B L E 1 6 . 3
Integrating Cognitive Theories of Motivation Students With an Incremental View of Ability
Students
With an Entity View of Ability
Unstable factors (luck)
External factors (help from others)
Lack
of pride, lack of personal responsibility
Stable
causes (low entity ability)
Shame
Attribution
theory
Success
Attributions
due to:
Feelings:
Failure
Effort
(unstable, controllable)
Pride
and satisfaction
Lack of effort (unstable, controllable) or low incremental ability (unstable, controllable)
Guilt
Expectancy-value theory Competency beliefs: Perceive ability to be high Perceive ability to be low
Goal
theory Goal orientation:
Types of strategies:
Mastery-approach goals (try to improve their skills)
n
Not
asking for help (because it would publicize low ability)
n Selecting very difficult tasks (failure would be due to task difficulty, not low ability)
n Performance-approach (try to look smart); or
n Performance-avoidance goals (try to avoid looking inferior)
n Increasing effort
n Trying new learning strategies
n
Selecting
very easy tasks (to ensure success); or
n Using self-handicapping strategies
n Cheating as a last resort
Sources: Ames, 1992; Arbreton, 1998; Burhans & Dweck, 1995; Butler, 1998, 1999; Covington & Omelich, 1979; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Jagacinski & Nicholls, 1984, 1987; Rhodewalt, 1994; Roedel & Schraw, 1995; Ryan, Gheen, & Midgley, 1998; Stipek, 2002; Tollefson, 2000; Weiner, 1982; Wentzel, 1991.
the
developmental changes in motivation and individual differences among
students based on their cultural backgrounds. Let’s consider these
factors next.
Developmental Changes in Motivation
Most
children are intrinsically motivated when they begin school. Students
develop competency beliefs and expectations (expectancy-value theory)
based partly on the attributions
they make for successes and failures. They also adopt goal
orientations (mastery or performance) based on their beliefs about
ability (Pintrich, 2000). As students progress from elementary
through secondary education, their competency beliefs and their
values, goals, and attributions gradually change.
CHANGES IN EXPECTANCIES AND VALUES
Children
as early as first grade have competency beliefs—beliefs about what
they are good at—and are able to make judgments about their
competencies in school subjects, music, and sports (Wigfield &
Eccles, 2000; Wigfield et al., 1997). Young children’s
expectations for success often are unrealistically high until about
second or third grade (Stipek, 1984).
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Children in the early elementary grades value a task primarily according to the amount of pleasure they get from it (Wigfield & Eccles, 1992). Elementary school boys in the United States, Taiwan, and Japan more highly value sports, while girls in these countries more highly value reading and music (Debacker & Nelson, 2000; Lummis & Stevenson, 1990). As children grow older, other components of a task’s value become important in their achievement-related choices (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). The skill at performing a task (attainment value) and the difficulty level of the task (cost) become more salient reasons for choosing an activity. For example, a boy might decide to play baseball out of enjoyment, but as he grows older and the game becomes more competitive, requiring greater skill, he might choose not to play.
Both
competency beliefs and academic values decline from elementary school
through high school, with the greatest changes occurring after the
transition to middle school (Eccles, Wigfield, Harold, &
Blumenfeld, 1993; Wigfield & Eccles, 1994). Students’ beliefs
about the usefulness and importance (utility value) of reading, math,
music, and sports decline over the elementary school period, as does
their interest (intrinsic value) in reading and music. However, their
interest in math and sports does not decline (Wigfield et al.,
1997).
CHANGES IN GOAL ORIENTATIONS
Many children come to school with mastery goals but may become socialized to adopt perfor mance goals (Ames, 1990). Classroom practices can affect students’ goal orientations. Students tend to adopt performance goals in classrooms with a competitive focus, in which students are grouped by ability and teachers emphasize evaluation of performance (grades and tests) and unevenly recognize student achievements (displaying only the best projects) (Ames & Archer, 1988). In classrooms in which teachers emphasize mastery over performance, students attribute success to effort and effective learning strategies and deal with failures positively by finding new strategies (Ames & Archer, 1988; Kaplan & Midgley, 2000).
As
students move from elementary to middle school, and later high
school, many adopt a work-avoidance
goal
orientation—a motivation to avoid academic work (Nicholls, Cobb,
Wood, Yackel, & Patashnick, 1990). Adolescents use strategies
such as these (Dowson & McInerney, 2001):
n pretending they don’t understand something,
n complaining about assignments,
n engaging in off-task behavior,
n taking the easiest path when given choices, and
n
not
contributing their fair share in group activities.
Students
do this because they believe that effort indicates low ability, a
trait they consider to be stable and unchanging. Therefore, they
value performance goals and try to avoid exerting effort on academic
tasks (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Dweck & Sorich, 1999).
CHANGES IN ATTRIBUTIONS
Children in preschool and early elementary school think of ability broadly, as comprising social behavior, conduct, work habits, and effort (Stipek & Daniels, 1990; Stipek & Tannatt, 1984). They have an optimistic view of ability, believing that individuals who try hard are smart (Dweck, 2002; Eccles, Roeser, Wig -field, & Freedman-Doan, 1999). As a result, they have high expectations for success and are resilient after failure (Stipek, 1984).
As children progress through elementary school, their beliefs about effort and ability change, as Table 16.4 shows. At age seven or eight, children begin to compare themselves to others more, to understand normative comparisons, and to pay increasing attention to grades and teachers’ evaluations (Blumenfeld, Pintrich, & Hamilton, 1986; Dweck, 2002). As a result, their perceptions of ability become more consistent with teachers’ evaluations of their ability (Eccles et al., 1999; Harter, 1999). They also consider effort and mastery to be less important than grades (Blumenfeld et al., 1986; Nicholls, 1979).
Grouping practices:
See
page 372.
Goal Orientations.
Competitive classroom practices, such as earning a star for each new book read, can lead students to adopt performance goals.
Cognitive
Theories
Module 16 :
>><<
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In middle school, students begin to use normative criteria to judge their ability and tend to view ability more as a stable trait and less a result of effort than they did earlier (Dweck, 2002; Feldlaufer, Midgley, & Eccles, 1988). They also believe that differences in ability will lead to different amounts of effort and different outcomes (Tollefson, 2000). In general, middle school students think that putting in a lot of effort compared to others who complete a task with less effort implies lower ability (Anderman & Maehr, 1994; Covington & Omelich, 1979).
Think
about how your own competency beliefs, values, goals, and
attributions have changed throughout your schooling.
DEVELOPMENTAL FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATIONAL CHANGE
What are the reasons for students’ gradual shift toward more negative attributions, their declining competency beliefs and academic values, and their shift toward performance goals? A student’s cognitive development and changes in the learning environment may account for this evolution.
Young children’s incremental belief about ability and their optimistic expectancies for success may be due to two factors:
1.
An
emphasis in early childhood education on positive feedback and
improving skills.
Preschool and early elementary teachers provide positive feedback
through praise, happy faces, and stickers and rarely criticize
children’s achievement efforts (Blumenfeld, Pintrich, Meece, &
Wessels, 1982). Teachers in the early elementary grades also
emphasize effort and work habits (Blumenfeld, Hamilton, Bossert,
Wessels, & Meece, 1983; Brophy & Evertson, 1978). These
practices boost children’s confidence in their abilities.
2.
Children’s
level of cognitive development.
Young children have a limited ability to compare their performance to
that of their peers and to reflect on and evaluate behaviors of
others. Therefore, they tend to interpret praise as an indicator that
they are pleasing authority figures rather than as an indicator of
ability (Stipek, 1984).
As students progress from elementary to high school, their competency beliefs and achievement values decline, and students shift toward an entity view of ability. These changes may be the result of these two factors (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002):
1.
Improved
ability to interpret evaluative feedback and to compare their
performance to that of their peers.
Older children’s self-assessments become more realistic, leading to
more negative beliefs relative to those of younger children.
2.
Changes
in the school environment that may make evaluation more salient and
increase competition among peers.
The middle school environment is characterized by a
performance-oriented approach in which students experience ability
grouping, harsher grading practices, and competitive recognition
practices such as honor rolls and class rankings (Anderman &
Maehr, 1994). A school climate that emphasizes grades and competition
may interfere with the mastery-oriented practices of individual
teachers (Maehr & Midgley, 1991).
Less optimistic
More
accurately reflects teachers’ evaluations
TA B L E 1 6 . 4 Developmental Changes in Effort and Ability Attributions Age View of Ability View of Effort
Preschool and early elementary
Optimistic
Incremental
belief
More
pessimistic entity belief
Equated with ability
(“smart = tries hard”)
Less
important for success than ability
Implies
lack of ability
Elementary
school (age seven or eight)
Middle school through high school
Less optimistic
More
accurately reflects teachers’ evaluations
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Cognitive
Theories
Module 16 :
Cultural Differences in Motivation
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Boys and girls, both in Eastern and Western cultures, generally have similar beliefs about their overall academic competence (Stetsenko, Little, Gordeeva, Granshof, & Oettingen, 2000). However, gender differences have been found in students’ attributions, beliefs about ability, expectancies, and values.
Elementary school boys and girls differ in their competency beliefs and values with respect to different school subjects. Elementary school boys have more positive competency beliefs about math, science, and sports while girls have more positive beliefs about music, reading, and language arts (Baker & Wigfield, 1999; Eccles, Barber, Jozefowicz, Malenchuk, & Vida, 2000; Freedman-Doan et al., 2000). As students transition to middle school, girls more highly value English, and boys more highly value sports (Jacobs, Lanza, Osgood, Eccles, & Wigfield, 2002; Wigfield, Eccles, MacIver, & Reuman, 1991).
In elementary school, girls also begin to develop an entity belief about their ability in general. Despite equal achievement of boys and girls, girls attribute failure to lack of ability more often than do boys and rate their ability lower than do boys, especially in math and science (Eccles et al., 2000; Stipek & Gralinski, 1991). Even girls who are gifted and high-achieving hold an entity view of ability more often than do boys (Eccles et al., 2000; Freedman-Doan et al., 2000). Girls’ negative perceptions may be due to lower confidence levels or a greater sensitivity to adult evaluations of ability (Meece, Glienke, & Burg, 2006; Oakes, 1990b). By adolescence, boys more often make internal attributions for success, leading to higher self-esteem and more subsequent effort, while girls tend to be more discouraged after failure, which reduces their confidence (Dweck, Goetz, & Strauss, 1980; Oakes, 1990a).
Sex-role stereotypes and cultural expectations may contribute to gender differences in competency beliefs and values (Meece et al., 2006). Boys may value math and sports because they have been socialized to believe these are male achievement domains. Parents tend to believe that boys are more competent than girls in math and science (Eccles, 1993; Jacobs & Eccles, 1992). Teacher-student interactions also convey different expectations for boys and girls (Brophy & Good, 1974). Teachers tend to praise boys only for successful performance while praising girls for success as well as easy or unimportant achievements, such as neatness or following instructions, leading to a perception of low ability among girls (Dweck, Davidson, Nelson, & Enna, 1978).
Nevertheless, we should interpret these gender differences in motivation with caution. No clear gender differences in students’ achievement goal orientations have been found, and gender differences in causal attributions are small (Meece et al., 2006). Gender differences in actual achievement domains also are very small (Hyde & Durik, 2005).
Gender Differences in
Motivation.
Gender differences in competence beliefs are more pronounced in
gender-stereotyped domains for boys and girls, (e.g., sports for boys
and reading for girls).
Giftedness:
See
page 413.
>><<
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288 cluster five motivation
Students from Asian cultures tend to have a more positive motivational outlook than do most U.S. students. Japanese and Chinese students attribute outcomes more to effort and less to ability than do American students (Chen & Stevenson, 1995; Tuss, Zimmer, & Ho, 1995). This attitude is consistent with the Asian philosophy emphasizing the importance of striving for improvement and the belief that ability is malleable (Stipek, 2002).
Within
American culture, African-American and Hispanic adolescent boys may
be most at risk motivationally. African-American elementary school
students believe in personal responsibility for their achievements
and failures and have high expectations for success (Graham, 1984,
1994). During adolescence, however, African-American and Hispanic
boys are more likely than other groups to reject achievement-related
values (Graham, Taylor, & Hudley, 1998). The tendency of minority
students to devalue academic achievement may result from:
n
an
increasing tendency to make external attributions for academic
success—believing that school success is determined by external
forces beyond their control (van Laar, 2000); or
n their belief that education has limited usefulness for long-term social and economic success because discrimination will narrow their opportunities (Mickelson, 1990; Ogbu, 1994, 2003).
Researchers are unsure why this shift in motivational orientation on the part of minority students occurs at adolescence. The changes students experience in their transition from elementary school to more advanced grades may affect students’ values about education, regardless of their ethnicity. Some Caucasian adolescents from middle- and upper-socioeconomic backgrounds also have expressed doubt in the utility of school despite their average school performance. These anti-academic values appear to be rooted in a sense that teachers were not supportive, curricula were not meaningful, and the school environment was competitive and stifled autonomy (Roeser, Eccles, & Sameroff, 1998, 2000).
As
with gender differences, we should interpret ethnic differences in
motivation with caution. Even though research cites average
differences in motivational orientations among ethnic groups, we
should be careful not to make stereotypical assumptions about a
student’s motivation based on ethnicity. Students’ motivation is
more likely due to their achievement experiences, the beliefs and
values of their family, and the classroom climate than to their
ethnic or racial identification. Much more research needs to be
conducted in order for us to understand ethnic differences in
motivation.
The
cognitive theories we’ve examined provide many useful strategies
for improving students’ motivation. Teachers can use certain
techniques to stimulate the motivation of individual students and can
structure their classroom and tasks to encourage motivation in all
students.
Student-Level Techniques
Change
students’ attributions for success and failure.
Training students to attribute failure to lack of effort rather than
to low ability leads to increases in persistence and improved
performance (Forsterling, 1985 ;
Robertson,
2000). The first step is to identify whether students have low
perceptions of ability by asking questions such as “How good are
you at
Ethnic Differences in Motivation. In some cultures, students attribute school success to effort more than to ability.
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module sixteen cognitive theories 289
4.
Look at your math work for today. How hard do you think this work
will be for you? (Circle one number.)
2. Do you feel confident that you could do harder problems, or do you need practice and help on these kinds of problems? (Circle one response.)
Cognitive
Theories
Module 16 :
1. Are you better now than you were when you started doing this kind of work?
(Circle
one response.)
not
much better
a
little bit better
quite
a bit better
a
lot better
I’ll
never be able to do this
I still need help on these
I need a little more practice on these
3. Do you think you will be able to do this assignment well? (Circle one number.)
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 really easy medium hard really hard
I
definitely won’t do it well
I’ll
do OK
I
definitely will do it well I can do harder problems now
1
2 3 4 5 6 7
Figure
16.1: Sample Questions to Assess Student Attributions.
Using student responses to questions such as these can help teachers
determine student attributions.
D.
Stipek (2002). Motivation
to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice,
Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Reprinted with permission from the
publisher.
math?” (Stipek, 2002). Teachers can also ask students about their expectancies and their views about skill improvement and difficulty level of tasks, as shown in Figure 16.1.
Emphasize
values that promote intrinsic motivation.
Define success as improvement in knowledge or skills, and teach
students to value challenge, effort, and mastery over performance
goals (Dweck, 1999; Tollefson, 2000). Emphasizing improvement conveys
the message that effort is important in the evaluation of students’
performance and that their performance is not due solely to fixed
ability (Covington & Omelich, 1984b). Some students are not aware
that effort can affect task success (Urdan, Midgley, & Anderman,
1998). Teaching them that increased effort leads to greater
achievement increases their actual achievement (Craske, 1985; Van
Overwalle & De Metsenaere, 1990).
Classroom-Level Techniques
Provide short-term goals and strategies for making progress toward goals (Ames, 1990). When teachers help students set short-term, mastery goals, students are more willing to put in effort because they learn that both effort and ability contribute to success (Schunk, 1989; Tollefson, 2000). This technique will prepare elementary school students to accept that students with different levels of ability need different amounts of effort to obtain the same level of achievement. In middle school and high school, encouraging mastery may prevent adolescents from viewing academic tasks as a measure of their ability (Tollefson, 2000).
Reduce
the competitive atmosphere of the classroom.
Stu-dents at all levels of K–12 education, regardless of their
motivational orientation, consider school to be competitive
(Maehr & Midgley, 1991; Thorkildsen & Nicholls, 1998).
When the structure of the classroom is evaluative and competitive,
students become focused on the hierarchy of abilities in the class
(Ames, 1992). Teachers can reduce competition and enhance students’
motivation by using:
n a variety of academic tasks, which tend to foster a mastery orientation because students have less opportunity or
Short-term
Goals.
Helping students set short-term goals —for example, by breaking
down assignments—can increase their motivation.
English class term paper assignments
Tues. Nov. 3 Find four sources Tues. Nov. 10 Turn in twenty note cards Tues. Nov. 17 Outline completed Mon. Nov. 30 First draft due
ess
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290
cluster
five
motivation
Cooperative
learning: See page 377.
>><<
Praise:
See page 271.
need
to engage in social comparisons of performance (Marshall &
Weinstein, 1984; Rosenholtz & Simpson, 1984); and
n
cooperative
learning, an approach in which students of varying ability levels
work together to achieve a single goal on a task or project.
Use
appropriate methods of evaluation and recognition.
Consider these methods when evaluating students’ learning:
n
Praise
students only when they learn or do something well, not for being
smart or perfect at a task (Dweck, 1999). Saying something positive
just to praise a student backfires because usually it’s about
something that is unimportant or irrelevant to the task requirements,
implying that the student has low ability (Ames, 1990). Such praise
will undermine intrinsic motivation.
n
Take
developmental level into account when using praise. In young
children, praise for effort enhances self-confidence and is
considered an indicator of high ability because young children do not
differentiate between ability and effort (Dweck, 2002). However, in
middle and high school students, who have differentiated concepts of
ability and effort, praising effort and praising for success on easy
tasks can be interpreted as signs of low ability (Ames, 1990; Barker
& Graham, 1987).
n
Offer
opportunities for improvement so students know that effort is
important and that performance is not due solely to fixed ability
(Covington & Omelich, 1984b).
n Be wary of motivational strategies that emphasize social comparisons, such as announcing highest and lowest scores, posting grades, displaying students’ work, and charting progress. These practices heighten ability comparisons, decrease intrinsic motivation, and lead high achievers to experience anxiety about keeping up their success and low achievers to give up when they fail (Rose, 1989; Weinstein, 1993).
Think
of some specific ways you can implement these guidelines in the
grade you intend to teach.
Learned Helplessness
Learned helplessness occurs when students who have experienced repeated failures attribute their failures to causes beyond their control (Seligman & Maier, 1967). They might attribute failure to external, stable, and uncontrollable causes such as teacher bias (the teacher doesn’t like me) or task difficulty (math is too hard for me). Or they might attribute failure to lack of ability (entity), which they believe is stable and uncontrollable (Dweck, 2000; Dweck & Goetz, 1978).
Figure
16.2 lists characteristics teachers can use to identify learned
helplessness in students. Learned helplessness can be domain-specific,
occurring in one subject but not another (Sedek & McIntosh,
1998). Even high-achieving students can experience learned
helplessness (Dweck, 2000). Because learned helplessness results from
experiences of failure, it is less common in preschool chil-
>><<
Figure 16.2: Behaviors
Indicating
Learned
Helplessness.
Students showing these behaviors may have learned helplessness.
D.
Stipek (2002). Motivation
to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice,
Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Reprinted with permission from the
publisher.
The student:
says “I can’t,”
doesn’t pay attention to the teacher’s instructions, doesn’t ask for help, even when it is needed, does nothing (e.g., stares out the window), guesses or answers randomly without really trying, doesn’t show pride in successes, appears bored, uninterested, is unresponsive to the teacher’s exhortations to try, is easily discouraged, doesn’t volunteer answers to the teacher’s questions, or
maneuvers
to get out of or to avoid work (e.g., has to go to the nurse’s
office).
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module sixteen cognitive theories 291
Cognitive
Theories
Module 16 :
dren, who typically receive reinforcement and encouragement of their efforts and products (Rholes, Blackwell, Jordan, & Walters, 1980).
Teachers
should be aware that simply providing opportunities for success will
not alleviate learned helplessness (Dweck, 1985). It is difficult to
convince students with learned helplessness that they can succeed in
the future, because they (Ames, 1990; Diener & Dweck, 1978):
n believe others performed better than they did,
n do not take responsibility for their successes (i.e., believe successes are uncontrollable),
n underestimate their performance when they do succeed, and
n
interpret
a new failure as further evidence of their lack of ability.
To
reduce learned helplessness, teachers can use a combination of the
motivational techniques discussed earlier. In general, learned
helplessness is less common in classrooms where teachers emphasize
understanding (rather than memorizing), stimulate creative thinking,
and value students’ opinions (Sedek & McIntosh, 1998).
Anxiety
All students occasionally experience anxiety in achievement situations in which their abilities are being evaluated. For most students, a small amount of anxiety does not impair performance and may even facilitate it, especially if the task is not too difficult (Ball, 1995; Sieber, O’Neil, & Tobias, 1977). However, for other students anxiety can significantly impair motivation and academic performance.
Anxiety has a cognitive and an emotional component (Sapp, 1999; Zeidner, 1998). Students with anxiety experience mental worry, which most directly interferes with learning and task performance (Tobias, 1992; Zeidner & Nevo, 1992). They also experience negative emotions such as nervousness or tension, which are indicated physically by increased heart rate, sweaty palms, and so on.
Anxiety is more common in school-age children and adolescents than in preschool children (Stipek, 1984). Parents and early childhood educators frequently reinforce children’s efforts and rarely criticize failures. Young children also do not reflect on their performance due to their level of cognitive development. Therefore, their anxiety may at first result from emotional responses to failure (e.g., becoming upset at repeated failures) and later may involve cognitive responses (Harter, 1983; Wigfield & Eccles, 1989).
Anxiety can interfere with the performance of school-age children at three points during the instructional process (Tobias, 1992):
1.
Preprocessing
stage:
Anxiety can cause interference when students are forming
representations of material initially being presented to them. This
anxiety may impair students’ ability to pay attention or take
notes.
2.
Processing
stage:
Anxiety can impair students’ ability to learn material after it is
presented to them. These students possess less effective study skills
than lower-anxiety students and perform more poorly even when they
study more (Naveh-Benjamin, McKeachie, & Lin, 1987; Topman,
Kleijn, van der Ploeg, & Masset, 1992).
3. Output stage: Anxiety can impair students’ ability to retrieve information in evaluative situations.
Students with text anxiety at this stage have good study habits and learning strategies but perform poorly because they divide their attention between the task and thoughts about their performance (Naveh-Benjamin et al., 1987). They don’t attend to important information during testing, show more off-task behavior than low-anxiety students, and have poorer test-taking strategies such as not accurately interpreting instructions, pacing themselves, nor completing easy questions first (Bruch, Juster, & Kaflowitz, 1983; Nottlemann & Hill, 1977).
Girls typically show higher anxiety than boys (Eccles et al., 2000; Randhawa, 1994). However, boys may be more reluctant to admit anxiety. Also, girls and boys may become anxious for different reasons. Girls may be more sensitive to social approval from adults (worrying about making parents or teachers proud of them), while boys may be more concerned with peer evaluation (Dweck & Bush, 1976; Maehr & Nicholls, 1980). During adolescence, girls may become more anxious about certain school subjects, such as math and English, because of the stereotypes these subjects elicit (Meece, 1981).
Anxiety has several possible sources. Parents may promote anxiety when they blame and punish children for failures or setbacks rather than reinforce their successes and also when they control and
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292 cluster five motivation
TA B L E 1 6 .5 Techniques for Reducing Student Anxiety Technique Effect
Improve students’ perceptions of their ability. Reduces anxiety about performance situations.
Modify the presentation of material:
n clear, unambiguous instructions,
n well-organized lessons, and
n allowing students to reinspect material (e.g., having access to a film shown in class).
Reduces
anxiety that can interfere with the learning and organizing of new
information.
Teach study skills. Reduces anxiety and improves performance in students who do not store or organize information well due to anxiety at initial stages of learning.
Teach test-taking strategies and coping skills. Reduces anxiety, especially in students who have no difficulty learning the material but experience anxiety when attempting to retrieve information.
Use relaxation techniques prior to testing situations. Reduces anxiety and improves performance in students who have no difficulty learning the material but experience anxiety when attempting to retrieve information.
Relax time limits, describe tests in a way that deemphasizes their focus on ability, and provide instructions that reduce students’ worries about being evaluated.
Reduces
test anxiety.
Sources: Algaze, 1995; Dendato & Diener, 1986; Dweck, 1975; Fletcher & Spielberger, 1995; Hill & Wigfield, 1984; Linn & Gronlund, 2000; Naveh-Benjamin, 1991; Plass & Hill, 1986; Sapp, 1999; Stipek, 2002; Vagg & Spielberger, 1995; Wigfield & Eccles, 1989.
restrict
children’s behaviors (Krohne, 1992; Stipek, 2002). Students with an
entity view of ability (the view that ability is stable and
uncontrollable) may develop anxiety about evaluation of their ability
if they have experienced repeated failures (Covington, 1986). Even
high-achieving students may become anxious because of unrealistic
parental, peer, or self-imposed expectations (Wigfield & Eccles,
1989). Factors in the school environment also can affect anxiety,
including:
n harsh criticism of students’ efforts or extremely high standards (Zatz & Chassin, 1985),
n introduction of timed tests (Plass & Hill, 1986),
n
changes
in grade reporting from nonletter grades in early elementary school
to letter grades in upper elementary through high school (Wigfield &
Eccles, 1989), and
n school transitions (elementary to middle school or middle to high school) (Eccles, Midgley, &
Adler, 1984).
What
methods can teachers use to reduce students’ anxiety? As Table 16.5
shows, students with anxiety at different points in the learning
process require different approaches to reducing their anxiety
(Naveh-Benjamin, 1991). Developmental level is also an important
consideration in choosing methods to reduce anxiety in students.
n
Because
younger children are more responsive to praise and feedback from
adults than are older children, teachers can alleviate anxiety by
providing additional support and encouragement and by ensuring that
academic tasks are at an appropriate level of difficulty so students
do not experience multiple failures (Wigfield & Eccles, 1989).
n Older students may benefit more from techniques that focus on changing their negative views of ability, attributions for failure, and worries, in addition to study skills training (Wigfield & Eccles, 1989).
Can you remember a time when you have felt anxiety or helplessness? Think about what may have caused these feelings and what you did to overcome them.
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key concepts 293
Define expectancies and values, and explain how they influence students’ motivation. Expectancies are an individual’s expectations for success on a task, which are based partly on one’s competency beliefs. Values are the reasons for choosing to do a task (attainment value, intrinsic value, utility value, and cost). Expectancies and values, in combination, determine an individual’s motivation to engage in a particular task.
Compare and contrast the two types of mastery and performance goals. Mastery-approach goals (improving knowledge) and performance-approach goals (besting others) both lead students to be intrinsically motivated and are associated with many beneficial outcomes. Mastery-avoidance and performance-avoidance goals both involve avoiding situations that show one’s incompetence, but the standard for incompetence is absolute (e.g., the best, the worst) for mastery avoidance and normative (comparing to others) for performance-avoidance. Performance-avoidance goals are related to poor intrinsic motivation.
Identify attributions that enhance motivation and those that lower motivation. Attributing success and failure to amount of effort leads to subsequent motivation to learn. Attributing success to controllable causes leads to further motivation, while attributing failure to stable and uncontrollable causes, as with an entity view of ability, hinders motivation. Teachers who give praise for easy tasks, express sympathy or pity for failures, or offer unsolicited help may inadvertently convey a sense of low ability in students. Praising intelligence also leads to an entity view of ability, which could lower motivation when students encounter failure or difficult tasks.
Explain the major developmental changes in motivation, and identify gender and ethnic differences in motivation. Young children begin school with a mastery orientation. They have an incremental belief about ability, have high expectancies, and choose tasks based primarily on intrinsic value. As children progress from elementary through high school, they shift toward a performance orientation. Adolescents place less emphasis on mastery and effort and believe that ability is fixed. As a result, they have lower competency beliefs, expectancies, and intrinsic values for academic tasks. Compared to boys, girls tend to hold an entity view of ability and to rate their ability lower, especially in math and science. While research suggests that African-American and Hispanic adolescents may be most at risk motivationally compared to other ethnic groups, motivation is the result of many cultural and environmental factors rather than simply the product of a person’s ethnicity.
Identify student-level and classroom-level strategies for enhancing motivation. Teachers can improve the motivation of students by:
n changing students’ attributions for success and failure,
n emphasizing values that promote intrinsic motivation,
n providing short-term goals and strategies for making progress toward goals,
n reducing the competitive atmosphere of the classroom, and
n using appropriate methods of evaluation and recognition.
Explain how learned helplessness and anxiety affect students’ motivation to learn. Students with learned helplessness believe that they have no control over learning outcomes and therefore expect to do poorly, lowering motivation. Anxiety may affect an individual’s performance while learning, studying, or retrieving material. The expectation of performing poorly as a result of anxiety lowers motivation to learn.
academic intrinsic motivation achievement goal anxiety attainment value causal attributions competency belief controllability cost entity view of ability
mastery-avoidance goals mastery-oriented performance-approach goals performance-avoidance goals stability utility value value work-avoidance goal
expectancy
extrinsic motivation incremental view of ability intrinsic motivation
intrinsic value learned helplessness locus mastery-approach goals
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294
case
studies: reflect and evaluate
Early Childhood: “The Worksheets”
These questions refer to the case study on page 258.
1. According to expectancy-value theory, what is Melissa’s expectancy for completing her schoolwork?
Based on evidence from the case study and the module, what attribution do you think Melissa might make for her math ability?
2. Kristina, like Emanuel and Martin, appears to like math and to be good at math. Based on the research evidence in the module, predict how her competency beliefs in math and the value she places on math might change as she progresses through the upper elementary grades and middle school. How might her attributions change?
3. Imagine that you are having a parent-teacher conference with Martin’s mother. Explain to her why she should not praise him for being smart. What effect might this have on Martin’s subsequent motivation?
4. Which student(s) might be most difficult to motivate based on goal theory? Based on attribution theory? Cite evidence from the case study to support your position.
5. Based on research evidence regarding the effects of praise, explain why Elizabeth’s encouraging
Melissa to try harder would be appropriate for a kindergartner but not for a student in middle school or high school.
6.
Elizabeth realizes that Martin, Melissa, and Claire have different
motivational needs. Help Elizabeth create a motivational plan for
each student. Think about modifications to the following: her
expectations for each student, goals, feedback about successes and
failures, offering help on tasks, and types of tasks and assignments.
Create a plan for each student and explain how the modifications
would affect each student’s expectancies, values, goals, and
attributions.
Elementary School: “Writer’s Block”
These questions refer to the case study on page 260.
1. According to expectancy-value theory, what is Carter’s expectancy for completing his writing assignment? Which type of value—intrinsic value, attainment value, or utility value—does Carter have for writing?
2. Based on the information in the case study regarding goal orientations, which student—Shanti,
Zara, or Carter—would be most difficult to motivate? Why? Which student would be easiest to motivate?Why?
3. Reread Yuiko’s interactions with James and Mason. Based on these interactions, what attribution might James and Mason make for their writing performance? Are they likely to have motivation for free writing in the future?
4. What information do students at this developmental level use in making attributions for their performance?
5. Based on the research evidence regarding teacher-student interactions, evaluate Yuiko’s use of feedback.
6. Carter appears to have anxiety about writing when he starts his assignments. What can Yuiko do to help reduce his anxiety about writing?
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case studies: reflect and evaluate 295
Middle School: “The Math Review”
These questions refer to the case study on page 262.
1. In your own words, define expectancy and value. What is Aaron’s expectancy for and value of the math game activity? Which type of value—intrinsic value, attainment value, or utility value—do Jeremy and Rachel have for the math activity?
2. According to goal theory, which student—Sam, Jeremy, or Rachel—would be most difficult to motivate? Why? Which student would be easiest to motivate? Why?
3. What attribution does Jack likely make for Aaron’s performance in his class? Does Jack view math performance to be due to an entity view of ability or an incremental view of ability?
4. What attribution does Sam make for her math performance? Cite research evidence related to gender differences in attributions that might help explain Sam’s attributional pattern.
5. What error did Jack make in his feedback to Sam?
6.
At what point in the instructional process does Sam’s anxiety
affect her performance? What specific strategies can Jack use to
help reduce Sam’s anxiety?
7.
Identify specific techniques Jack might use to intrinsically
motivate Aaron, Sam, and Jeremy. Explain how each suggestion would
improve intrinsic motivation using expectancy-value, goal, or
attribution theory.
High School: “Exam Grades”
These questions refer to the case study on page 264.
1. What is Chelsea’s expectancy for success in physics? Speculate on the social, cultural, and individual factors that might contribute to this expectancy.
2. Explain how physics holds intrinsic value, attainment value, and utility value for Chelsea. If Chelsea decides not to drop AP physics, what are the costs resulting from this decision?
3. Explain why students in AP physics are likely to adopt performance goals. What factors in their environment might contribute to this orientation?
4. What type of goal orientation do students in general science have? Be sure to support your answer with details from the case. Explain how this goal orientation is typical of adolescents.
5. Assume that Reggie is an African American student. Based on details in the case and on research on ethnic differences in motivation, why would you be concerned about Reggie’s motivation? What could you do to intrinsically motivate him?
6.
What attribution do Nicholas and Chelsea make for their C+ grades in
physics? Based on the research on gender differences in attributions,
why is Chelsea’s attribution not surprising?
7.
What specific suggestions would you give Curtis for intrinsically
motivating students in general science? Would your suggestions differ
for students in AP physics? If so, why and how? If not, why not?
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