One important factor influencing a student's motivation to learn is the motivational system in place, or the classroom environment. Psychologists broadly classify these environments as competitive, cooperative or individualistic. All three systems can create the motivation to work, but for different reasons. And these different sources of motivation can have consequences for the way students approach learning.
Competitive classroom;
- Student's attention focussed on peer's performance
- Self vs other comparisons provide motivation to work
- Might lead student to think in terms of ability. 'Am I smart enough to do this? How did I do? How did he or she do? I don't want to make a mistake.....'
- Avoiding failure becomes all important, which means avoiding challenging situations
- Not trying can be one way of 'failing with honour'
Cooperative classroom:
- Student's attention is focussed towards performance of the group as a whole.
- They think in terms of 'oughts' and a sense of moral responsibility provides the motivation to work. 'Are we working hard enough? I(or he or she) ought to be contributing enough to work. My friends want me to work hard.'
- Intentions become all important and students evaluate each other in terms of willingness to work rather than ability.
- Peers encourage each others efforts. Trying is because you 'owe' it to your group mates.
Individualistic classroom:
- Students work completely independently, and each one's work and progress are unrelated to those of others in the class
- They are led to think in terms of mastering goals for themselves. 'I know I am improving. I am given a chance to correct my mistakes and my teacher wants me to try new things.'
- Self vs- earlier-self comparisons may be heightened, and these provide the motivation for work.
- Trying is for improving and bettering one's own earlier achievements.
(Ind clrm)Student can focus on question,'How shall I do this? I need to make a plan.' In a (cooperat env ),'We need to make a plan'. But in a (comp env), even if the student tries hard, he/she may not 'succeed', since success is defined as doing better than other students. So the question asked by the student to himself/herself will be,' If I try, will I succeed?' The answer to this lies in her judgement of her own ability relative to the other students. So, motivation to learn will be dependent on that crucial judgement.
Psychologists call the 'double-edged sword of effort'. Effort could lead to success, but if it leads to failure, there is shame and a loss of self-esteem. Thus, in comp env, difficult tasks could lead to failure will be avoided
Even within one classroom, not all students will interpret the goals of the class int he same way. The teacher may ask his students to work together, yet a few of them opt out and work alone. Another teacher may expect his students to work independently, yet two or three of his students begin to collaborate with each other. And we all know of students, who, inspite of being in competitive classrooms, ignore those compulsions and work simply to master the material.
The choice of which system a class follows is influenced by the school's educational philosophy and, ultimately, by societal values. But, it is the teacher who sends powerful motivational messages to her students int he kinds of expectations she communicates.
