Greetings!
QUESTION
What are the positive and negative aspects of motivation for 12-15
year olds?
ANSWER
DEFINITION OF MOTIVATION
------------------------
As you correctly indicate, first we need to define "motivation". The
following are dictionary definitions:
*** motivation ***
1. 1.1. The act or process of motivating.
1.2 The state of being motivated.
2. Something that motivates; an inducement or incentive.
Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=motivation
*** motivation ***
Motivate \Mo"ti*vate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. -vated; p. pr. & vb. n.
-vating.] [From Motive, n.] To provide with a motive; to move; impel;
induce; incite. -- Mo`ti*va\"tion, n. --William James. Source:
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
*** motivation ***
n : the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action; the
reason for the action; "we did not understand his motivation"; "he
acted with the best of motives" [syn: motive, need]. Source: WordNet
® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University.
*** motivation ***
Those factors which cause an organism to behave or act in either a
goal-seeking or satisfying manner. They may be influenced by
physiological drives or by external stimuli (12 Dec 1998). Source:
On-line Medical Dictionary, © 1997-98 Academic Medical Publishing &
CancerWEB.
Your question is on motivation for 12-15 year olds. This is a
transition period from late childhood to adolescence -- the middle
school years. During this transition, the positive and negative
factors on motivation are basically the same, but tend to intensify
toward the end.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FACTORS ON MOTIVATION
-------------------------------------------
Each one of these factors is like a two-sided coin, the positive side
and the negative side. The list provided by Andrew Littlejohn [5] is
excellent, and would apply both in the home and school environments:
**************************************************************
Some practical ideas for sustaining motivation
1 Experiment, take risks. Vary the kinds of things you do in the
classroom. See what different students respond to best. For example,
try short stories, films, classroom drama, songs, projects, grammar
exercises, dictations,…
2 Choose ‘larger’ tasks. Chose tasks that give students more
‘psychological space’ to plan their own work, set their own pace, make
their own decisions about how and what they do. For example, process
writing and simulations.
3 Choose open-ended tasks. Tasks that different people can respond to
in different ways, where the absence of a ‘single right answer’ means
that everybody’s work can be valued. For example, making posters,
writing poems, creating designs and describing them.
4 Provide choice. If people are involved in deciding what to do, they
are usually more committed to it. Instead of saying ‘do this’, say
‘you can choose exercise 3, 5 or 9. Or if you’d like to do something
else, ask me.’
5 Involve students in classroom decision-making. Many of the
decisions that teachers make can often be shared with the students,
without any risks to the course as whole. You might be able to share
decisions about when homework is set, how long they will spend on a
particular task, what they will do next lesson, and so on.
6 Find out what students think. Find out if students think they need
more practice, if they have suggestions of their own, if they find
things easy or difficult, boring or interesting. You could place a
‘suggestion box’ in your class, or write an open-ended letter that
students could complete with their ideas, or devise short
questionnaires.
7 Think about how you give feedback and what you give feedback on. If
you can identify students who are beginning to sink, try to identify
aspects that you can praise and encourage. Instead of just giving a
low mark, explain to the students, in concrete terms, what they could
do to improve it next time.
8 Communicate a sense of optimism in learning. Communicate a belief
that everyone can learn. Encourage students to try, to take risks
without fear of losing marks or feeling stupid. Show them how much
they have learned. Offer help as they ask for it.
*************************************************************
This is not an endorsement of Littlejohn's list, but it is typical of
what you see in the educational, behavioral, and psychological
literatures. For some additional examples, see references [1] to [4].
Reference [1] is specially interesting in that it is written by a
young woman (college freshman) who is reflecting back on her own
process of sustaining motivation.
RECOMMENDED REFERENCES
[1] "The Lack of Motivation: Early Adolescents in the Transition
Years",
Afrodete Noeofotistos, Carnegie Mellon University, School of
Humanities and Social Sciences, Freshman Student Essay, December 8,
1995.
http://eserver.org/courses/fall95/76-100g/papers/neofotistos/default.html
[2] "Motivation for Treatment Differed Among Adolescents, Young
Adults, and Adults", Kathy Karageorge, Ph.D., National Treatment
Improvement Evaluation Study (NTIES), June 2001.
http://neds.calib.com/products/pdfs/fs/80_motivation_for_treatment.cfm
[3] Comprehensive website on "Adolescence: Change and Continuity".
Factors affecting adolescent development include biological
transitions, cognitive transitions, social transitions, family
changes, family influences, peer groups, schools, work, leisure,
achievement, identity, intimacy, sexuality,
parenthood, psychosocial problems, delinquency, substance abuse,
disabilities.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/n/x/nxd10/adolesce.htm#top
[4] "Unfolding and enfolding youth: Studies in middle school
experience,
academic motivation, and psychological adjustment during early
adolescence,"
Robert William Roeser, University of Michigan, April 1996
http://www.apa.org/divisions/div15/March%20Issue/March%20Issue/page9.html
[5] "Motivation: Where does it come from? Where does it go?", by
Andrew Littlejohn, Karen's Linguistics Issues, November 2001.
http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/motivation.html
SEARCH STRATEGY
1. Find definitions of "motivation".
2. Run google queries on: <motivation>, <childhood>, <late childhood>,
<adolescence>, <early adolescence>, <motivation positive "early
adolescence">,
<motivation negative "early adoslescence">, <motivation survey>,
<"motivation survey data">, <motivation empirical evidence>,<child
adolescent motivation>,
<child adolescent motivation "survey data">
3. Repeat step 2 with another general search energy (used "AlltheWeb")
4. Repeat step 2 with a psychology search engine (used "Encyclopedia
of Psychology")
RESEARCH SUMMARY
With regard to motivation of 12 to 15 year olds, I think the best
summary is given by Andrew Littlejohn [5] when he states: "Success
comes in 'cans', not 'can'ts'." As Littlejohn also points out, it is
important to keep in mind the positive reinforcement feedback loop
between motivation and ability.
Let me know if you have any questions or need further clarification.
Best regards,
pelican-ga |
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