Ten Pointers for Enhancing Learners' Motivation (Focus on Teaching‪)‬

RESEARCHERS in such fields as education, cognitive development, sociocultural psychology, and applied linguistics confirm the crucial importance--and complexity--of an affective variable, motivation. Learning motivation is particularly complex. Derived from Latin movere meaning "to move," the term motivation is, as defined by Hilgard, Atkinson, and Atkinson, a cluster of factors that "energizes behaviour and gives it direction" (1979, p. 281). The extraordinarily multi-faceted construct of motivation suggests that there is no single pedagogical strategy that will be appropriate for all learners and for all tasks, and that educators, with their views drawn from different conceptual backgrounds, may explore a variety of strategies in order to maximize the learning outcome. Extrinsic incentives may be useful for encouraging students to generate the energy for a higher level of learning. However, moving beyond the extrinsic and toward the growth of intrinsic motivation holds the key role in developing autonomy and in helping learners become self-directed learners. A concept that is closely related to intrinsic motivation is the concept of flow developed by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly (1990). As Goleman (1995) puts it, "flow represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performance and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized and aligned with the task at hand" (p. 91). Inspired by this concept, I reflected on my efforts in my graduate-level oral communication courses for international students to enhance learners' motivation for the purpose of creating an optimal learning experience. The ten pointers provided here are those that have worked well in my teaching. Though the instructional context may vary, stimulating and sustaining learners' motivation remain at the heart of learning. The basic principles of motivation may be applied to learning in different situations and contexts. It is hoped that this sharing may prompt others to continue exploring various strategies for motivating students.