Learning and Motivation

Everything in our lives is underlined with some sort of motivation. This includes our students and their motivation to learn. Motivation is essential for learning and represent a driving force for students to complete their tasks and to build their knowledge. There are many factors which could potentially influence motivation, which makes research on this topic as it relates to learning diverse and abundant. However, motivational considerations can be summed up as being either task or ego-oriented. For facilitating task-oriented learning is recommended that teachers evaluate student performance based on an absolute scale rather than on a scale that compares student performance against each other, emphasize student participation and self-improvement in learning and incorporate test questions that require explanations and justifications rather than memorized material. Students are motivated by knowing that what they are learning has a greater purpose. They want to know that what they learn in the classroom has relevance and significance to their daily lives. Students who are motivated conduct themselves in ways that maximize learning and success in the academic environment. Motivated students attend classes on a regular basis without a need for external rewards, they seek additional help when is needed and they turn in quality work on time. On the other hand, unmotivated students to minimize the effort they exert, which result in continued poor performance. Based on this concept, students are motivated to learn if they perceive having adequate support from their social environment and their master skills have positive social effects in real life. Students feel this sense of belonging if they believe their teachers are supportive of social aspects in the classroom, such as promoting interaction and respect among students. The purpose of this paper is to review research conducted on student motivation for learning and in the process to identify teaching methods which are motivating students to learn.
Keywords: learning, students, motivation, teaching methods, concept