Research on Student Motivation II

Chapter four

Literature review

This study was conducted at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; was designed to explore the factors that drive students to study, to identify differences between successful and less-successful student in terms of their study behaviors, and to connect student study motivation to the larger realm of theories related to motivation. The critical review of the literature focuses on the following past studies.

Traditional survey based approaches in measuring student motivation to learn such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1968) measured the gap between students’ desire to study and actually giving effort to do so by arguing that needs drive behavior, and that the academic motivation is driven by the level of needs hierarchy at which the student is operating.

Bandura’s (1986) view of human behavior depicted the beliefs of people about themselves as critical elements in the exercise of control and personal agency. For him the capability that is most "distinctly human" is self-reflection, hence it is a prominent feature of social cognitive theory. The social cognitive theory is based on the belief of self-efficacy. The limitation is, it stands in clear contrast to theories of human functioning that overemphasize the role of environmental factors in the development of human behavior and learning.

Bandura's (1986) key contentions regarding the role of self-efficacy beliefs in human functioning are that, peoples’ level of motivation depends mostly on what they believe, rather than what is objectively true. However, no amount of confidence or self-appreciation can produce success when requisite skills and knowledge are absent. It is important to remember that students envision their grade before they begin an examination or enroll in a course.

Murray and others (1990) reported that undergraduate students rated instructors as more effective when they displayed sociable and extroverted personality traits. The studies conducted by Erdle (1985), Murray and their associates (1990) also indicate that an instructor displaying extroverted nature increases perceived instructor effectiveness. Surely a good course instructor can pursue students to study but the main criticism of this study is that, a student’s personal longing to learn in a particular course along with a structured course plan from the instructor motivate more than the extroversion does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter five

Contextual Framework

This study is based on the settings of the university students. To meet the objectives of the research in finding out the factors affecting the students’ motivation to study, issues like the background of the students, their residential and family status along with their level of seniority, all work as important indicators. Also, some renowned theories of motivation can contribute to answer the research questions thus meeting the research objective rationally.

Simply finding out what motivates the students to study is not enough. Faculty members need to understand the implicit factors also to apply the findings in reality.

To find out if really some factors motivate the students at university level in terms of that student’s current CGPA status and seniority, past motivational theories offer logical explanations.

So some renowned motivational theories related to like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are being related to find out what are the real reasons that are making the students to study (or not to study).