Abstract
Although motivation has been shown to have substantial influence on learning, the relative significance of Students’ motivational characteristics, compared to other school-related factors, for student learning and performance is still unclear. Furthermore, knowledge about the relative importance of different situational variables for predicting these motivational characteristics is crucial for educational decisions about how to enhance student motivation. This study examined (1) the relative importance of motivational characteristics derived from five different theories on motivation and epistemic beliefs, compared to almost 300 situational factors, for predicting student performance on the TIMSS 2011 achievement tests in science and mathematics, and (2) how student motivational characteristics can be predicted by the background variables in the TIMSS 2011 questionnaires and an additional questionnaire about motivation accompanying TIMSS in Sweden. Up to 52% of the variation in student performance could be predicted by models containing all background variables, and student motivational characteristics were among the most important variables in the model. Models that comprised only student motivational characteristics from several motivation theories predicted up to 27% of student performance on the achievement test, while models using only single motivational characteristics predicted, on average, 7%. Results emphasize teachers’ importance for student motivation. Five teacher features were consistently among the most important variables in predicting Students’ motivational characteristics. These five variables predicted as much of the variation in important student motivational characteristics as the remaining 300 situational variables together.
Highlights
Motivation is a prerequisite for learning and achievement as it instigates action and sustains and directs behavior
To provide perspective on the importance of motivation for predicting student performance on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) achievement test, Orthogonal Projection to Latent Structures analysis (OPLS) models were computed for all subjects
This study shows that several student motivational characteristics are important for student achievement
Summary
Motivation is a prerequisite for learning and achievement as it instigates action and sustains and directs behavior. There is a wealth of studies examining the relationship between different motivational constructs and a wide range of “external” variables like, for example, emotions (Goetz et al, 2016), achievement (Chatzisarantis et al, 2016; Lüftenegger et al, 2016; Mouratidis et al, 2018), reading amount (Troyer et al, 2019), and epistemic beliefs (Winberg et al, 2018). Most of these studies take a single theoretical perspective on motivation, which may facilitate design of, for example, interventions, and theoretical clarity
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