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PROBLEMS OF DEVELOPING
LEARNING MOTIVATION IN SCHOOLCHILDREN
F. I. Khaidarov
Psychology regards motivation as a complex multilevel regulator of human life activities: man’s behavior and activity. Learning motivation is one of the forms of motivation.
The problem of learning motivation is one of the fundamental psychological problems. Its significance for the development of modern psychology is associated with the analysis of sources of human activity and the impelling forces for man’s activity and behavior. The term "motivation" is used by modern psychology in the dual sense: on the one hand it denotes a system of factors that determine behavior (these, in particular, include needs, motives, goals, intentions and aspirations to name just a few), and on the other it describes a process, which promotes and maintains behavioral activity at a certain level.
The problem of learning motivation is complex and multi-faceted. This is associated with the multiple approaches to understanding its essence, nature and structure, as well as to the methods of its study. Different approaches explain motivation from different angles: as a system of human relations (V.N. Myasischev); as a correlation between sense and meaning (A.N. Leontiev); as integration of inducements and their sense context (S.L. Rubinshtein); as an orientation of a personality and dynamics of his behavior (L.I. Bozhovich, V.E. Chudnovsky); as a guide in activity (P.Y. Galperin), etc.
Learning motivation is integrated in learning activity and has a few specific features. It is connected with organization of the educational process, subjective characteristics of a learner, subjective features of a teacher and specific features of an academic subject. Learning motivation is characterized by orientation, stability and dynamics.
It is important to study learning motivation among the children of school age, because a transition from primary school age to secondary school age is accompanied by contradictions and a break of conventional ideas about life. Schoolchildren undergo various emotional and volitional conflicts, which have impact on the educational process as a whole. Therefore, learning motivation should be developed in such a way so that it ensures self-guided coping with difficulties and involves approval. The approval motivation helps to develop confidence, interest in other people and a subject studied, an aspiration for self-esteem and a fear to get a bad mark.
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It should be noted that any learning motivation goes through different levels of development. Specialized literature refers to several levels of development of learning motivation. For example, A.K. Markova identifies the following levels of development of learning motivation among schoolchildren: (a) a negative attitude to teacher (schoolchildren explain their failures by external reasons, experience discontent with themselves and a teacher and lack self-confidence); (b) a neutral attitude to learning (schoolchildren display unstable interest in external outcomes of learning, experience boredom and lack confidence); (c) a situational attitude to learning (schoolchildren display interest in outcomes of learning and marks given to them by teachers; another characteristic worth noting here is instability of motives); (d) a positive attitude to learning (schoolchildren display cognitive motives and interest in ways of obtaining knowledge); (e) a creative attitude to learning (schoolchildren display interest in selfeducation and realize correlations between their motives and goals); (f) a personalized attitude to learning (represents the highest level of development of learning motivation where schoolchildren have motives for improving the methods of cooperation in the course of learning and cognitive activities).
Naturally, every schoolchild has a certain level of development of learning motivation. When organizing training activities, a teacher should be aware of the attitude typical of a particular schoolchild. In case of a schoolchild with the positive learning motivation, the teacher has to ensure its further development. For a schoolchild with the negative motivation, the task is to discover the reasons behind it and find proper corrective methods.
In this connection a question arises: What are the methodologies that help to diagnose the motivation levels among schoolchildren? A teacher determines the motivation levels by means of observation and discourse. Another method is to offer a choice situation. In this case a teacher may, for instance, suggest that a pupil should make a week timetable most suitable for him. An analysis of such timetables helps to determine the levels of learning motivation. It should be emphasized that it is important not only to determine the level of schoolchild's learning motivation, but also to discover the reasons behind it. Research shows that an inaptitude for learning is often a reason for low motivation. This, in its turn, leads to poor understanding of the training material, discontent with the learning results and, ultimately, low evaluation and self-evaluation.
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Consequently, it is necessary to develop the specific methods of corrective work. The corrective work should aim to remove the reasons behind low learning motivation. It should begin with discovering and eliminating weak links. This will require a step-by-step improvement of the respective aspects. Training should be organized on an individual basis using the entertaining exercises and tasks which are to be completed with participation of the teacher. In the course of work, the teacher should record the pupil's progress and make him aware of his achievements. Another way of corrective work is to provide a learner with additional training aids, which will help him to understand the material better and complete the tasks successfully. This will lead to the pupil's satisfaction with his work and aspiration to experience success once again. There are also other methods of corrective work, which go beyond the scope of this study.
In conclusion, let us note that the development of any knowledge and learning achievements, first of all, depend on the schoolchildren's desire and aspiration to obtain this knowledge, which, in its turn, depends on the degree, to which the learning motives are developed. Solution to this problem in many respects depends on the level of the training activities that facilitate the fulfillment of inner motivational potential of a schoolchild’s personality to the greatest extent possible.
References
1. Ильин Е. П. Мотивация и мотивы. - СПб.: Питер, 2000. - 512 с.
2. Маркова А. К., Матис Т. А., Орлов Б. А. Формирование мотивации учения. - М., 1993. - 183 с.
3. Родионов В. А., Ступницкая М. А. Взаимодействие психолога и педагога в учебном процессе. - Ярославль: Академия развития, 2001. - 221с.
4. Усманова Э. З. Мотивационная эмоциональная регуляция мышления в условиях интеллектуального конфликта. - Т.: Укитувчи, 1993. - 104 с.
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