How Feelings and Beliefs Affect Student Motivation and Engagement

 

Students thrive in school when they are engaged in their own learning. Engaged students are active participants in the learning process: They use deep strategies to make meaning of ideas and concepts, turn homework in on time, and hold positive feelings about their learning experiences.  Successful students believe they are capable of learning and view failures as temporary set-backs. They exhibit high levels of self-efficacy for learning and attribute success and failure to effort rather than outside forces such as the ‘teacher’ or ‘difficulty of the task.’

Student engagement is a key factor for learning. Students who are engaged make an effortful investment in learning: they are active participants in the learning process at the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement dimensions. The emotional dimension of engagement is defined as student feelings about learning and is linked to a willingness to do work. It is characterized as enjoyment in the learning or activity at hand. It can also reflect a student’s feelings of anticipation, as in looking forward to lessons. The cognitive dimension of engagement is defined as being personally invested and having a willingness to exert effort to master ideas and skills, for example, using deep strategies and creating more connections among ideas (Fredricks et al., 2004 Fredricks & McColskey, 2012). While, cognitive engagement is less observable and more indicative of the internal processes taking place during learning, the behavioral dimension of engagement is defined as participation. More specifically it is units of actions specific to learning (Christenson, Reschly, & Wylie, 2012; Fredricks et al. 2008) such as completing homework on time, listening in class, or keeping work organized.  

Engaged students are motivated students...It is important to recognize motivation as a precursor rather than a part of engagement.  Motivation is the intent to learn; engagement is the action of learning (Christenson et al. 2012; Lam, Wong, Yang, & Liu, 2012). That is, engagement is preceded by motivation, the desire to engage or as a goal-directed process that leads students to initiate actions for learning and to sustain those actions to complete a chosen task. Motivation variables include perceived instrumentality,  future orientation, valuing learning, feeling a sense of belonging, having an interest in a subject or school and positive self-efficacy for learning and causal attributions. Of these, self-efficacy and causal attributions have been found to play a pivotal role in initiating human behaviors such as motivation and engagement. 

Two ways to increase Motivation and Engagement

From the social cognitive view, engagement is considered to be dependent on students’ beliefs about their capability to learn, self-efficacy, (Martin & Rimm-Kaufmann, 2015) and the types of reasons they give for their success or failure, causal attributions (Wolters et al., 2013).  

Enhancing Self-efficacy 

Self-efficacy is a “key determinant of individuals’ motivation, learning and self-regulation” (Schunk, 2012, p. 109). High self-efficacy results in improved homework behaviors, effective learning approaches, the ability to set appropriately challenging goals, and academic engagement (Kitsantas et al., 2011; Martin, 2012). Self-efficacy is enhanced with instructional practices that promote mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and positive physiological states (Bandura, 1997). 

1. Mastery experience is believed to be most influential on self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986, 1997). Students evaluate and interpret the results of their actions through processes inside the self-regulation model of learning: goal setting, choosing strategies, monitoring progress, and evaluating results (Zimmerman et al. 1992). In particular, mastery experience that results from success or failure in challenging tasks is the most powerful predictor of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997). Doing an error analysis after assessments is one way to help students enhance self-efficacy. When students are taught to look for and recognize mistake patterns and correct them they are more likely to hold higher beliefs about their ability to learn (self-efficacy for learning).

2. Observing others also influences self-efficacy in that individuals gauge their capabilities in comparison to others performing like tasks (Schunk, 1994). Vicarious learning occurs through observation and imitation, and also influences beliefs, cognition, emotions, skills, strategies, and behaviors. Teaching strategies that encourage learning through observation are “I do, we do, you do” lessons, student presentations, demonstrations and discussions of successful and unsuccessful final products, and collaborative work that is expertly planned and facilitated so that all students are responsible participants.

3. Another source of self-efficacy is verbal or social persuasion. The best type of persuasion encourages individuals that success is measured by personal growth rather than a comparison of scores with others (Ryan, Gheen & Midgley, 1998). Words of encouragement framed to focus on effort and capability can encourage and motivate students to increase their belief in their own ability to succeed.

4. The fourth source of self-efficacy is individuals’ emotional and physiological states. Individuals’ reactions to tasks form their precepts of self-efficacy: feelings of anger, anxiety, dread, or apprehension reduce self-efficacy; while the state of well-being increases self-efficacy (Usher & Pajares, 2008). Some strategies for helping students keep a healthy level of well-being when they are struggling are:

1. Listen to their story. Allow students to express what they are feeling and thinking without judgement.

2. Ask “powerful” questions to help them think more deeply about their feelings and solutions. Powerful questions are open-ended, trigger self-reflection, reveal choicesm, elicit a different idea of what’s possible, weigh the costs and benefits of a choice or action, establish the level of importance (scale of 1-10), encourage shifts in perspective, unpack assumptions or limiting beliefs, incite action, and promote accountability & follow through.

Revising Causal Attributions

Causal attribution is a concept within attribution theory that is concerned with how learners explain the causes of success and failure that encompasses beliefs surrounding competence and control (Schunk & Zimmerman, 2006; Weiner, 1979, 2008, 2010; Wolters et al. 2013). Causal attributions are the explanations students give for why they were successful or unsuccessful.  Causal attributions have implications over students subsequent motivation and engagement in learning. Attribution for failure is a belief associated with the concept of ability (Weiner, 1979). Failures can be attributed to either internal or external factors. External factors include blaming the teacher, luck, or difficulty of the material; internal factors include lack of effort or ability (Dweck & Leggett,1988). Several studies have shown that the interactions between the personal beliefs of self-efficacy and attributions influence and are influenced by engagement, as characterized by learning strategies, persistence, and taking enjoyment from participation in learning or an activity (Ainley & Ainley, 2011; Hampden-Thompson & Bennett, 2013; Martin et al., 2014; Wolters, Fan, & Daugherty, 2013).  According to Weiner (1979), attribution is initiated when learners search for an understanding of “why” they succeeded or failed. This process is more likely to occur in learners after failure (Stupnisky, Stewart, Daniels, & Perry, 2011; Weiner, 1979). Attribution for failure affects self-efficacy, motivation, and engagement.

The types of attributions applied to failures influence learners’ beliefs and perceptions, in addition to their emotions and behavioral engagement. For instance, a learner’s affect (e.g., pride or shame) is influenced by the attribution of failure to internal (e.g., effort) or external (e.g., luck) causes. The choices of tasks, level of effort, persistence, and level of achievement are a function of learners’ perception of competence and control, and are linked to students’ self-efficacy (Wolters et al., 2013).  Findings from an intervention study by Blackwell et al. (2007) indicate that responses to failure establishes a pattern of responses that shape students’ motivation, engagement, and in turn affects their academic trajectories. Therefore, it is important to help students revise their attributional thinking.

Strategies for shifting attribution for failure from the mindset that outcomes are uncontrollable, stable (not malleable), and externally determined to a mindset that one is capable of organizing and taking appropriate actions to attain a goal include:

• Giving students immediate constructive feedback on assessments focused on finding error patterns for revision.

• Encourage students to view failure with the mindset that it is within students’ control to change future outcomes.

• Assist students in figuring out why they were unsuccessful through academic coaching (powerful questioning)

• Increase positive student beliefs by  increasing students’ self-regulatory processes of goal setting, choosing effective strategies, progress monitoring, and evaluating outcomes to revise goals or to set new goals (Zimmerman, 2002). 

The challenge for educators is to develop educational experiences that account for students’ unique personalities, beliefs, and learning needs by supporting students’ beliefs about their ability to learn (self-efficacy) and helping them to revise maladaptive attributions (reasons) for failure in order to positively impact their cognitive, behavioral, and emotional energies toward learning. 

Study Smarter, Not More

“I studied a long time.”

“I really studied hard.”

This is what I often hear from students when asked if they are prepared for a quiz or test. It is not uncommon for students to equate the amount of time spent studying to effective studying. Effective studying can take hours but it needn’t. If students spend too much time reading over textbooks and notes they are probably wasting time and brain energy on passive studying habits. Passive studying may result in the memorization of facts but is unlikely to lead to the ability to understand and apply what’s been learned – which is almost certainly what the teacher is going to require for the test. Don’t misunderstand me: There are definitely times when studying is about memorization, such as with multiplication tables, names and places, definitions, and spelling words. True learning, however, involves more than the basic retention of facts: It requires the conceptual understanding necessary to apply knowledge to new situations.

Retained facts are the foundation to build understanding. When students take the facts they’ve memorized to the next level, conceptual understanding, they can then apply the constructed framework of understanding to new situations. Understanding the type of learning required is the key to studying smarter: Retention to memorize facts; understanding to connect facts into a framework; application to take this framework and apply it to new situations, activities, and information.

Retention. Studying to retain information is the simplest form of learning.

When to use it:    vocabulary, spelling, multiplication table, steps in solving equations, historical events. 

Strategies for Retention. Strategies for retention include chunking, rehearsal, categorizing, spacing, and interleaving.

-Chunking information into 5 or 7 items supports students’ limited working memory.

-Rehearsing, better known as “practice makes perfect,” is done to reinforce learned material. Ideal activities are: solving math problems repeatedly, writing out information several times, creating and reviewing index cards for terms and vocabulary over several sessions. Ideal rehearsal is 8 to 20 times depending on the difficulty of the information and students’ ability.

-Categorizing information is an excellent strategy for retention. This strategy is a special form of chunking in which information is divided into manageable pieces and by themes that make sense to students, e.g. dividing vocabulary by syllables, prefixes, suffixes, nouns, verbs, adjective, etc.

-Spacing study sessions over several days strengthens the retrieval connections in the brain. When information travels the brain pathways over and over, it is increasingly easier to recall.

-Interleaving supports focused attention and the brains need for novelty. Researchers have found that students’ ability to remain focused during studying is enhanced when students mix practice of several related skills. are divided into 20-30 minuteduring st on memory

Understanding. Developing a framework for linking facts results in understanding how information fits together and why.

When to use it: In all subjects to recognize main ideas and compare/contrast concepts

Strategies for understanding. Students can develop their understanding by teaching others what they know, create essential questions and respond to them during reading, and/or connect ideas using visual organizers/mind-maps.

-Teaching others what you know requires students to develop a organize information and deliver it with precise vocabulary.

-Essential questions is an active reading strategy whereby students turns all section headings in a text into questions. After reading, students answer the essential questions with information contained within each section.

-Visual organizers/mind maps help students visualize the connections between characters, ideas, processes, timelines, ect.

Application. Applying facts and concepts to new situations, activities, and information is the ultimate aim of learning. Application depends on having a solid foundation of facts and understanding.

When to use it: All subjects provide opportunities to apply retained and understood knowledge by using skills in real situation or projects

Strategies for application.  Application strategies include the processes for solving word problems/real world problems.

-processes

- find data that supports hypothesis.

Studying Smarter is more than just “doing.” Studying smarter requires students to have thought in advance about why, where, how, when, and what they study. They have established routines for preparing to learn and during learning. Routines can include when and where the studying takes place, prioritizing what is studied, and identifying what, how and why strategies are used. And most importantly, routines are established for ensuring the brain is ready to engage in learning.

References

Akyürek, E., Kappelmann, N. , Volkert, M. & Van Rijn, H. (2017). What you see is what you remember: Visual chunking by temporal integration enhances working memory. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, .29(12), pp.2025-2036.

Birnbaum, M. Kornell, N. Bjork, E. & Bjork, R. (2013). Why interleving enhances inductive learning: The roles of discrimination and retrieval. Memory & Cognition, 41(3), pp.392-402.

Bude, L., Imbos, T., Van De Wiel, M. & Berger, M. (2011). The effect of distributed practice on students’ conceptual understanding of statistics. The International Journal of Higher Education and Educational Planning,.62(1), p.69-79.

Carvalho, P. & Goldstone, R., (2014). Effects of interleaved and blocked study on delayed test of category learning generalization. Frontiers in Psychology, 5.

Haggart, W. & Juhasz, C. (2002). Homework and Kids: A Parent’s Guide. Arlington: Performance Learning Systems.

Kurniawati, A. & Paidi (2018). The influences of peer tutoring method to improve conceptual understandin. Journal of Physics: Conference Series,1097.

The Efficacy of an “A”

            What does an A really mean?  As a parent and educator, I can tell you what I don’t want it to mean. I don’t want an ‘A’ to mean students passed the test. I want an ‘A’ to mean so much more than that! An A should represent engagement with learning.

            The engagement research states that highly engaged students are enthusiastic and think deeply about their schoolwork (Cleary & Zimmerman, 2012). Behaviorally engaged students participate in class and attend school; emotionally engaged students persevere and are resilient because they understand that mistakes happen, that the bad grade today was due to something that can be fixed. These students monitor their work and seek extra-help and/or ask questions to clarify their thinking. Lastly, an ‘A’ student is cognitively engaged; they are self-regulated learners who think about the process of learning to ensure that they submit quality homework on time (Fredrick et al. 2004).

            There is nothing earth shattering about what I’ve written so far, most educational systems include homework, participation and attendance in their grading system. However, there is a need to better define the systems for evaluating homework, participation and attendance in order to properly assess and include engagement as part of the ‘A’ criteria. For instance, the assessment grade could include test corrections. This practice is consistent with research demonstrating that formative assessment promotes student learning through feedback that helps them “modify their learning activities in which they are engaged” (Filsecker & Kerres, 2014).

            Homework often gets a bad rap by parents, students, and, sometimes, teachers. However, homework has been shown to play an important role in helping school age children learn to set goals, monitor their on-task behavior, manage their time, self-evaluate, and delay gratification.  The criteria for an ‘A’ should include homework as an indicator of engagement. There are researchers who believe homework is not an effective instructional tool (Kohn, 2006). I disagree. There is a large body of research that lists the advantages of homework (Bembenutty, 2011; Cooper, 2006; Kitsantas & Zimmerman, 2009; Harris, L. 2011).  These studies argue that homework promotes self-regulatory behaviors that are important indicators for success at school and life.

            As for attendance, it should not be a grade for showing up. Attendance could be a valuable marker of engagement. The literature on attendance is clear, when student are in school they are there to learn. They engage in academic conversations in the classroom, seek-help, and arrive on time (Appleton et al., 2008, Cleary & Zimmerman, 2012; Lawson & Lawson, 2013; Martin, 2012).  

            An ‘A’ student is a model worker. To be ‘outstanding’ takes engagement in the activity, not just ability.

References

Appleton, J., Christenson, S., & furlong, M., (2008).  Student engagement with school: Critical conceptual and methodological issues of the construct.  Psychology in the Schools, 45, 369-386.

Bembenutty, H., (2011). Meaningful and maladaptive homework practices: The role of self-efficacy and self-regulation. Journal of Advanced Academics, 22, 3.

Cleary, T. & Zimmerman, B. (2012). A cyclical self-regulatory account of student engagement: Theoretical foundations and applications. Handbook of Research on Student Engagement, Christenson et al. (eds).

Filsecker, M. & Kerres, M. (2012). Repositioning formative assessment from an educational assessment perspective: A response to Dunn & Mulvenon (2009). Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 14, 7 pp. 2.

Fredrick, J., Blumenfeld, P., & Paris, A. (2004). School Engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research. 74(1), 59-109.

Harris, L. (2011). Secondary teachers’ conceptions of student engagement: Engagement in learning or in schooling? Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 376-386. DOI: 10.1016/j.tate.2010.09.006

Kitsantas, A. & Zimmerman, B. (2009). College students’ homework and academic achievement: The mediating role of self-regulatory beliefs. Metacognition Learning, 4, 97-110.

Kohn, Alfie. The homework myth: Why our kids get too much of a bad thing. Cambridge, MA. Da Capo Press, 2006.

 Martin, A., (2011). Courage in the classroom: Exploring a new framework predicting academic performance and engagement. School Psychology Quarterly, 26, 145-160.

Zimmerman, B. (1989b). Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: Models of self-regulated learning and academic achievement. (pp. 1-25). Springer-Verlag New York Inc., New York, New York.

Self-efficacy, the belief in one's ability to achieve, motivates one to sustain efforts toward accomplishing a goal.

Self-efficacy is the belief in one's ability/knowledge to attain a goal. It is a strong predictor of academic success. Students with strong self-efficacy show interest, value a goal, and are able to sustain attention toward a goal. But, what happens to students who believe they do not have the skills necessary to attain the goal? Sometimes they give up.  These students are often labeled as 'underachievers' or 'lazy.'  

Low self-efficacy has been shown to positively correlate with low motivation. And, low motivation is positively correlated to low academic performance. Makes sense, right? ...If I believe that math is not my 'thing' and that no matter what I do I still can't get an 'A,' why waste energy on a lost cause!  

Case in point (true story). . . a junior in high school has never excelled in math. For three years he had a tutor to help him with homework to help him squeak by with mediocre math scores.  In his junior year he hits a new low, a D+ in Algebra II/Trig.  A new strategy was put in place at home... no tutor was hired but his mother decided to do homework along with him every night. The reason for this decision was two fold. One, mom wanted to model good math study behavior. And two, she wanted to monitor and help him reflect on the process of learning math. Not an easy task. Mom was not ready to tackle the math curriculum, but they worked along with the book and when they did not understand the son had to teach mom or they visited math site or YouTube videos.

For months, mom and son sat side by side doing homework. They worked on math homework problems individually then compared answers. When the answers did not match they talked through the problem, watched YouTube videos until they agreed on one correct answer ( he circled the question to ask his teacher for help later). It was a painful process and one that took an extraordinary amount of time and commitment.

Progress was slow, but one night for the first time in his math academic career mom witnessed a spark of confidence. The 'not a math' student finished a problem first and taught mom why absolute values have to be isolated and ordered between signs before interval notations!

Beyond competency in math, this student increased his math efficacy. As he became more mindful, effortful, and engaged in math practice he experienced more success at school (grades). As he experienced more success at school, his belief in his ability increased and he moved math homework from the bottom of his 'to-do' list to the top.  

How Beliefs impact Academic Achievement, CHADD 2013

CHADD2013

"I'm just not a math person." "The test was easy." "I guessed."...

     Beliefs play a key role in student academic achievement. They influence the internal standards learners use to create goals, exert effort, and persist in the face of difficulty. Students who believe a task is manageable have a belief that they have the ability or the necessary tools to successfully act to complete the task. Acting to complete a task is more commonly known as motivation. On the other hand, students who believe they don't have the ability to achieve the task will avoid the task because they believe it is not in their ability to complete it.

    Helping struggling students achieve begins with helping them recognize how the beliefs they hold may negatively influence their progress toward achievement. This training begins with uncovering/examining the beliefs that drive struggling students. Inventory instruments such as the Adolescent Self-regulation Inventory(ASRI) or a teacher made surveys (below) are useful tools in uncovering the belief systems students  use to direct their energy toward achievement.

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     In my work with students, I use the information gained from the survey above to help students identify areas of weakness and strengths; to evaluate past experiences; and to plan the 'action steps' toward Specific,  Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely goals. Ultimately, the outcome will be academic achievement, but students must first find motivation to achieve.  

     In one-to-one sessions my work with students revolves around modeling for them specific self-regulatory strategies: planning, goal setting, reflecting on feedback and evaluating outcomes. This work is slow in the beginning, but it does yield success when students begin to experience success toward their goals.  One way to train students in a classroom of 30 is to use an index card tracking system. At the beginning of a unit, quarter, semester, or year...ask students to reflect on past performances in your subject: what worked, what didn't work, and what they could do differently this unit, quarter, semester, year.  Then, ask them to write a goal (for the unit, quarter, semester, year) on an index card along with 3 action steps that will help them achieve their goal, and 1 to 3 things that could stop them.  Collect the cards and use them each time you hand back a graded work. At these times, as students to fill out the back of the card. This is a feedback process to train student to monitor and evaluate their progress toward the goal.  

    This process of belief retraining toward academic achievement has been researched and shown to effectively predict positive achievement outcomes. (Zimmerman 2000, Hofer 2007, Alexander 2011, Muis 2112)

front of index card

back of index card