The Roles of Motivation in Education The Characteristics of Motivated Students

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2. Motivation

In motivating the students to read English texts, the researcher needs to understand the theories of motivation. The theories of motivation in this section are used as the guidance of the researcher to increase the students‟ motivation. However, the theories of motivation used by the researcher are focused to describe about motivation in education. Motivation in education is divided into four parts i.e. the roles of motivation in education, the characteristics of motivated students, motivational process, and motivated learning.

a. The Roles of Motivation in Education

In educational world, motivation has a big role in the succession teaching and learning activities. Sardiman 1986 declares that the learning output will be optimized if there is motivation p.84. Sardiman further explains that motivation decides the intensity of students‟ efforts in learning. If a student has a goal such as good grades, heshe will have the efforts to study hard in order to get good grades in academic. The efforts of the student are influenced by motivation. In this case, motivation functions as the encouragement of the efforts and the achievement. Schunk 1995 states , “Motivation can influence what, when, and how we learn as cited in Schunk et. al., 2008, p.5. How the duration, the willingness, and the behavior of the students are in doing an assignment are dependent on how the teacher motivate them to do it. Hence, there is a mutual relation between motivation, learning and performance. Motivation influences what students do and learn, and students‟ learning and performance influences their motivation Schunk et. al, 2008, p.5. 16

b. The Characteristics of Motivated Students

Motivation can affect a person‟s manners and interest in hisher activities. When a person is motivated, heshe would show positive attitudes on what heshe is doing. Sardiman 1998 classifies the characteristics of a motivated person as follows. 1 Keen in doing hisher task, 2 Tough in facing hisher problems, 3 Showing hisher interest on various problems, 4 Enjoying to be self-supporting, 5 Easy to be bored to routine tasks mechanical, recurring, not creative, 6 Able to defend hisher arguments, 7 Hard to dismiss something that heshe convinces to, 8 Pleased in searching and solving problems. p.83 Nevertheless, Schunk 1995 states, “Motivated students are essentially motivated to learn more after starting to learn ” as cited in Schunk et al., 2008, p.143. In line with Schunk‟s statement, Zimmerman 2000 argues: motivated students tend to be involved in activities they believe will help them in learning, such as following teacher‟s instructions carefully, organizing and rehearsing the material, taking notes while studying, checking their understanding, and asking for help when encountering problem in a learning process as cited in Schunk et al., 2008, p.5. Otherwise, unmotivated students are likely not to be systematic in their learning effort as what motivated students do. Unmotivated students tend to follow the teachers instructions few times. They may not organize or rehearse what they will learn in the class. Note taking may be done randomly, even not at all. They may 17 not paying attention to their progress in learning or asking for help when encountering difficulties about what is being taught. Based on the theories above, the characteristics of motivated students can be classified as follows. 1 Students are enthusiast in reading the comics. 2 Students listen to teacher‟s explanation and other students‟ opinions carefully. 3 Students follow teacher‟s instruction well. 4 Students give appropriate and enthusiastic responses. 5 Students are keen to try and were not shy to perform their actions in class. 6 Students take initiative actions to participate in class. c. Motivational Processes Bandura 1982 defines motivation as “goal-directed behavior which is begun and sustained by outcome expectations about the expected consequences of actions and self-efficacy in performing actions ” as cited in Schunk et al., 2008, p.139. Students who think about the potential consequences of certain actions and act in ways they believe will achieve significant outcome goal. For example, a student belief if heshe studies hard, heshe will get good grades. This condition shows a motivational process which occurs in academic field. Based on explanation above, there are three motivational processes Schunk et al., 2008, p.139. 18 1 Self-Efficacy According to Bandura 1982, self- efficacy is defined as “people‟s judgments of their capabilities to organize and perform sequences of action required to attain designated types of performances.” as cited in Schunk et al., 2008, p.139. Self-efficacy affects a person in determining hisher activities, effort, and persistence for example students with difficulties will work harder and longer. Self-efficacy is usually related to the outcome expectations. Bandura 1982 suggested “The levels of self-efficacy and the outcome expectation deliver insight into the behavior and the e ffect” as cited in Schunk et al., 2008, p.140 as shown in Figure 2.1. Outcome Expectation Self-Efficacy Low-outcome expectation High-outcome expectation High self-efficacy Social activism Protest Grievance Milieu change Assured, opportune action High cognitive engagement Low self-efficacy Resignation Apathy Withdrawal Self-devaluation Depression Figure 2. Behavioral and affective reactions as a function of different levels of self- efficacy and outcome expectations Bandura, 1982 Figure 2.1 shows how self-efficacy affects a person ‟s behavior and action to reach hisher goal. If a person ‟s self-efficacy perceptions are high heshe will 19 involve in actions that develop hisher skills and capabilities, but if self-efficacy is low, heshe will involve in actions that do not develop or even decrease hisher skills. Self-efficacy can also influence someone when facing difficulties in doing some actions. Individuals with high self-efficacy perceptions tend to apply effort in the face of difficulty and persist at a task when they have the requisite skills. Pintrich and De Groot 1990 found “junior high students with high efficacy were keen to report using various cognitive and self-regulatory learning strategies” as cited in Schunk et al., 2008, p.142. Their high self-efficacy leads them to employ their creativity and capability in studying using some learning activities. They do not only follow the teacher‟s instruction but also involving some other learning activities that might help them in learning. 2 Goals Other motivational process is goal setting which according to Bandura, 1988, 1997; Schunk, 1989a, is “an important motivational process” as cited in Schunk et al., 2008, p.142. Locke and Latham 1990, 2002 defined goal setting as “establishing quantitative or qualitative standards of performance” as cited in Schunk et al., 2008, p.142. Goal setting is related to self-efficacy in which the existence of self- efficacy is admitted if someone has goal setting. Elliott and Dweck 1988 describes , “Self-efficacy is proved as learners observe goal progress, which indicates their skills development as cited in Schunk et al., 2008, p.143. Schunk, Pintrich, and Meece 2008 further explains that self-efficacy is increased if the person belief in making progress on a difficult goals p.143. Thus, skill 20 development depends on someone‟s effort in reaching the goals. The more the goal difficult, the more the self-efficacy increases. The benefits of motivation in achieving goal do not constantly appear. Each learner has different way to achieve hisher goal and each goal has different motivational benefits to the person. The motivational benefits of goals depend on how a learner makes commitment to reach the goals and on the goal properties of proximity, specificity, and difficulty Schunk et al., 2008, p.143. It means that the efforts in achieving the goals can cause various motivational benefits. 3 Motivated Learning Como and Mandinach 1983 explains , “Motivated learning is motivation to gain skills and strategies instead of doing tasks ” as cited in Schunk et al. 2008, p.147. In teaching and learning activities, students are influenced by personal influences e.g. goal setting and information processing, as well as situational factors from other people e.g. rewards, teacher feedback. Since students get these factors they develop cues, signify how well they are performing Schunk et al., 2008, p.147. Schunk, Pintrich, and Meece 2008 further explained that motivation and self-efficacy are improved when people notice that they become more competent or perform skillfully in doing their activities. According to Schunk, Pintrich, and Meece 2008, students‟ initial sense of self-efficacy for learning can be influenced by personal qualities, prior experiences, and social support p.147. Personal qualities are general abilities, task-specific skills, interests, attitudes, and personality characteristics. Also, students change in their prior experience for example, schools attended, number 21 and types of teachers, time spent on various lessons and social support such as, parents, teachers, classmates. These factors are independent Schunk et al., 2008, p.148 . Students‟ ability and interest contribute to their classroom success while parents‟ and teachers‟ encouragement helps them in developing their positive attitudes and interest. Schunk, Pintrich, and Meece 2008 then describe that there are eight principles of motivated learning in the classroom. a Making it clear that students are capable of learning the material being taught. b Printing out how the learning will be useful in students‟ lives. c Teaching students learning strategies and show them how their performances have improved as a result of strategy use. d Presenting content in ways students understand and tailor instructional presentations to individual differences in learning. e Having students work on learning goals f Ensuring that attribution feedback is credible. g Providing feedback on progress learning and link rewards with progress. h Using model that build self-efficacy and enhance motivation. p.150 By understanding the theories of motivation, the researcher would be able to design teaching and learning activity which build students‟ efficacies and enhance their motivation. As the way the researcher is going to motivate the students by using comics, so they should be useful in education. 22

3. Comics in Education