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Motivation

Introduction

Motivation plays a vital role in every sphere of human life. Motivation is said to be the ‘heart of learning’. Adequate motivation results in promoting reflection, attention, interest and effort in the pupils and hence promotes learning. Learning cannot be successful, effective or efficient without persistent, purposeful and selective effort. Naturally teacher’s problem is to discover, direct and capitalize upon these motives and develop interest for educational purpose. Motivation is the combined action of desires and incentives, pushes and pulls. Like a machine, a person must have energy in order to behave and motive provides the energy.

Definitions of Motivation

Motivation is derived from the word motus, movere ‘mover’ which means to move’. It is an art of inculcating and stimulating interest in studies and in other such activities in the pupils. It is the process of arousing action, sustaining activity in progress, regulating and directing pattern of activity. Motivation is defined as the act or process of motivating; the condition of being motivating; a motivating force, stimulus, or influence; incentive; drive; something (such as a need or desire) that causes a person or student to act, and the expenditure of effort to accomplish results.

According to J.W. Atkinson, “The term motivation refers to the arousal of tendency to act to produce one or more effects.”

According to Maslow, “Motivation is the universal characteristic of every organism state of affair. It is constant, never ending, fluctuation and complex phenomenon.”

According to Good, “Motivation is the process of arousing, sustaining and regulating activity.”

According to Woodworth, “A motive is a state of the individual which disposes him of certain behaviour and for seeking certain way.”

According to Crow and Crow, “Motivation is considered with the arousal of the interest in learning which is essential for learning.”

According to Lowell, “Motivation may be defined more formally as a psychological of internal process initiated by some need, which leads to the activity which will satisfy that need.”

According to Johnson, “Motivation is the influence of general pattern of activities indicating and directing the behaviour of the organism.”

Motivation in the force that energies and directs a behaviour towards a goal. Typically, the concept of motivation is applied when a person is energized to satisfy some need or desire. The person will engage in or be attracted towards, activities that are perceived as having the potential to meet this need or desire. Since activities that appear to satisfy unmet needs will appear attractive and interesting, the teacher who observers an unmotivated student may really be observing someone from whom life in the class room is not meeting needs. When the class room activities allow for the satisfaction of the student’s needs, even this unmotivated student will actively engage in the learning experience.