In the classroom, students are either intrinsically or extrinsically motivated to engage in activities. Intrinsic motivation is the desire to engage in an activity for no reason other than enjoyment, challenge, pleasure, or interest (Berlyne, 1960; Hunt, 1965; Lepper, Corpus, & Iyengar, 2005; White, 1959). Extrinsic motivation involves engaging in an activity for explicit rewards or because of other external constraints (Pintrich & Schunk, 2008). Harter (1981) developed a measure of intrinsic and extrinsic classroom motivational orientation, in which intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were characterized as opposing poles of a single dimension, and reported that children’s intrinsic motivation declined from elementary school through junior high school. Lepper, Corpus, and Iyengar (2005) pointed out that the opposition of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in Harter’s scale was not always necessary or appropriate in the average classroom. Based upon Harter’s scale, Lepper et al. (2005) developed two separate motivational orientation scales to assess children’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the classroom. They found that intrinsic motivation decreased significantly from 3rd grade through 8th grade, while extrinsic motivation showed few differences across grade levels. No gender differences were found in children’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Children’s intrinsic motivation was found to be negatively associated with their extrinsic motivation.

As junior high school students were found to be less intrinsically motivated in the classroom, there was a need to examine their motivation in greater depth. There is evidence for a positive relationship between Taiwanese pupils’ intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation (Chen & Wu, 2010). We argue that cultural differences may exist in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the classroom. In light of the above, the purposes of this study were: (1) to understand Taiwanese junior high school students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the classroom; (2) to determine the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in Taiwanese junior high school students; and (3) to examine relationships between Taiwanese junior high school students’ background variables (i.e. gender, grade) and their motivation in the classroom.

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