Students’ Motivation and Teachers’ Motivational Support in Mathematics, Science and English Classrooms

Author(s):

Jutarat Vibulphol(presenting / submitting)Jyrki Loima(presenting)Sansanee Nenthien Sakolrat Kaewdee

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching

Format:

Paper

Session Information

27 SES 08 B, Schools : Agency structure and culture

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-24

09:00-10:30

Room:

K3.05

Chair:

Monique Loquet

Contribution

In this knowledge-based society, people need new knowledge and skills throughout their lifetime. Formal education in classrooms then must nurture the love for learning--a human innate ability as discussed in Deci and Ryan (2008) and Niemiec and Ryan (2009)--to ensure that students’ learning does not end within the classroom walls. However, previous studies have shown that student’s intrinsic motivation dropped from elementary to secondary level (Corpus, McClintic-Gilbert, & Hayenga, 2009; Gottfried, Fleming, & Gottfried, 2001), suggesting the lack of support in the classrooms since a number of studies have shown how teachers can affect the students' motivation in the classroom (Assor, Kaplan, & Roth, 2002; Jang, Reeve, & Deci, 2010; Reeve, 2009; Wiśniewska, 2013)

This presentation thus aims at examining how teachers can facilitate or hinder the development of this internal motivation in the classroom contexts using the data that were collected from approximately 1,000 Thai ninth graders and their teachers in three core subjects—mathematics, science, and English as a foreign language. The findings will be discussed in the light of Self-determination theory and the dichotomy of teachers’ motivational support—controlling versus autonomy-support styles (Kaewdee, in press; Loima & Vibulphol, 2016; Nenthien & Loima, 2016; Vibulphol 2017). Suggestions on how teachers can nurture students’ motivation to learn will be presented.

Method

This study was qualitative research. The population of the study was Thai ninth grade students, which is the last compulsory education level in Thailand. The participants were selected from basic education public schools in four main regions of Thailand—North, Central, North East and South. Simple random sampling method was used to select the province in three regions, except the Central region. Bangkok was selected to represent the Central region for convenience in data collection. Three schools of different sizes in each region, ranging from small to large, were purposively chosen to participate in the study. Three subject classrooms, Mathematics, Science, and English as a foreign language in these schools were selected by their administrators. Each class was observed by two observers. The data were collected from student and teacher’ self-report questionnaires and observation sheet, on which the observers were asked to respond to a set of questions and provide examples of what they observe from the lesson to support their responses. The phenomena from different perspectives— students, teacher and the outsider observers—was triangulated.

Expected Outcomes

Considering the needs for lifelong learning, the findings revealed in this study will yield insights into how best teachers can support students’ motivation, especially intrinsic motivation. We aim to propose new paradigms for instructional practices and educational policies for the education system in Thailand and elsewhere to improve the low level of students’ performance that has been frequently found, for example, in PISA and TIMSS surveys. Suggestions for the preparation and development of teachers for future learning and the 21st century lifestyle will also be included.

References

Assor, A., Kaplan, H., & Roth, G. (2002). Choice is good, but relevant is excellent: Autonomy-enhancing and suppressing teacher behaviors predicting students’ engagement in school work. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 262-278. Corpus, J.H., McClintic-Gilbert, M.S., & Hayenga, A.O. (2009). Within-year changes in children’s intrinsic motivational orientations: Contextual predictors and academic outcomes. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34, 154-166. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2009.01.001 Deci, E.L., & Ryan, R.M. (2008). Self-determination theory: A macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health. Canadian Psychology, 49(3), 182-185. doi: 10.1037/a0012801. Gottfried, A. E., Feming, J.S., & Gottfried, A.W. (2001). Continuity of academic intrinsic motivation from childhood through late adolescence: A longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(1), 3-13. doi: 10.1037//0022-0663.93.1.3 Jang, H., Reeve, J., & Deci, E. L. (2010). Engaging students in learning activities: It is not autonomy support or structure but autonomy support and structure. American Psychological Association, 102(3), 588-600. doi:10.1037/a0019682 Kaewdee, S. (in press). Motivation and Learning of Ninth Grade Students in Science Classrooms. Journal of Education Studies. Loima, J., & Vibulphol, J. (2016). Learning and Motivation in Thailand: A Comparative Regional Study on Basic Education Ninth Graders. International Education Studies, 9(1), 31-43. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ies.v9n1p31 Nenthien, S., & Loima, J. (2016). Teachers’ motivating methods to support Thai ninth grade students’ levels of motivation and learning in mathematics classrooms. Journal of Education and Learning, 5(2), 250-257. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jel.v5n2p250 Niemiec, C. P., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom: Applying self-determination theory to educational practice. Theory and Research in Education, 7(2), 133-144. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1477878509104318 Reeve, J. (2009). Why teachers adopt a controlling motivating style toward students and how they can become more autonomy supportive. Educational Psychologist, 44(3), 159-175. doi: 10.1080/00461520903028990 Vibulphol, J. (2016). Students’ motivation and learning and teachers’ motivational strategies in English classrooms in Thailand. English Language Teaching, 9(4), 64-75. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v9n4p64 Wiśniewska, D. (2013). Interest and interest-enhancing strategies of adolescent EFL learners.ELT Journal, 67(2), 210-219. doi: 10.1093/elt/ccs079

Author Information

Jutarat Vibulphol (presenting / submitting)

Chulalongkorn University

Curriculum and Instruction

Bangkok

Jyrki Loima (presenting)

University of Eastern Finland; Education Services in Porvoo City

Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies

Joensuu

Sansanee Nenthien

Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University

Curriculum and Instruction

Bangkok

Sakolrat Kaewdee

Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

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