Teachers Possibility to Increase Intrinsic Motivation of Students
Teacher needs to provide activities that are challenging but achievable through the intervention of support. For example, a teacher may select an activity that learners may find difficult to carry out independently, however through support, scaffolding and effective questioning the learner can develop cognitively and reach the outer perimeter of his/her zone of proximal development. Intrinsic motivation is therefore enhanced as the students gain a sense of self-satisfaction, a greater level of self-esteem and higher levels of self-confidence as they can complete the task which is necessary for the growth and progress of all individual students. Subsequently, Self-esteem is positioned at the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which shows its importance in cognitive motivation, therefore implying higher levels of self-esteem result in a greater level of student achievement, however, it has been argued by Baumeister et al, self-esteem and self-worth, does not always reveal a significant influence on academic achievement.
It is suggested that intrinsic motivation can also be increased through the passion and enthusiasm for learning and teaching. This may have a significant impact on the energy of the classroom and intrigue the students into wanting to know more. Enthusiasm can be established in many ways for example through facial expressions, body language and tone of voice. Notably the tone of a teacher’s voice and the positive energy supporting it, can lead learners to believe that the content has intrinsic value, which will thus motivate students to want to know more, furthermore implying a level of self -interest and enjoyment. Nevertheless, teachers need to move their students to motivate interests by exhibiting their personal passion and interest in learning. Consequently, these attributes will reflect on to the classroom, developing intrinsically motivated learners.
Moreover, there are many positive features of intrinsic motivation however there are still some questions surrounding SDT. Flowerday and Shaw question whether the phenomenon of choice improves a students’ learning, or does it merely give them satisfaction in correspondence to their learning. Deci and Ryan further support both of these possibilities. Furthermore, another question that arises is the prospect of paying ‘too’ much attention to the needs of students as ‘too’ many needs can also frustrate students, therefore leaving students with a sense of confusion. In retrospect, differentiating activities to students’ competence levels may be difficult in a classroom where there are an array of extremely diverse learners this could hold the teacher back from conveying key areas of learning, therefore not allowing all children to progress and show greater levels of achievement.
Overall, some studies of extrinsically motivated behaviours argue that intrinsic motivation is only decreased when the extrinsic rewards are already expected. From my understanding it is important to ensure the rewards are not a means to manipulate or control behaviour. Also, one of the most important roles as a teacher - is to gain this intrinsic motivation in his/hers students and to teach them some coping-strategies how to build this intrinsic motivation by themselves.
