Post on 02-Feb-2023
MOTIVATION IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLSCLASSROOMS: TEACHERS’ STRATEGIES AND STUDENTS’
EXPECTATIONS
BY
Professor Abubakar Hamman-Tukur
Department of EducationUniversity of Maiduguri
bubakari@gmail.
And
Atsua Terhemba Godwin
Namu Model Secondary School Pompomari CampusMaiduguri
atsua4real@yahoo.com
MOTIVATION IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLCLASSROOMS:
TEACHERS’ STRATEGIES AND STUDENTS’ EXPECTATIONS
ABSTRACT
The study addressed two questions, what are the strategies
secondary school teachers uses in motivating their students? And
to what extent do students feel that these strategies motivate
them? Two instruments- Questionnaire on Teacher Motivation Strategies (QTMS)
and Students’ Motivation Strategy Preference Questionnaire (SMSPQ) were
developed for the study. The alpha reliability of the
questionnaires were .85 and .93 respectively. They were
respectively administered to 48 teachers teaching in three
different types of secondary school in Maiduguri, Borno State and
136 senior secondary school III students from the same schools.
The responses to the questionnaires were summarised using
percentages. The teachers reported using variety of motivation
strategies the most frequent being intrinsic and autonomy
controlling. The students preferred mostly intrinsic rewards.
There was a gap between what the students always preferred and
what the teachers always used.
Introduction
It is a well-known fact that teachers play a great role in
motivating students. We all have our favourite teachers and
perhaps not favourite or not so favourite. How we perceive our
teacher is largely dependent on how he/she was able to motivate
us to learn. Perhaps we have our own examples of students who
jumped out of the window during mathematics class and students
whose performance dramatically increased or decreased because of
change of teachers. We also know that our own favourite teacher
is not necessary our friend’s favourite teacher. These
observations illustrate how students differently react to
different teachers mainly because of the strategies the teacher
use in motivating them.
Several studies have addressed the issue of how teachers motivate
their students. Adelabu (2005) reported that teachers’ knowledge
of motivating students to perform optimally in Nigeria is poor
because they are poorly motivated themselves and dissatisfied
with their living and working conditions. Hadre & Sullivan (2008)
were of the view that the strategies teachers use in motivating
students may be directed at the whole class or an individual
student. These can be in the form of designing the classroom
environments or explicit instructional or interpersonal
intervention. These strategies teachers use according to Reev,
Jang, Hadre, and Omura (2002) can be described either as autonomy
supportive on controlling. The autonomy supportive teacher takes
advantage of students’ curiosity and interest to make
instructional decisions while the controlling teacher maintains
control of the class activities and decisions. Tschannen-Moran,
Woolfolk-Hoy & Hoy (1998) and Wengllinsky (2000) suggested that
proper classroom activities and setting grading policies can
enhance students’ motivation.
Ames (1990) opined that effective motivation of students should
take cognisance of developmental changes in individuals,
individual differences as well as cultural differences. She
further observed that many of the strategies for enhancing
student motivation involves principles that are counter
intuitive e.g. telling a student to work harder when the student
believes he is working hard enough may result in the reaction
that `I will not work hard again`. With respect to the use of
rewards, she distinguished two types-extrinsic and intrinsic
noting that the former is overused in the school system with
undesirable consequences.
Thus, there is a lot of information on how teachers should
motivate their students and some of them counterintuitive as
observed by Ames (1990). What are not available are information
on what strategies do teachers use and whether the strategies
actually work from the view point of the students. Based on this
observation, this study raised the following questions:
1. What are the strategies secondary school teachers claim to
use in motivating their students?
2. To what extent do students feel that these strategies
motivate them?
Methodology
The study is an exploratory one that used a survey design.
Therefore, it was not rigorous with respect to sampling. The
sample of teachers for the study was derived from three different
secondary schools in Maiduguri (one government owned boys’
school, one government owned girls’ school, and one mixed private
school). All the teachers that were present in the schools at
time of the visit were used. The questionnaire was administered
to 51 teachers and 48 were successfully retrieved (29 were males
and 19 were females) that was 94% return rate. Senior secondary
school students in their third year (SS III) in the above schools
were used in the study. Out of many arms of SS III, two arms were
selected through simple random sampling. Altogether 136 students
participated in the study.SS III students were chosen on the
assumption they have spent a lot of time in the secondary school
system therefore have a better conceptualisation of what motivate
them.
For the purpose of the study two instruments were developed-
Questionnaire on Teacher Motivation Strategies (QTMS) and Students’ Motivation
Strategy Preference Questionnaire (SMSPQ). As the names imply the former
was for teachers while the latter was for students. The
Questionnaires were developed based on the principle of content
relevance (Anastasi & Urbina, 2008). Consequently items for the
questionnaires were derived from suggestions offered by experts
on the strategies teachers should use in motivating there
students. Some of the items were derived from sources mentioned
above. Others sources were Ames (1990), Kirk (2011) 100+
Motivational techniques to take learning to the next level
(2011), Vanderbilt CFT teaching guide on motivating students
(2011) and Wang (2001) On the basis of these suggestions sixty
items were generated for the Questionnaire on Teacher Motivation Strategies
(Appendix 1). The questionnaire required teachers to respond to
items in terms of frequency with which they used a given
strategy. They were required to choose one of the response
options, `always`. ‘Sometimes ` or `never’. This was based on
the assumption that the response to such issue is `not an all or
none affair `. That is although a strategy will never be used;
when it is used it can be sometimes or always. The questionnaire
has alpha reliability of 0.85. The Students’ Motivation Strategy Preference
Questionnaire (SMSPQ) was derived from the Questionnaire on Teacher
Motivation Strategies (QTMS) as it was designed to elicit the students’
responses to teachers’ strategies. The questionnaire required the
students to indicate the extent to which a given teacher activity
makes them want to learn or makes them put in more effort
(Appendix II). Its alpha reliability was .93.
The QTMS was individually administered to the teachers, while the
SMSPQ was administered to students in their classrooms. It took
an average of 30 minutes to administer the questionnaire in the
Private school while it took an average of 1 hour in the
government schools. This could be an indication of the different
abilities in the two types of school.
For the purpose of estimating the alpha reliability of the
questionnaires the categories of responses were weighted-always
=2, sometimes=1 and never=0. To answer the question raised in the
study, the percentage of response to each of the response
category was computed per item in the questionnaire. The
percentage was rounded up to the nearest whole number for
brevity.
Result and Discussion
The strategies teachers’ reported they use in motivating their
students are presented in table 1.
Table 1: Strategies teachers reported they use in motivating
their students
S/no Item PERCENTAlways Sometimes Never Total
1. I make students laugh 15 83* 2 1002. I make use of games 6 56 38 1003. I make students think about the
subject matter
85 3 2 100
4. I show I am interested in the
subject matter
94 6 0 100
5. I create the need for the
students to know
92 8 0 100
6. I praise the students for their
effort rather than their
characteristics
50 50 0 100
7. I show students that I care for
them
85 15 100
8. I make every student feel 77 21 2 100
valuable9. I help students appreciate
themselves
67 33 0 100
10. I call other students’ attention
to students who demonstrate
exceptional effort
35 65 0 100
11. I make topics relevant to
students’ lives
67 29 4 100
12. I teach weak students how to
learn
56 42 2 100
13. Students who do well are engaged
in certain jobs
21 71 8 100
14. I organise competitions among
students
10 79 11 100
15. I organise competition
between/among groups of students
10 77 13 100
16. I am concerned with the progress
of individual student
69 23 8 100
17. I give difficult assignments
that i know the students will be
able to do
17 67 17 100
18. I make learning activities
meaningful to the students
92 8 0 100
19. I help students to make their
own goals on what they want to
achieve
56 44 0 100
20. I support the students’ 67 33 0 100
development of effective
learning strategies21. I make students participate in
decision making
38 60 2 100
22. I let all the class know about
the performance of good students
44 54 2 100
23. I let all the class know about
the performance of poor students
17 52 31 100
24. I urge students to evaluate
themselves
23 67 10 100
25. I encourage students to learn on
their own
67 31 2 100
26. I organise students to work in
group
21 77 2 100
2
7
.
I make comments on students
marks like excellent
48 50 2 100
28. I tell students what is wrong
with their answer
77 17 6 100
29. I ask the class to clap for a
student who does well
50 50 0 100
30. I provide students with a chance
to improve themselves
56 44 0 100
31.
32.
I encourage students to realise
that making mistake is part of
learning
I have high expectations of
77
63
19
33
4
4
100
students who do well33. I make comments like ‘very poor’
on students who got low marks
22 50 28 100
34. I have low expectations of low
achieving students
6 58 36 100
35. I give prizes to students who do
very well in class
21 73 6 100
36. I downplay students’ setbacks 10 50 40 10037. I explain the purposes behind my
assignments
35 63 2 100
38. Students know what to expect
from me
23 60 17 100
39. I teach and teach and teach
until everybody understands
31 54 15 100
40. I try and make connections
between what students learn
42 58 0 100
41. I link what I want students to
learn with their past
experiences
69 31 0 100
42. I learn more about my students 67 31 2 10043. I ‘beat’ students who
continuously don’t do well
4 50 46 100
44. I make mockery of students who
don’t do well
0 27 73 100
45. I encourage students to see
positive side of things
69 27 4 100
46. I make students realise the 90 10 0 100
importance of my subject47. I show interest in students as
individuals
56 40 4 100
48. I tell stories 6 79 15 10049. I use surprising information 10 90 0 10050. I ask rhetorical questions 6 79 15 10051. I offer special privileges 6 75 19 10052. I use a variety of teaching-
learning aids
42 56 2 100
53. I make my classroom comfortable 83 15 2 10054. I make students aware that
learning is not all about
passing exams
67 31 2 100
55. I encourage curiosity 65 27 8 10056. I work with parents 13 71 16 10057. I use different ways to reward
different students
33 63 4 100
58. I encourage students to know
each other
52 46 2 100
59. I focus on what students do, not
their person
58 42 0 100
60. Tell students about the
importance of doing well
92 4 4 100
*responses equal to or greater than 60% are in bold
The strategies the teachers use with over 70% always were: I
show I am interested in the subject matter, I tell students about
the importance of doing well, I create the need for the students
to know, I make learning activities meaningful to the students, I
make students realise the importance of my subject, I make
students think about the subject matter, I show my students that
I care for them, I make my classroom comfortable, I make every
student feel valuable, I tell students what is wrong with their
answer and I encourage students to realise that making mistake
is part of learning.
From these strategies that have very high frequency of use, it
appears that teachers do emphasise strategies that have intrinsic
rewards and were mostly instructional. Although the teachers do
emphasise extrinsic rewards like ‘praise’ and clapping, the usage
is split 50% between always and sometimes. Other extrinsic
rewards systems, like making comments such as excellent or poor
were used by 50% of the teachers ‘sometimes’. Although giving of
prizes was always used by 21% of the teachers, it was used
sometimes by 73% of the teachers. There appeared ‘Pygmalion
effect’ as 58% of the teachers sometimes have low expectations of
low achieving students and 63% of the teachers always have high
expectations of students who do well. Among the strategies which
according to the teachers were never used with high frequency
were games (38%) and downplaying students’ setback (40%) ,
letting all the class know about my poor performance (45%),
beating students (46%), making mockery of students who do not
well (73%). The teachers claimed strategies aligned more with
autonomy supportive than controlling strategies as classified by
Reeve, Jang, Hardre & Omura (2002).
What about the students? Which of the teachers’ strategies would
actually motivate them? How often? The answers to these questions
are presented in Table 2.
Table 2: Teachers’ strategies that motivate students
S/No Item Always Sometimes Never Total
1. Making me laugh 20 60* 20 1002. Use of games 10 54 36 1003. Make me think about the subject
matter
72 15 13 100
4. Showing interest in his/her
subject matter
69 17 14 100
5. Creating the need for me to 63 26 11 100
know6. Praising me for my effort
rather than my characteristics
38 36 26 100
7. Showing me that she/he cares 58 23 19 1008. Making me feel valuable 39 37 24 1009. Helping me appreciate myself 52 35 13 10010
.
Calling my attention to
students who demonstrate
exceptional effort
44 39 17 100
11
.
Making topics relevant to
students my life
55 29 16 100
12
.
Teaching me how to learn 72 17 11 100
13
.
Engaging me in certain jobs 27 47 26 100
14
.
Organising competitions like
quiz
32 48 20 100
15
.
Organising competition between
our house /class with others
- - - -
16
.
Being concerned with my
progress
48 37 15 100
17
.
Giving me difficult assignments
that she/he knows will be able
to do
38 44 18 100
18
.
Making learning activities
meaningful to me
66 22 12 100
19 Helping me to make my own goals 59 24 17 100
. on what i want to achieve20
.
Supporting my efforts in
developing effective learning
strategies
42 40 18 100
21
.
Making me participate in
decision making
36 43 21 100
22
.
Letting all the class know
about my good performance
39 33 28 100
23
.
Letting all the class know
about my poor performance
22 33 45 100
24
.
Urging me to evaluate
themselves
45 42 13 100
25
.
Encouraging me to learn on my
own
56 37 7 100
26
.
Organising us to work in group 50 39 11 100
27
.
Making comments on my good
performance like excellent
57 35 8 100
28
.
Telling me what is wrong with
my answer
57 39 4 100
29
.
Asking the class to clap for me
when i do well
50 42 8 100
30
.
Providing me students with a
chance to improve myself
62 31 7 100
31
.
Encouraging me to realise that
making mistake is part of
learning
50 34 16 100
32
.
Having high expectations of me
to do well
53 39 8 100
33
.
Making comments like ‘very
poor’ on when i get low marks
34 32 34 100
34
.
Not expecting me to do well 21 25 54 100
35
.
Giving me a price when I do
very well
36 39 25 100
36
.
Downplaying any setbacks I
might have
29 42 29 100
37
.
Explaining the purposes behind
his/her assignments
44 46 10 100
38
.
Telling me what to expect from
me
40 46 14 100
39
.
Teaching, teaching and teaching
until everybody understands
60 26 14 100
40
.
Trying to make connections
between what we learn
47 37 16 100
41
.
Linking what she/he wants me
to learn with my past
experiences
44 38 18 100
42
.
Learning more about me 45 30 25 100
43
.
Beating me 13 49 38 100
44
.
Mocking me when I don’t do
well
16 39 45 100
45
.
Encouraging me to see positive
side of things
50 31 19 100
46
.
Making me realise the
importance of his/her subject
56 26 18 100
47
.
Showing interest in me as a
person
34 45 21 100
48
.
Telling stories 23 60 17 100
49
.
Using surprising information 21 57 22 100
50
.
Asking rhetorical questions 21 49 30 100
51
.
Offering me special privileges 27 42 31 100
52
.
Using a variety of teaching-
learning aids
46 34 20 100
53
.
Making my classroom comfortable 57 27 16 100
54
.
Making me aware that learning
is not all about passing exams
43 27 30 100
55
.
Encouraging curiosity 29 40 31 100
56
.
Working with parents 41 32 27 100
57
.
Using different ways to reward
different students
39 40 21 100
58 Encouraging us to know each 40 35 25 100
. other59
.
Focussing on what we do, not
our person
23 53 24 100
60
.
Telling me about the importance
of doing well
77 19 4 100
*responses equal to or greater than 60% are in bold
The strategies in which over 60% of the students said would
always motivate them were: making me think about the subject,
showing interest in the subject, creating the need for me to
know, teaching me how to learn, making learning activities
meaningful to me, providing me with a chance to improve myself,
teaching, teaching and teaching until everybody understands, and
telling me the importance of doing well. Thus the students also
mostly preferred intrinsic motivation strategies. This finding on
the preference of intrinsic reward by students, contradicts Ames
(1990) who reported that students prefer extrinsic reward
strategies. Socio-cultural differences between the samples in the
two studies may explain the contradictory findings
As to the issue of whether what the teachers always use is what
always motivates the students, there appears a gap with respect
to some strategies. For example, whereas 60% of pupils said that
teachers teaching and teaching again until everybody understands
will always motivate them, only 31% of teachers said they would
always use that. Although 90% of teachers said they would always
make students realise the importance of their subject, only 56%
of the students said that would always motivate them. Whether the
gap between the teachers and students is significant is a subject
of another study. Interestingly, 50% of the teachers said they
would always use clapping and 50% of the students also said that
would always motivate them.
The gaps between teachers and students imply that different
students may require different strategies as suggested by Ames
(1990). It underscores the importance of teachers’ understanding
of strategies that would motivate different students.
Summary of findings
1. Teachers in this study claimed to use a variety of
motivating strategies; intrinsic reward and autonomy
supporting strategies were more frequently used.
2. The students mostly preferred ‘intrinsic reward motivating
strategies
3. There was a gap in most of the strategies between what the
teachers claimed to always use and what the students felt
would always motivate them.
References
100+ Motivational techniques to take learning to the next level
(2011) retrieved 30th September 2011 from http://
www.smartteaching.org/--/100motivational-techniques-to-
take-learning-to..
Adelabu, M.A. (2005). Teacher motivation and incentives in
Nigeria. Retrieved from
www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/PDF/outputs/...3888.Teacher_motivation_Nig
.pd
Ames, C. (1990). Motivation: What teachers need to know. Teachers
college record, 91(3). 409-421
Anastasi, A. & Urbina, S. (2008). Psychological testing.7th Edition.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Dweck, C. S. (1990). Self theories: Their role in motivation, personality and
development. Hore: Psychology Press, Taylor and Francis
Group.
Hardre, P.L. & Sullivan, D.W. (2008). Teacher perceptions and
individual differences: How they influence rural teachers
motivation strategies. Journal of teacher education, 4 (7), 1 -7.
Kirk, K. (2011). Motivating students. Retrieved 30th September,
from
http://www.serc.carleton.edu/NAGTworkshop/affectiv<br/>motiv
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Motivating students. (2011 ). Retrieved 30th September, 2011,
from http://www.Tep.uoregon.edu
Reeve, J., Jang, H., Hardre, P., & Omura, M. (2002). Providing a
rationale in an autonomy-supportive way as a strategy to
motivate others during an uninteresting task. Motivation and
Emotion,26, 183-207.
Tschannen-Moran, M.,Woolfolk-Hoy, A., & Hoy, W.K. (1998). Teacher
efficiency: Its meaning and measure. Review of educational research,
68(2),202-248.
Wang,S. (2001). Motivation: A general overview f theories. In
M.Orey (Ed) Emerging perspective on learning, teaching and technology.
Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epitt/.
Vanderbilt CFT teaching guide on motivating students (2011).
Retrieved 30th September 2011 from
http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/teaching-guides/interactions/motiv
ating-students/
Wengllinsky, H. (2000). How teaching matters: Bringing the classroom back
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Appendix I : Questionnaire on Teacher Motivation Strategies
Dear Teacher,
We are conducting research on the strategies teachers use inmotivating their students. Please indicate the extent to whichyou engage in the following activities in your by marking theappropriate column.
Thanks Prof. Abubakar Hamman-Tukur
Name ofschool:________________________________________________________________
The subject youteach:___________________________________________________________
Your educationalqualifications:____________________________________________________
Are you a male or female?________________________________________________________
S/no
Item Always
Sometimes
Never
1. I make students laugh2. I make use of games3. I make students think about the
subject matter4. I show I am interested in the
subject matter
5. I create the need for the
students to know6. I praise the students for their
effort rather than their
characteristics7. I show students that I care for
them8. I make every student feel
valuable9. I help students appreciate
themselves10. I call other students’
attention to students who
demonstrate exceptional effort11. I make topics relevant to
students’ lives12. I teach weak students how to
learn13. Students who do well are
engaged in certain jobs14. I organise competitions among
students15. I organise competition
between/among groups of
students16. I am concerned with the
progress of individual student17. I give difficult assignments
that i know the students will
be able to do18. I make learning activities
meaningful to the students19. I help students to make their
own goals on what they want to
achieve20. I support the students’
development of effective
learning strategies21. I make students participate in
decision making22. I let all the class know about
the performance of good
students23. I let all the class know about
the performance of poor
students24. I urge students to evaluate
themselves 25. I encourage students to learn
on their own26. I organise students to work in
group
28. I tell students what is wrong
with their answer29. I ask the class to clap for a
student who does well30. I provide students with a
chance to improve themselves31.
32.
I encourage students to
realise that making mistake is
part of learning
I have high expectations of
students who do well33. I make comments like ‘very
poor’ on students who got low
marks34. I have low expectations of low
achieving students35. I give prizes to students who
do very well in class36. I downplay students’ setbacks37. I explain the purposes behind
my assignments38. Students know what to expect
from me39. I teach and teach and teach
until everybody understands40. I try and make connections
between what students learn41. I link what I want students to
learn with their past
experiences42. I learn more about my students43. I ‘beat’ students who
continuously don’t do well44. I make mockery of students who
don’t do well45. I encourage students to see
positive side of things46. I make students realise the
importance of my subject47. I show interest in students as
individuals48. I tell stories49. I use surprising information50. I ask rhetorical questions51. I offer special privileges52. I use a variety of teaching-
learning aids53. I make my classroom comfortable54. I make students aware that
learning is not all about
passing exams55. I encourage curiosity
56. I work with parents57. I use different ways to reward
different students58. I encourage students to know
each other59. I focus on what students do,
not their person60. Tell students about the
importance of doing well
Appendix II: Students’ Motivation Strategy PreferenceQuestionnaire
Dear Student,
We are conducting a research on the strategies teachers use inmotivating their students. Please indicate the extent to whichthe following activities of your teachers make you want to learnor make you put in more effort by marking the appropriate column.
Thanks.
S/
no
Item Always Sometimes Never
1. Making me laugh2. Use of games3. Make me think about the
subject matter4. Showing interest in his/her
subject matter5. Creating the need for me to
know6. Praising me for my effort
rather than my
characteristics7. Showing me that she/he
cares8. Making me feel valuable9. Helping me appreciate myself10. Calling my attention to
students who demonstrate
exceptional effort11. Making topics relevant to
students my life12. Teaching me how to learn13. Engaging me in certain jobs14. Organising competitions like
quiz15. Organising competition
between our house /class with
others16. Being concerned with my
progress 17. Giving me difficult
assignments that she/he knows
will be able to do18. Making learning activities
meaningful to me19. Helping me to make my own
goals on what i want to
achieve20. Supporting my efforts in
developing effective learning
strategies21. Making me participate in
decision making22. Letting all the class know
about my good performance23. Letting all the class know
about my poor performance24. Urging me to evaluate
themselves 25. Encouraging me to learn on my
own26. Organising us to work in group27. Making comments on my good
performance like excellent28. Telling me what is wrong with
my answer29. Asking the class to clap for
me when i do well30. Providing me students with a
chance to improve myself31. Encouraging me to realise that
making mistake is part of
learning32. Having high expectations of
me to do well33. Making comments like ‘very
poor’ on when i get low marks34. Not expecting me to do well35. Giving me a price when I do
very well
36. Downplaying any setbacks I
might have37. Explaining the purposes
behind his/her assignments38. Telling me what to expect from
me39. Teaching, teaching and
teaching until everybody
understands40. Trying to make connections
between what we learn41. Linking what she/he wants me
to learn with my past
experiences42. Learning more about me43. Beating me44. Mocking me when I don’t do
well45. Encouraging me to see positive
side of things46. Making me realise the
importance of his/her subject47. Showing interest in me as a
person48. Telling stories49. Using surprising information
50. Asking rhetorical questions51. Offering me special privileges52. Using a variety of teaching-
learning aids53. Making my classroom
comfortable54. Making me aware that learning
is not all about passing
exams55. Encouraging curiosity56. Working with parents57. Using different ways to
reward different students58. Encouraging us to know each
other59. Focussing on what we do, not
our person60. Telling me about the
importance of doing well