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

ation.html

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

into discussions of quality. Princeton, N.J. : Educational Testing

Service.

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