Motivation in our students.

This is an essay that we did and we want to share it with you. The idea is that you understand that motivation is something very important in the classroom. we need to encourage students' motivation in order to achieve a meaningful learning.

Motivation in our students

Nowadays, many teachers know that motivation is something essential in students’ learning. They know and recognize the importance of this topic in education. In fact, we could say that a good education needs interest, participation and the motivation of the students and teachers. The motivation is something very important in people, above all, in students because they are learning, therefore, they need to be motivated. With this characteristic, they could improve their learning and equally their commitment, self-esteem and confidence. Nevertheless, the students sometimes don’t feel motivated. In this case there is a complex situation in students’ learning. As result, students aren’t interested in learning something or they don’t want to participate in class. In this situation, motivation isn’t working well. Put another way, the motivation is essential in the development of students’ learning. As future teachers, we should pay attention and improve this problem that could affect the learning of our future students. 

First, in order to improve the students’ motivation in the language class, we should recognize that students have an environment, a social life, a family, history, etc. that could influence the motivation and commitment in a good or bad way. I agree with Littlejohn (2001) who said that “There are many factors which affect students’ commitment to study. Many things – perhaps most – are beyond our control as a language teacher, and fall outside the confines of the lessons that we have with them in a week”. In my opinion, teachers should be able to recognize that students could lose their motivation because they have external problems. In the meantime, maybe the school and teachers have a great responsibility too. For example, one of these factors that affect the students’ motivation, could be how teachers organize their classes. In this point, we can see how teachers’ work is important in the students’ motivation. Thus, the labour should be integrative, with different kinds of activities and with a positive impact in the students. The main thing is that they feel motivated in class and can trust in their abilities. The idea is that students can feel a natural interest in learning with the help of the teacher.

Another crucial factor that affects motivation is evaluation (mark). About evaluation, Littlejohn (2001) said that “In the classroom, for example, teachers may reward students with good marks, or in effect, punish other students with low marks”. My point of view about evaluation is that students’ motivation could improve when a student receives a good mark. On the other hand, it could be demotivating when a student receives a low mark. The evaluation could affect several aspects in students’ motivation because don’t feel motivated means that there isn’t participation, confidence and self-esteem. In other words, a good evaluation could help to increase motivation and its aspects but, a low evaluation could do the opposite thing.

Now, we should recognize that when there are problems with motivation also there are problems in other aspects. As result, students could lose their commitment, participation and confidence. To avoid this situation, is important that teachers try to increase the students’ self – esteem. In other words, students must believe that they can do something well. Littlejohn (2001) states that ” As human beings we generally like what we do well, and are therefore more likely to do it again, and put in more effort. If we put more effort, we generally get better, and so this sustains our motivation”. To emphasize the idea, is essential that students trust in themselves and believe in their abilities. Students should be motivated in what they can do in order to develop more commitment in their learning.   

            In conclusion, it seems to me that motivation is vital in students’ learning. As teachers, we must confront these complex situation because improve students’ motivation is in our hands. Teachers must believe in their students with an integrative labour in class. The main idea is that students can develop a sense of confidence and optimism and they can believe in themselves, so, the environment and relationship between teacher and student will be better. Through these aspects, students will increase their motivation and trust in class. For these reasons, motivation is essential in the students in order to improve their learning.

 

Work cited

Littlejohn, Andrew. “Motivation, where does it come from? Where does it go?”. English teaching professional. Nineteen. April, 2001: 5 – 8.