CONDITIONS FOR PROMOTING MOTIVATION

Motivation conditions

As motivation or interest is the basic condition of learning, the teacher must know how to arouse and maintain interest in the class. Following are some of the most important conditions for promoting motivation:

1. Creating Interest:

Creating interest in learning something is perhaps the best way of promoting motivation. The interest may be natural or acquired. If the interest is natural it is a case of intrinsic motivation and therefore, no external force of any type is required. But, interests are not always natural; they are acquired. For example, interest in sports, music, painting etc., is generally acquired and created. Once, the interest is created, it works like intrinsic motivation, and therefore, the need for extrinsic motivation becomes unnecessary. Interest may be permanent or temporary. Interest in music or literature is permanent; interest in a particular lesson is transitory or temporary. Both of these types of interests are essential and useful in their own way. The teacher must try to develop permanent interests in the pupils; and at the same time, he must motivate the students before teaching any particular lesson.

2. Arousing Curiosity:

Curiosity is a great motivating force. Once the students become curious about something, they will be keenly interested to know about it. Arousing of curiosity, therefore, is an important condition for motivation. Curiosity about something will naturally lead to its exploration. This exploration may be diverse or specific. Diverse exploration is a behaviour that results in an increase in stimulation which is not aimed at any particular object or person. Specific exploration is a behaviour which is aimed at a particular object or person. The motivation for specific exploration is called curiosity. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the school and the teacher to provide an environment which includes those opportunities which nourish a child's curiosity.

3. Developing Achievement Motivation:

Achievement motivation, as its name implies means motivation to achieve something. The higher the achievement motivation, the greater the learning. This implies setting of high goals before the pupils. If the goals are high and challenging, the efforts will also be spurred up. Therefore, the teacher should try to keep high aims before the pupils. Achievement motivation is defined as "A need that a person feels within himself to compete against an interested standard of excellence." Thus, "Achievement motivation is the expectancy of finding satisfaction in mastering challenging and difficult tasks." In other words, it is the pursuit of excellence, The students who have high achievement motivation, work hard and consequently perform well in their chosen field. The teacher must, therefore, encourage the students who want to achieve as much as possible.

4. Providing Incentives:

Extrinsic motivation can be produced by providing incentives. The incentives can be in the form of rewards, awards, praise and appreciation. Nothing spurs an individual for greater efforts as a word of praise and appreciation. Therefore, the teacher should make use of such incentives. Incentives correspond to outer and extrinsic motivation. They are the means which are employed to induce a person to do something that he otherwise would not do, or would not do as well. Though the urge to learn must come from within, the incentives provided at the right time and in the right form can do wonders as far as the learning and achievement is concerned. The teacher must, therefore, know and use the art of providing incentives.

5. Producing the Spirit of Competition:

The spirit of competition is a great motivating force. Spirit of competition implies the desire to excel others. It is a sort of race in which everybody likes to win. Competition has been widely used by the teacher as a means of motivation towards scholastic achievement. Thus, the students be encouraged to compete with one another to win some prize or to receive the highest grade in the examination. But, competition must be healthy one. It should not be at the cost of others, and it should not arouse jealousies. In competition, there should also be a spirit of sportsmanship. Therefore, it is also suggested that competition should be with one's own self. which means that an individual should not be satisfied with less performance when his potentialities can enable him to achieve more. In addition to this, instead of individual competitions, group competitions are suggested. This will minimise the chance of rivalry and jealousy. Hence, the teacher should make use of competitions as a motivating force in a healthy and desirable manner.