The arrival of students to schools shows that they are motivated to learn, irrespective of the amount of motivation. There can be any one, two or more motives behind this motivation. We are aware that learning is an innate tendency of man. It may be that some students come to school only to satisfy this tendency. We are aware that man possesses the instinct of gregariousness; it may be that some students come to school for the satisfaction of this instinct. It is also possible that some students come to school for the satisfaction of this instinct. It is also possible that some students come to school for the company of friends. Some students may join school for the facilities of sports and games, and for some students the higher level of literate people can be the cause of their motivation. There can be more than one motive behind some students. Whether a student is motivated by one motive or more of them, the fact remains that his process of learning would be more effective and stable with motivation. Psychologists have developed several techniques in order to keep students fully motivated.
8 Techniques of Enhancing Learner’s Motivation:
- Utility of the Subject to be Taught or of Skill to be Developed: Utility is the most powerful motive. If it is explained to the students that how much the subject to be taught or skill to be developed is useful for their life, then they would feed its utility and they would become motivated to learn it.
- Aims of the Subject to be Taught or of Skill to be Developed: Along with the utility of a subject or skill in life, it is necessary to explain the aims and objectives of the subject to be taught or skill to be developed. These motivate the students all the more who are already motivated by the first technique. The clearer are the aims and objectives of learning knowledge or skill, the more motivated the students are for learning it and more purposeful are the activities pertaining to learning.
- Needs of Students: However useful the knowledge of a subject or skill may be in itself, if it does not satisfy the needs of students, then it does not motivate students for learning it. It is necessary to motivate students to relate the knowledge to be taught or skill to be developed with their needs. This is considered to be an effective method of enhancing motivation of students towards a subject or skill.
- Level of Aspiration: Some students desire to pass only, some desire to pass in second division and others in first division. In the same way, some students aspire to get into some small vocation while some have higher aspirations. It has been seen that the higher is the level of aspiration of a student, the more motivated he is for learning the related knowledge or skill. It is evident t hat we can enhance motivation in the students by raising the level of their aspiration.
- Class Environment: The environment in the class also functions as a motive for motivating students. Attractive room, pure air, sufficient light, tranquil environment, good mutual relationship between teachers and students and students and students create a good environment in the class. The better is the environment in a class, the more motivated are the students in that class.
- Use of Suitable Methods of Teaching: A teacher can also motivate students by the use of most suitable teaching methods. The most suitable method for the students of any particular class is the one in which they are interested and by which they learn faster. Rapid success gives reinforcement, the learners become motivated and the activity of learning gets momentum.
- Teacher’s Behavior: Empathy of the teacher towards their students is an unfailing technique. He can enhance the level of motivation in students by his behavior replete with love, sympathy and cooperation. This can be done by respecting the sentiments of students, providing them suitable opportunities for self-expression and solving their problems immediately.
- Praise and Blame: The studies conducted in this context have revealed two facts. First, praise functions as a good motive for average intelligent students and blame functions as a good motive for young students. Second, praise is a better motive than blame. This can be done by a teacher by proper response, smiling approval, words of exclamation like ‘beautiful! Bravo! Well done!’ etc. Cooperation is a better motive in place of censure even on wrong response. If a student commits a wrong response repeatedly, even then he should be censured with words of love and sympathy.
Also, there can be many other techniques for enhancing motivation in students. A teach should use any such technique keeping in view the age, maturity, psychological condition and environment of the students and the nature of content or skill, etc. He should make use of the most suitable techniques to enhance the level or skill, etc. He should make use of the most suitable techniques to enhance the level of their motivation. This is an art in itself, a teacher should be proficient in it.