Impact of Motivation on Student’s Communication

This essay discusses the impact of motivation on student's communication skills and behaviour in primary schools in Queensland, Australia. It explores various motivational theories and their correlation with student performance, as well as the role of teachers in promoting motivation and effective communication in the classroom.

Running head: IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION
Impact of Motivation on Student’s Communication
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION
This is the era of universal education where motivation of every component
associated with the educational system determines the value of education itself. These
components include students, teachers as well as educational policy makers. With their
combined effort and motivation, the entire educational system can be transformed into the
most valued asset of this generation. Student’s motivation is an important determinant of their
academic performance as well as that in extra-curricular activities. Promoting student’s
motivation has become an integral aspect in current educational climate as schools have
become incessantly responsible and accountable in shaping up a student’s future through the
fundamental approach like improving test scores (Murayama et al., 2013). Motivation for
learning is an aspect that includes participation of both students and teachers. Both, when
motivated results in enhanced engagement, innovative learning procedures and coherent
learning outcomes. Lack of motivation in learning is a serious issue in educational sector.
Research evidences in this context have revealed that as students advance in grades, it
heightens their level of controlled motivation while decreasing the level of autonomous
motivation. The evidences are even more prominent in the private schools where students less
self-motivated, relying more on external control. The theories of educational psychology
demonstrating the concepts of motivation in students have particularly focussed on their
personality attributes like self-esteem, goal-orientedness and self-confidence. Such theories
have also put considerable emphasis on the student’s successful learning ability and insights
to develop strategies in avoiding failures. It has also stressed on the effect of poor motivation
in teachers, which in turn adversely effects the quality of communication taking place with a
classroom environment. Motivated teachers work hard to develop innovative and unique in-
class pedagogy through effective communication skills (Hennessey & Dionigi, 2013). In the
following essay, such relevant motivation theories would be discussed in relation to

2IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION
improving behaviour and communication skills in primary school students belonging from
Queensland, Australia.
Research evidence correlating motivational theories with student’s performance have
revealed that those students who are intrinsically motivated are more directed towards
accepting challenges. Such students generally possess sound knowledge about risk analysis
coupled with self-confidence which enables them to undertake educational or extra-curricular
activities that are thought-provoking and relatively difficult. It must be mentioned here that
use of rewards to further elevate their motivation has delivered antagonistic results. Rewards
tend to undermine intrinsic motivation in such students resulting in slower acquisition of
required skills and increased number of errors in their learning outcomes (Lazowski &
Hulleman, 2016). In order to avoid such undoing circumstances, the educational
psychologists have suggested that for intrinsically motivated students, rewards must be
replaced with teaching that focuses solely on enhancing as well as maintaining such
motivation. This can be achieved by emphasising on the fact that the goal of education is
learning and not limited to acquiring rewards. A student who is capable of learning more and
learning fast is able to share valuable insights during a lesson and engage other students in
interesting perceptions of that lesson. Thus, intrinsically motivated students with effective
communication skills are able to contribute productively in the classroom. Studies which
addressed this aspect of student’s motivation and its influence on their perception of their
teacher’s credibility and mentoring skills have introduced Immediacy Skills (Harks et al.,
2014). These constitute an effective method of communication by which teachers or
educators are able to convey their subject matter to the students in a way that would nurture
their understanding of the domain knowledge and also stimulate them to learn more about
that subject. Immediacy skills can be assembled under verbal and non-verbal messages of
instructional communication used by educators to convey authentic details about a course.

3IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION
However, further research evidence has highlighted a contradiction which states that
instructional communication has focussed more on effectivity on part of the teachers while
less on that of the students. A transactional model of communication states that students who
are effective communicators in classroom are usually more successful in their respective
career domains in future. It must be noted here that effective communication with regards to
students are not essentially limited within the classroom perimeter but also encompasses the
quality of interaction and socio-communicative orientation outside classrooms (Brophy,
2013). Their level of motivation in studies is high. Such students have been reported to attain
excellent grades in their academic performance, have high level of affective learning and
prominent learning indicators in extra-curriculum. Thus effectiveness in communication have
been positively related to consistently high level of motivation and outstanding learning
outcomes (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2013).
Motivation is the basic component that guides and maintains a goal-oriented
behaviour. Most individuals are driven towards their goals by the urgency to fulfil certain
needs or expectations (McInerney, 2013). For a student studying in the primary school in a
developed nation like Australia, the general need to excel in all round-development programs
is usually high. The short term goal consist of fulfilling this need to make way for achieving
the goal of a successful career in future. This essay focuses on the fulfilment of the short term
goal. The level of motivation ideally required and realistically present in the students of
above mentioned age bracket can be explained with the help of the Expectancy-Value Theory
of Motivation. According to this theory, the amount of value placed by the student on his or
her respective goal essentially determines their expectancy in succeeding in it (Barron &
Hulleman, 2015). Theoretically speaking, value and expectancy are operationally related by
means of multiplication which confers that if a student has zero expectancy to succeed in his

4IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION
or her respective goal then it leads to zero motivation irrespective of the amount of value.
Likewise, when his or her value score is zero, it yields in zero motivation irrespective of the
expectancy score. In reality, a student with very low motivation is usually observed to belong
from a family background or culture which does not put much value on education. Hence, the
student’s perception of goal-achievement and its utility is left abandoned. Such deprivation or
neglect leads to confounding ideas of self-identity (Koballa & Glynn, 2013). Now, when this
particular student finds himself or herself among others of similar age in a classroom who are
all competing against one another to achieve excellent outcomes in academics or co-
curricular activities, they feel isolated due to their low self-confidence and self-esteem which
makes them demotivated (Chance, 2013). Therefore, it is mandatory on part of the teachers to
focus more on such students so that they can find the “value” in their lives which will help
them understand their respective “goals” and going forwards, aid them in evaluating the
necessary measures to achieve that goal. Being motivated also helps students in nurturing
added skills through which they find acceptance among their peers. There are various
student-centric training programs imparted by teachers to encourage instructional practices
within the school curriculum. One such program include Active Learning (De Castella, Byrne
& Covington, 2013). Evidences have shown that although Active Learning has been regarded
as an effective learning procedure, few students are found to resist it. However, when looked
at the extent of its utility, the resistance can be overlooked. Active learning programme can
be explained more effectively with the help of the Value-Expectancy Theory of Motivation.
Expectancy comprise of one’s belief in own competence which when nurtured within a
student, pushes them towards putting the required amount of effort in his or her task. The
perceived probability of success tends to increase when such effort is put in achieving one’s
goal. Such positive prediction of goal-achievement motivates them to place the necessary

5IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION
amount of value on their task in which they expect to succeed. This forms the entire
framework for active learning programme.
As discussed by Dweck (2013), Cognitive Evaluation Theory of motivation explains the
regulation of intrinsic motivation in goal achievement. For the purpose of explanation in
context of primary education, it makes use of three propositions:
 Events taking place in the extrinsic loci of the individual such as competitive
environment, peer pressure, meeting parents and teacher’s expectations to excel in
one’s activity, optimally challenges his or her competence, self-determination and
most importantly, intrinsic motivation to achieve one’s goal.
 The initiation of the goal-oriented behaviour and its regulation are facilitated by the
information received from the external loci, thus helping him or her to assess the level
of competence needed to achieve the goal. This assessment and regulation positively
influence the student’s intrinsic motivation.
 Just as the external environment provides information that positively influence the
student’s intrinsic motivation, it also highlights the controls or the negative aspects
which the student needs to overcome in order to avoid failure in achieving his or her
goal.
Each student is unique with their individualistic characteristics defined by their
personality traits and behaviour that differentiates them from others. Hence it is important
that teachers focus on the qualitative aspects before quantifying their functional significance
(Antoniou, Ploumpi & Ntalla, 2013). A specific student might be highly motivated but fails
to achieve the expected outcomes because of certain intrinsic shortcomings like stress from
excessive peer or parental pressure. It would thus be wrong in justifying their intrinsic
motivation from the scores they achieve. Rather, teachers need to figure out appropriate
learning programmes and intervention strategies that could assess their behaviour patterns,

6IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION
since there is a consequence for every action, and thus help these students in overcoming
their incompetence caused by such external factors.
These intervention programmes help the teachers to discover students who find it
difficult to understand the value of education resulting in future incompetencies. The
educators direct all their efforts into stimulating interest in such students towards school
curriculum. One such intervention consists of exposing the students in a challenging but risk-
controlled situation to observe how they cope with it (Alderman, 2013). Those who are not
able to acknowledge the challenge and perform incompetently are set apart from others and
are inducted in special classes aimed at internalisation of positive and informative methods to
deal with challenging situations. This not only helps the student in gaining a clear idea about
personal identification but also encourages and facilitates him or her to use necessary
strategies to compete with external adversities and demands in a future situation.
From the above discussion it can be concluded that the levels of motivation are
different for different students in primary schools. Such levels are either positively or
negatively influenced by the factors of external environment, as gathered from the Value-
Expectancy Theory and the Cognitive Evaluation Theory. Teaches play an important role in
regulating these factors by helping students to realign their perspectives so that they are
motivated instead of being discouraged from facing those challenges. The teachers are able to
achieve this by being motivated themselves and incorporating effective communication skills
in classrooms.

7IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION
References
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8IMPACT OF MOTIVATION ON STUDENT’S COMMUNICATION
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