MOTIVATION: A TOOL FOR REINFORCING LEARNERS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

MARICRIS S. MERCADO

Motivation plays an essential role in reshaping learners" behavior towards learning. It is defined as an individual's endeavor to fulfill their responsibilities, allocating the necessary energy and persisting in it. An individual's academic success and lifelong learning are greatly influenced by their motivation. According to Wigfield (2001),learners' selections of academic tasks, the time and effort they devote to each task, and their tenacity in completing academic tasks are all indicators of their motivation. Additionally, motivation helps students overcome the challenges they face during the learning process. Studies indicated that motivation serves as a good predictor of students’ performance. That is, motivation can be used as a benchmark to assess what constitutes acceptable performance for every learner. Motivation can be classified into two types; intrinsic and extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation derives from outside sources, whereas intrinsic motivation originates from inside. When you have intrinsic motivation, you act on a desire to accomplish something because you find it enjoyable and fulfilling. When you act in a way that seeks to obtain an outside benefit, you are motivated by external factors. Intrinsically motivated people foresee a task as fulfilling on an internal level, are driven to do it. Nowadays, it has been seen that a lot of students are being academically demotivated. Several factors are attributed to it. The structure and distribution of rewards demotivate students. Some students don't think that the environment in the classroom is encouraging. Students' time and attention are contested by other priorities. Seemingly, students’ motivation may be impacted by physical, psychological, or other personal issues. Students often feel significantly demotivated in their learning since they struggle to complete classwork and find the learning activities uninteresting. Students come to school every day with the expectation to learn and achieve set academic goals. Unfortunately, they sometimes loose motivation to focus and learn. The teachers serve as the driver to motivate learners inside the classroom. The responsibility of the teacher doesn’t only end in transferring of knowledge. This includes making sure that all students are motivated in the entire process of learning. Teachers must know their learners in order to tailor-fit the motivation they can provide. Teachers will be able to better tailor their instruction to the students' concerns and backgrounds. Another way to motivated pupils is to encourage them to develop realistic objectives for themselves in order to help them attain them. Instead of outlining the implications of not believing in a student's talents, teachers who foster a secure and supportive environment for their pupils. Teachers can also motivate students by providing them a sense of control and giving them opportunity to grow while giving them support. Considerably, students will feel motivated by encouraging collaboration inside the classroom. Teachers can provide an abundance of encouragement for their students by openly praising achievement, sharing excellent work, and recognizing exemplary output.

-oOoThe author is Teacher III at Pio Elementary School