Shopia Mulyani (2009110011)

Final Examination of IELL3 (Writing an Essay)

Motivation for Students in Learning Process

Motivation is aspect of human need which will be showed in a behavior and attitude.

People will be motivated to do something because they have a goal or expectation to be

reached. The same thing with students, they should have a strong motivation, so that they can

participate in learning processes well. Strong motivation increase amount of effort and energy

that students expend in directly related to their needs and goals (Csikszentmihalyi &

Nakamura, 1989; Maehr, 1984; Pintrich et al., 1993). Students decide the goals and act

energize then.

In Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985) motivation can be divided

into two sources, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It is classified base on the difference of

reasons or goals that give power to an action. The most basic distinction between intrinsic

and extrinsic motivation is the former refers to do something because it is inherently

interesting or enjoyable and while the after refers to do something because it leads to a

separable outcome.

Intrinsic motivation comes from individual desire. Students who have intrinsic

motivation will be oriented in challenging task because they found an interesting and

enjoyment of an activity. They have a strong interest and exact goals that support their skills.

For example, Ricky will focus in chemistry than other lesson because he feels enjoy of it.

When he engaged on chemistry, so it can be easier for him to maintain his concentration, do

the best for chemistry project and he’d do it whether he were paid or rewarded anyway.
 Intrinsic motivation seems to a rise spontaneously. Sometimes it can decrease or

increase, it depends on individual self-regulated control (moods). When feel cheerful,

students more likely to enjoy what they do than when feel upset. Sometimes there is not

activity or task that they enjoy to do. That’s where extrinsic motivation comes in.

Extrinsic motivation naturally appears as students grow older. Students adopt many

values and beliefs from the people around them such as parent, teacher and peers. They get

motivated because of rewards or achievement. For example, Nyssa does his math homework

only because she fears teacher punishment, she does the homework in order to avoid the

punishment, not because she is interested in math.

Nyssa exhibits extrinsic motivation. Her motivation relies on fear of something. When

Nyssa still focus on her fear, so she will be difficult to maintain her concentration, just think

to get a goal at the end without caring much about it being perfect or excellent and she’d be

reluctant to do something if there were no reward. So it has negative aspect for students who

have extrinsic motivation only. They can not make the decision by them selves.

Sometimes students can not manage their self-regulated control and can not force

people to give motivation for them. When intrinsic motivation is decreasing, they need an

external factor to reach their goals. On the other hand, when there is no external motivation,

so feeling enjoy in doing something will give strong motivation. So, it will be better if

students balance both of motivation sources in learning process.

RESOURCES

Ormrod, J. M. (1995). Educational Psychology. New Jersey: Pearson Education.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Contemporary Educational Psychology 25 (54-67).

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation: Classic Definition and New Direction. Retrieved
January 21, 2010, from
http://www.unco.edu/cebs/psychology/kevinpugh/motivation_project/resources/ryan_d
eci00.pdf