[ELTWeekly Volume 8, Issue 3 | January 18, 2016 | ISSN 0975-3036]
We are more aware than ever that student motivation and engagement is essential for lasting learning. But there is less discussion of how and why intrinsic motivation works. In fact, when we talk about “motivating students,” we lose sight of the fact that they are already motivated — just often not to do what educators want them to do!
That’s why understanding intrinsic motivation is so important. We need to work with students’ motivational systems more than impose motivation from the outside (i.e. extrinsically).
Deci and Ryan on Intrinsic Motivation
There is an intrinsic need for personal autonomy, self-determination, and to feel that one is choosing one’s behavior, vs. being controlled externally.
The work of Edward Deci and William Ryan, Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation, has been the exemplar in elaborating on the importance of what has come to be called “intrinsic motivation.”
Choice is an essential element in feeling a sense of control. But when choices are offered, individuals need to have the information necessary for making a meaningful decision, not simply choosing between unclear options.