One of the biggest challenges when teaching is trying to motivate students. In addition, covid-induced shifts to remote instruction (Fong, 2022) might have exacerbated students’ already declining motivations, even after beginning the “new normal.” Despite these dips in motivation, some educators may believe that students are solely responsible for motivating themselves. However, research has emphasized how educators can create motivationally-supportive environments (Robinson, 2023) to engage students while learning.
A dominant theory of academic motivation is situated expectancy-value theory (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020). This theory describes a complex series of factors that motivate achievement-related choices. Learners’ motivation is shaped by three factors, captured by the following questions: Can I do this? Do I want to do this? And, what are the costs? In other words, motivation depends on whether students feel confident to engage in a task, find value in it, and perceive minimal costs during the learning process. Using this framework as a guide, we share five ways educators can boost student motivation in their classes.
Scaffold and build confidence
Construction workers use scaffolding to reach higher elevations in a safe and secure manner, and educators can employ similar methods to help learners grow in confidence (Fong & Krause, 2014). Students may lack confidence in learning because they may have not yet mastered certain academic skills and strategies. Because previous failure and the fear of it can hinder future learning opportunities, students need to experience success—even small successes—to uplift their confidence. Scaffolding involves designing tasks that start at the students’ skill level, and gradually increasing the difficulty of the task once the learner reaches the next level. A series of prior successes can have a cascading effect on learners’ confidence to keep making progress.
Discover and connect to future goals
Learners want to engage in class when the material is useful for their future goals (Hulleman et al., 2010). Discovering what students find the most useful or relevant in the class is essential for building connections between the course content and students’ short-term and long-term goals. Students might want to pursue careers in politics or forensics, for example, so an instructor might want to tailor particular examples from social psychology or research methods to make connections with these subfields, or even current events that pertain to these topics. Recognizing connections to real-world applications, future-oriented plans, and the course content makes learning relevant to students’ goals.
Emphasize personal importance
Students are motivated not only by how useful it may be for their future but also by how personally important the course material is to them (Fong & Kremer, 2020). Educators can emphasize aspects of the course material that have salient connections to students’ personal and social identities. For example, students from racially minoritized communities may find that content about the psychology of race and racism resonates with them. Or students who grew up in a family of counselors may readily identify with content about psychopathology. Whatever course material students find personally important can serve as a critical touchstone that anchors a motivationally-supportive curriculum.
Instill true curiosity
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but being curious is truly one of the most sustainable sources of motivation. When students are genuinely interested in what they are learning, the sky’s truly the limit. To fan curiosity into flame, educators may consider the situations that trigger students’ interest (Hidi & Renninger, 2006) and be mindful of what might catch their attention. These instances become the initial sparks that educators can use to build upon and allow students to cultivate their own enduring sense of interest. For instance, students might respond enthusiastically to an in-class experiment about cognitive perception. Students might enjoy doing in-class replications of experiments or find interest in perceptual processes. Now that students’ interests are triggered, providing additional activities or exposure and a chance for them to explore similar activities on their own can nurture personal interest.
Acknowledge and reduce cost perceptions
Lastly, educators can consider how to minimize students’ perceptions of cost, defined as the negative aspects of engaging in an academic task. When students face a challenge in an academic task, they might find it effortful or frustrating. One way to reduce effort and emotional costs (Rosenzweig et al., 2020) is to help students reinterpret cost perceptions in a more positive way, such as acknowledging that challenges are mostly temporary and common to other students. Also, if educators establish appropriate expectations for how much effort is required for a task, students may calibrate how effortful a task might be, rather than overestimating how much effort is needed.
Concluding thoughts
Student motivation is an extremely complex process and depends quite a bit on the learner’s goals, contexts, or tasks. A one-size fits all approach may not always work, but we hope these five strategies can be starting points for educators to think through when creating motivationally supportive learning environments.
Carlton J. Fong is an educational psychologist and associate professor in the College of Education at Texas State University. Using a psychosociocultural lens, he studies the motivational and self-regulatory factors that influence college student success. He primarily uses QuantCrit, secondary data, and research synthesis approaches to examine how to create motivationally supportive learning environments. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles on such topics and was recently awarded the 2023 Richard E. Snow Award for Early Contributions from APA Division 15: Educational Psychology.
Zohreh Fathi is a doctoral student and research assistant in the graduate program in developmental education at Texas State University. She holds a master’s degree in cognitive science with a specialization in mind, brain, and education, during which she made significant contributions to educational research. Her primary research interests revolve around enhancing motivation, self-regulation, and social connection among postsecondary learners to support their educational journeys.
