Internal Motivation and Early Childhood Education - Literature review Example

Internal Motivation and Early Childhood Education Name Institution Professor Course Date Introduction Intrinsic motivation entails the desire to carryout certain activities. It is the stimulation that compels a person to change or adopt a conduct for his/her own internal fulfilment or satisfaction. Intrinsic motivation is self applicable and comes from a direct connection amid a situation and a person. According to Deci & Flaste (1996), intrinsic motivation defines actions as performing a task for inherent satisfaction as opposed to some separable consequences. Abuhamdeh (2012) asserts that intrinsic motivation demonstrate inspiration to engage in action for the sake of the action itself. Intrinsically inspired people react to activities that have been challenging or fun to them instead of external rewards or pressure. Intrinsic motivation does not need external rewards to incite intrinsically inspired individuals. The rewards in intrinsic motivation include the conduct itself. Intrinsic motivation inspires excitement, increased interests, improved performance, confidence, self-esteem, persistence and creativity. Intrinsic motivation is applicable in life and in early childhood teaching and learning given that it offers innate psychological requirements that includes a call to feel autonomous, related and competent. Social factors of motivation play a crucial role a child’s learning and academic performance. Social motivation is vital to academic and social performance. This is observable among children. According to Saracho (2007), a child social competence with colleagues is positively linked to academic achievements throughout the child’s school years. Saracho (2007) asserts that what takes place during the first years of schooling hold an important impact on a child’s performances and participation later in school life. Similarly the manner in which children view themselves in early childhood learning powerfully influences how they view themselves academically. The most powerful aspect in explaining intrinsic motivation in children is their view of social competence as well as their sense of social competence. Social competence is a major contributing aspect to the perception of children as regards academic performance. Children who feel good regarding themselves with respect to having friends in schools also think highly about themselves with regard to having friends in their learning environment (Mortensen, 2011) . Such children also think highly about themselves with regard to academic competence. This feeling promotes intrinsic motivation for school practices and activities. Social self-concept is a crucial antecedent of social motivation while social motivation is basic to social learning in younger children in early childhood learning and teaching. Intrinsic motivation in early childhood teaching and learning is crucial. This is because a young child involves himself/herself in intrinsically inspired learning if the procedure of practicing or learning is its own incentive. Extrinsically inspired learning is centred on an incentive at task completion instead of the learning procedure (Mortensen, 2011). In early childhood learning, external motivation is not essential given that a child is usually interested to keep performing a particular activity for a longer period. To motivate children intrinsically, early childhood teachers can use modern technology because it provides different means to integrate enjoyment and education. Particularly, the internet provides a social setting where children can communicate, write and read. Communication in early childhood assumes the narrative form and therefore building up communication skills in early childhood learning and teaching can be noteworthy even in later life (Mortensen, 2011). In this regard, communication learning is intrinsically inspired via application of internet technology in early childhood. The plot of tale is adequate to inspire a learner to finishing reading a story book. However, the same plot cannot motivate a learner to complete solving a page of maths problems. However, instantaneous reward and correction systems, adequate challenge and an apparent mastery path can inspire a learner to persist undertaking a task that may appear boring. For instance computer games are important motivators that promote learning in early childhood. They offer immediate feedback and alert learners when they do something that is not right. A learner can comprehend and fix his/her own mistakes and does require waiting for the instructor to make corrections on his/her assignment In early childhood learning, children learn through self-determination as opposed to external rewards. According to Deci and Flaste (1995), people hold three instinctive psychological needs that include a feeling of proficiency, autonomy and relatedness. Intrinsic motivation builds up these feelings. When a person feels self-determined, autonomous and competent, they are able to search for what interest them. According to Deci and Flaste (1995) assert that intrinsically inspired learning takes place when a person feels free will to make options in the learning process, when one encounters a difficult activity and when one conquers the challenge. To achieve these feelings, the environment must be conducive and the individual must show the interest. Intrinsic motivation in life and in early childhood depends on ones interests and the environment. According to Deci and Flaste (1996), people can view certain occurrences as informational in the sense that they preserve a sense of freedom and competence. People can also view certain events as controlling in the sense that they present a pressure to behave, feel and think in a particular way, or inspiring. The environment can hold any combination of components that could be identified as controlling, motivating or autonomy supportive. For instance, a teacher can allow students to select the books they want to read which entail autonomy supportive, but remind the students that they will be assessed and hence they should try to attain good marks. This aspect entails controlling. After the assignment is presented to the teacher, the teacher grades the students opening the potential of equal efforts that instigates differential upshots. This aspect is motivating. The ultimate impacts of the environment or an individual fit are reliant on each person’s saliency. If an individual views his setting as informational and exhibit a feeling of autonomy and competence, intrinsic motivation is promoted or sustained. In a classroom, intrinsic motivation is applied when learners are allowed make their own options, when teacher guarantee optimal challenge and when they inspire collaboration and adapt practices that are of interests to students. Teachers can adapt a delivery mode that makes less salient the control element such as presenting rewards without prior notice as a way of acknowledgement as opposed to a manipulation tool. Performance-contingent rewards strengthen intrinsic motivation. According to Deci and Flaste (1996), if an individual does not hold interest in a given learning activity, such a person cannot be intrinsically inspired for engagement and he/she will be inspired through external aspects like grades. However, external inspirations can be internalized. Notwithstanding lack of interests, an individual can be self-determined if he has the ability to combine the activity into his self sense (Wigfield, 2002). Nevertheless, if the individual comprehends how given activities are important and valuable as a way of personal development and skill improvement, the person will internalize his/her extrinsic motivation. Via this procedure, the child can approach a given activity through sense as opposed to pressure. Deci and Flaste ( 1996) explain that this motivational change takes place only when a teacher respectively appreciate the feelings of a student pertaining to an activity instead of attempting to scare, guilt or pressure them to comply. Teachers should explain the purpose of the importance of an activity to students, illustrate how the activity connects to a student life and guarantee that students hold the essentials skills needed to succeed. Intrinsic motivation is closely connected to the basic elementary motivation to acquire and learn new skills. The psychological requirements or building blocks that bring about intrinsic motivation include the call to establish one’s conduct or self-determination, the call for relatedness, the call to feel competent and the call to hold meaningful links with other persons (Bhaduri, 2011). When these fundamental requirements are fulfilled, high intrinsic motivation is realised where learners are inspired by their participation in their learning activities; they work harder to learn novel skills and enhance their performance. Intrinsic motivation depends on the interaction amid different individual perspectives of the setting and diverse views of self (Bhaduri, 2011). Amount of challenge, interests, choice, competence and suitable skills in a learning environment are all essential aspects that potentially impacts extrinsic and intrinsic balance. Intrinsic motivation is consistent with concerted actualisation, maximising personal facilities and striving over a short span of time .Intrinsic motivation is usually founded on favourable conditions where optimal growth is balanced with safe and secure upbringing (Pulley, 2007). According to Deci and Flaste (1996), contingent, less coerced and constrained transactions function to increase the pressure, satisfaction and joy achievable from effective social contracts. This aspect prompts less diminishment and potential improvement of intrinsic motivation, achievement and striving. As a result, teachers in early childhood teaching should not coerce learners to perform activities that do not interest them. Intrinsic motivation stresses on the immediate pleasure of congenial contribution and it instils increased acknowledgement of accepting persons for who they are and what they may offer to a bigger collective activity. The call to feel competent is a main concept in motivation as opposed to achievement. This is because competence perceptions are closely linked to the concept of competence (Bhaduri, 2011). In life, I employ intrinsic motivation through constructive self-talk. Constructive self-talk facilitates maintenance of concentration besides inducing finest arousal. Particularly, I employ task-pertinent self-talk that entails a focus on a given task. I also demonstrate an apparent vision of what I want to achieve in life. This is because visualisation or structured imagery is the main elements that helps one in unlocking his/her potential and helps ones turn his/her own dreams into realism. Imagery allows me to view the upshots I wish to accomplish and through generating these upshots via multisensory images, I considerably augment the prospective of achieving superior performance in my daily activities. I employ incentives that motivate and guide my behaviour in the long-run. I select activities that interest me and particularly, focus on the outcome of these activities. The productive employment of rewards as behavioural upshots entails the reinforcement principle where I carryout activities that lead to productive consequences. The behavioural upshots reinforce or augment the activities that produced them. For instance, when I do my school and home assignments, I usually observe a count of how much tasks I have managed to accomplish in a stipulated time. Observing the count on how much work I have accomplished acts as reinforcement for the tasks. According to Cameron (2006), many of the behavioural upshots that impact conducts are called rewards, hence, rewards can be applicable upshots of conduct to augment its occurrence frequency. The application of rewards as reinforcement differs from application of rewards as action incentives. Rewards as incentives come prior to action while rewards as reinforcement come following the occurrence of a conduct. Conclusion Intrinsic motivation refers to an energising conduct that comes from within a person, out of interest and will for a given activity .Intrinsic motivation comports with accent to help others and formulate feedback that symbolises competence. Intrinsic objectives depend on contingent, immediate and tentative responses of other people. Intrinsic motivations pertaining to self-acceptance, communal, affiliation and physical health matters predict increased levels of well-being, less regular physical and broadly conceived symptoms. Intrinsic motivation is multifaceted and it involves selective involvement in social actions for no clear cause, reason, rhyme, but what an individual seeks to satisfy. Intrinsic motivation lies within persons, and in connection amid actions and individuals. People view intrinsic motivation as an interesting aspect while other views it through the satisfaction an individual obtains from completing a given task. Intrinsic inspiration offers more free choice and via enhancing a person’s sense of competence and strengthening through providing constructive response. Intrinsic motivation is applicable in life and in early childhood teaching and learning given that it offers innate psychological requirements that includes a call to feel autonomous, related and competent References Abuhamdeh, S. (2012). Attentional involvement and intrinsic motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 36, 3, pp.257-267. Bhaduri, S.(2011). Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to innovate: Tracing the motivation of grassroots’ innovators in India. Mind and Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, 10, 1, pp.27-55. Cameron, J.(2006). Rewards and intrinsic motivation: Resolve. London: IAP. Deci, E., & Flaste, R. ( 1996). Why we do what we do: The dynamics of personal autonomy. New York: Putnam's Sons. Mortensen, D.(2011). Optimal human relations: The search for a good life. New York: Transaction Publishers. Pulley, P.(2007). A research study of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in supposition to the self-directed workers in an industrial application. London: ProQuest Saracho, O. ( 2007). Contemporary perspectives on socialisation and social development in early childhood education. London: IAP. Wigfield, A. (2002). Development of achievement motivation. New York: Academic Press Read More