How May Motivation and Anxiety Both Contribute and Detract From Effective Learning - Essay Example

Running head: How may motivation and anxiety both contribute and detract from effective learning? Name: Institution: Date: Motivation can be described as the activation of a positive behaviour which is goal oriented, it is either intrinsic or extrinsic. This term is also theoretically, applicable in descriptions of the causes of animal behaviour. Various motivation theories state that motivation could be embedded in an attempt to maximize pleasure and also minimize pain. It may also include the satisfaction of specific needs such as rest and eating or desired objectives. Take for instance the scenario of a hungry person, the person will have hunger pangs that will lead to the individual craving for food, the hunger pangs will be a form of motivation with the desired goal of satisfaction (Vandergrift, 2005). Educational and social psychologists have studied this form of motivation since the early 1970s. Research has shown this type of motivation is usually associated with students’ educational achievements. According to Fritz Heider's Attribution Theory, and Cognitive Evaluation Theory by Ryan and Deci and Bandura’s work on self-efficacy, the following affect Students: If they attribute their positive educational results to factors that are not out of reach or those that they can control such as the effort employed. The belief that they have the ability to achieve desired goals and assurance that results are not determined by luck but by hard work and determination (Chan, 2002). Extrinsic motivation mostly affects the performer through external factors. Some good examples of this type of motivation are money, coercion and threat of punishment. In a competition, a cheering crowd will lead to the performer to perform better. Incentives in this case are rewards such as trophies presented to the victors. Competition is extrinsic since it encourages the individual to compete with an aim of attaining the best position and not to enjoy the intrinsic rewards. In relation to psychological research within the social context, extrinsic rewards can lead to over-justification by a learner and thus subsequent reductions in any intrinsic motivation. This will show that in actual sense motivation doe have a hand in the learning process of any given learners (Dickson, 1995). According to the five categories Säljö identified, we see learning taking place as a process. Learning can be defined as a process through which behaviour changes resulting from experience, (Maples and Webster 1980). Alan Rogers (2003) has formulated a particularly helpful method of approaching the controversial area of learning process. He set out two contrasting approaches to learning: Task conscious or acquisition learning Learning-conscious or formalized learning. Task conscious learning can also be referred to as acquisition learning. Acquisition learning is a constant and unending process. It is immediate and generally restrained to a precise activity. This kind of learning has been criticized as one that is unconscious. Roger suggests that it’s better to speak of this learning technique as possessing consciousness of the task. This means that although the learner may not be aware of the learning taking place, they are usually conscious of the task in hand (Rogers 2003). Language acquisition; this is the subconscious process through which individuals learn language (spoken or written) unaware of the process taking place. The process will require very meaningful interactions in the targeted language, at this stage; the learner will thus acquire focused meanings rather than the actual form, this is only possible through motivation and if motivation is absent; no leaning will take place. Language learning on the other hand is a conscious process that can only occur when thee are motivating factors within the individual and the environment he/she is in (Skehan, 1989). Learning-conscious, also known as formalized learning arises from facilitating learning. This is therefore more educative learning unlike the preceding type which arises from buildup of experience. The learning people are therefore conscious that the task at hand entails learning. Rogers states that it is possible for the two contrasting ways of learning to appear in the same context. As a result, we find these methods present in schools and among families as well. It can therefore result in a promising mix of formalized and acquisition learning as forming a continuum (Dornyei, 2001). At one extreme are cases of unintentional and generally accidental learning experiences which happen continuously in life. At the other is incidental learning or unconscious learning, occurring through methods of acquisition which take place in the course of another activity. Various activities, especially those that are experiential, arising from life related issues are more conscious of learning, though still the major focus on the task. There are then the more purposeful activities or occasions whereby we intend to learn in a more systematic way (Vandergrift, 2005). This means that the learning is assisted by whatever comes to hand for the set purpose, but cases arise where there is deliberate disregard of an engagement with teachers and learning institutions. To one extreme there will be formalised learning programmes that will use materials common to all without paying any attention to any individual preferences. (Rogers 2003). It is very important to utilize and attain the best educational value within the limited time available. Retention, recall and transfer methods of learning are critical and mostly employed by students. It is necessary therefore for any learning person to be able to accurately remember gathered and relevant information so that he can use it effectively in a variety of situations later. Among the best ways of improving memory are: avoiding cram sessions, improving focus and proper structuring of study time. There are also more relevant key issues that concern memory development in psychology. The issue of students cramming is a sign of anxiety as those who do it have not adequately prepared for their examinations and thus opt for an easier way to remember, this has been known to affect the learning process since research has shown that the banking system of learning is greatly to blame for students cramming (Säljö, 1979). When we learn and practice adopted skills, we enhance the brain’s ability to retain new information. Another basic way to become an effective learner is to allow a continuous mode of learning. In 2004, a nature article reported that, if and when a person learnt how to juggle, he would automatically increase levels of grey matter in their occipital lobes; mainly associated with visual memory. When such an individual ceased practicing his new skill, this grey matter instantly reduced to a minimal amount and in some cases vanished. Therefore, when learning a language, it is very important to keep practicing; this way you maintain the gains you have achieved (Vandergrift, 2005). The main focus here will be on learning, in more than one way. Instead of just involving auditory learning, the learner should try and rehearse the acquired information both visually and verbally. This may involve the description of the learning experience to a friend and taking notes in the process, or drawing a mind map. This is one way of cementing the knowledge in the mind. The learner who learns in more than one way is said to further cement knowledge in their mind. According to Judy Willis, “The more regions of the brain that store data about a subject, the more interconnection there is. This redundancy means students will have more opportunities to pull up all of those related bits of data from their multiple storage areas in response to a single cue. This cross-referencing of data means we have learned, rather than just memorized” (Vandergrift, 2005). Teaching improves learning as well. Educators have noted teaching as a very effective way of learning. Teachers also find this as an appropriate teaching strategy in class. The teacher therefore hopes that by teaching the rest of the class, the student gains more. In this view we can say the teacher will be a form of external motivation (extrinsic motivation) and the better he/she is able to capture his/her students learning curiosity, then the better the chances of effective learning (Cope, 1991). Using relational learning improves the effectiveness of a learner (this will motivate the learner remember what was taught last). This involves relation of acquired information to things you are acquainted with. An example of this is a case where a learner studying Romeo and Juliet associates what new knowledge he obtains to any prior knowledge of Shakespeare and/or any other relevant information. Apart from studying books and attending lectures, it is important to put new knowledge and skills into practice to improve learning. Focus on gaining practical experience should be a key concept for those trying to acquire a new skill or ability. Practice, especially when one is learning a new language or in a sporting activity is usually very effective. Practice and experience will be a form of intrinsic motivation to the learners as thy try to master what they have learnt if their main goal is to grasp the language or extrinsic if the goal is to pass an examination (Cope, 1991). It is normal to sometimes forget little details of things we have already learnt. Research suggests that it is best to look up the correct answers rather than struggle to remember the little details. A study showed that the more time you spend trying to remember an answer the higher the likelihood of forgetting the answer in future. This is because attempts to recall previous information usually results in learning the ‘error state’ rather than the correct response, this goes to prove that anxiety does have a hand in learning. Testing has proven to be more beneficial than studying alone (extrinsic motivation). Taking tests helps the leaner remember what he has learnt even if it was not comprehensively covered in the test. Spending more time in studying is therefore not the most effective strategy to implement. The research thus revealed that students who had been studying and later took a given test had a better chance of long term recall of the material as well as information that was not covered in the tests. Testing in this case serves as a motivating factor in the students; they are afraid of failing and thus they work hard (Dornyei, 2005). Dornyei, (2005), The Psychology of the Language Learner, asserts that multitasking will adversely affect learning effectiveness. It was earlier thought that, people, who multitasked, had an edge over those who did not. However, research suggests that multitasking can make the learning process less effective. Participants in this study lost adequate time as they switched from one task to the other. Errors and decrease efficiency were also subsequent in cases of complex tasks. Multitasking does have a hand in learning and anxiety as people who multitask are in a rush to have several tasks completed and thus a sign of anxiety. The research mainly involves students and children in the process of acquiring declarative knowledge from textual sources. We therefore focus on the cognitive process used in direct engagement of the learner with the material to be learned. However most adult learning practiced in non academic settings permits the interaction of the learner with other persons and also provides an opportunity for practical activities and personal information search. This necessitates the examination of behavioural strategies and those that are entirely cognitive as well. Learning activities vary widely depending on different circumstances. For example, learning activities could be: - motor skills, interpersonal and declarative knowledge learning. An empirical and conceptual research was drawn up by Warr and Allan (1998) and suggested three types of learning strategies: cognitive, behavioural and self-regulatory learning strategies. This strategy is based on rehearsal. It involves procedures of repetition within oneself to the material being learned. It does not, however, involve reflecting about the character of this material i.e. material meaning, whether to change it, or knowing how it could fit with a different material. This strategy will center around mental repetition and also copying information: - this is usually done in the original form it was presented. “Rehearsal illustrates a 'surface' approach to learning, rather than a 'meaning' orientation” (Entwistle & Ramsden1983), (Richardson 1990). This method is viewed by many as a way of emphasizing performance rather than intellectual mastery of a given subject. These strategies are best assessed through the completion of questionnaires to obtain a report on previous thoughts and behaviour in a learning program. The first aim of that report is to create an instrument that is acceptable in a range of settings and not merely one that is beyond the level of schools and colleges. The questionnaire should therefore surpass the specified qualifications (Hartley, 1998). The main agenda here is to determine the relationship between the principal strategies implemented and the result and success in knowledge from specified acquisition tasks. Predictions from previous research derived from the nature of the strategies and from the results attained will be tested. Learning strategies employed will determine if learning will occur since the strategies will have a driving force within the students; take for instance the case of a vey lively class, the learning that will take place will be very effective unlike when a boring class is in progress. The same implies that motivation does have a hand in learning since the higher the motivation the better the learning process. Rehearsal has at times, although always, been associated with good learning outcomes. Despite the fact that predictions by Hurwitz & Cope (1991) and Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons (1986) of students' learning and attaining positive results were reported, rehearsal was unrelated to outcome in studies by Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons (1990), Pintrich et al. (1993). Rehearsal is directly linked to motivation since one will only rehearse what they intend to perfect. This second group of activities has concerned fewer investigations since educational researchers are more interested in addressing the cognitive process that involves textual material. In a research by Krashen (1982) a negative correlation with college students’ courses was observed. Conclusion Both motivation and anxiety have a hand in effective learning process a have been seen from the discussion above. Motivation has been divided into intrinsic (within the individual) and extrinsic (from the environment); an example of extrinsic motivation in learning can be that of a second language learner who learns the new language from a desire within unlike an individual who will learn the same second language from environmental pressures (extrinsic). Motivation will be constructive when the learner is driven by intrinsic motivation to learn while extrinsic motivation may be destructive in learning if and when it is only to meet a set expectation say the passing of an examination (Cope, 1991). Anxiety on the other hand will play a role in the learning process; for instance a student punished for not getting a given sum right will try hard to get it right next time due to anxiety in them, “if I fail, the teacher will punish me”. Another example of anxiety laying role in learning is when there is competition n a given group of individuals; members of that group will always be anxious to defeat each other and in the long run, learning I affected either in a positive way when learning does occur or in a negative way if learning does not occur. In conclusion one can say that both anxiety and motivation have factors to play in any learning scenario as mentioned above, anxiety can also be very destructive; take the case of where students opt to cram materials learnt in order to pass an exam: - the students will not remember anything after they have done their examination and thus in such a case anxiety will have lead them to read for an examination unlike when motivation leads them to learn so as to understand (Hartley, 1998). References Crookes, G. & Schmidt, R. W. (1991) “Motivation: Reopening the Research Agenda”, Language Learning 41 (4): 469-512. Csizer, K. & Dornyei, Z. (2005) “Language Learners’ Motivational Profiles and their Motivated Learning Behaviour”, Language Learning 55 (4): 613-659. Dickson, L. (1995) “Autonomy and Motivation: A Literature Review”, System 23: 165-174. Dornyei, Z. (2001) Teaching and Researching Motivation, London: Longman. Dornyei, Z. (2005) The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Gardener, R. C & Lambert, W. E. (1972) Attitudes and Motivation in Second-language Learning, Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers. Hartley, J. (1998) Learning and Studying. A research perspective, London: Routledge.  Hurwitz, E. K., Hurwitz, M. B., & Cope, J. (1991). Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety, NJ: Prentice Hall. Spatt, M., Humphreys, G., & Chan, V. (2002) “Autonomy and Motivation: Which comes First?” Language Teaching Research 6:245-266. Skehan, P. (1989). Individual Differences in Second Language Learning. London: London Press. Säljö, R. (1979) 'Learning in the learner's perspective. I. Some common-sense conceptions', Reports from the Institute of Education, University of Gothenburg, 76. Vandergrift, L. (2005). “Relationships among Motivation Orientations, Metacognitive Awareness and Proficiency in L2 Listening”, Applied Linguistics 26 (1): 70-89. Read More

Acquisition learning is a constant and unending process. It is immediate and generally restrained to a precise activity. This kind of learning has been criticized as one that is unconscious. Roger suggests that it’s better to speak of this learning technique as possessing consciousness of the task. This means that although the learner may not be aware of the learning taking place, they are usually conscious of the task in hand (Rogers 2003). Language acquisition; this is the subconscious process through which individuals learn language (spoken or written) unaware of the process taking place.

The process will require very meaningful interactions in the targeted language, at this stage; the learner will thus acquire focused meanings rather than the actual form, this is only possible through motivation and if motivation is absent; no leaning will take place. Language learning on the other hand is a conscious process that can only occur when thee are motivating factors within the individual and the environment he/she is in (Skehan, 1989). Learning-conscious, also known as formalized learning arises from facilitating learning.

This is therefore more educative learning unlike the preceding type which arises from buildup of experience. The learning people are therefore conscious that the task at hand entails learning. Rogers states that it is possible for the two contrasting ways of learning to appear in the same context. As a result, we find these methods present in schools and among families as well. It can therefore result in a promising mix of formalized and acquisition learning as forming a continuum (Dornyei, 2001).

At one extreme are cases of unintentional and generally accidental learning experiences which happen continuously in life. At the other is incidental learning or unconscious learning, occurring through methods of acquisition which take place in the course of another activity. Various activities, especially those that are experiential, arising from life related issues are more conscious of learning, though still the major focus on the task. There are then the more purposeful activities or occasions whereby we intend to learn in a more systematic way (Vandergrift, 2005).

This means that the learning is assisted by whatever comes to hand for the set purpose, but cases arise where there is deliberate disregard of an engagement with teachers and learning institutions. To one extreme there will be formalised learning programmes that will use materials common to all without paying any attention to any individual preferences. (Rogers 2003). It is very important to utilize and attain the best educational value within the limited time available. Retention, recall and transfer methods of learning are critical and mostly employed by students.

It is necessary therefore for any learning person to be able to accurately remember gathered and relevant information so that he can use it effectively in a variety of situations later. Among the best ways of improving memory are: avoiding cram sessions, improving focus and proper structuring of study time. There are also more relevant key issues that concern memory development in psychology. The issue of students cramming is a sign of anxiety as those who do it have not adequately prepared for their examinations and thus opt for an easier way to remember, this has been known to affect the learning process since research has shown that the banking system of learning is greatly to blame for students cramming (Säljö, 1979).

When we learn and practice adopted skills, we enhance the brain’s ability to retain new information. Another basic way to become an effective learner is to allow a continuous mode of learning. In 2004, a nature article reported that, if and when a person learnt how to juggle, he would automatically increase levels of grey matter in their occipital lobes; mainly associated with visual memory. When such an individual ceased practicing his new skill, this grey matter instantly reduced to a minimal amount and in some cases vanished.

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