You have been assigned the first week of every month for your grade level for the rest of the school year.

Motivation is the natural human capacity to direct energy in the pursuit of a goal, and learning is a naturally active and normally volitional process, but that process cannot be separated from the cultural context of the classroom or from the background of the learner.

Motivation and Diversity: A Framework for Teaching

Raymond J. Wlodkowski

Historically, motivation and sex share a similar fate: both promise extraordi- nary rewards but when actually realized they continue to mystify and confuse. At the core of each is desire. Yet maintaining a passion for learning or for another person can fall prey to distraction as well as to other interests. What seemed to be a dream that would last forever may quickly disappear because of something as banal as familiarity or monotony.

One of the problems with understanding motivation is that we cannot see it and we cannot touch it. It is what is known in the social sciences as a hypo- thetical construct, an invented definition that provides a possible concrete causal explanation of behavior. Therefore we cannot observe motivation directly nor measure it precisely. We have to infer it from what people do. So we look for signs such as persistence and completion.

We also know that culture—that deeply learned mix of language, beliefs, values, and behaviors that pervades every aspect of our lives—significantly influences our motivation. In fact, social scientists today regard the cognitive processes as inherently cultural (Rogoff and Chavajay, 1995). The language we use to think and the ways in which we communicate cannot be separated from cultural practices and cultural context. As Vivian Gussin Paley (1990, p. xii) writes, “None of us are to be found in sets of tasks or lists of attributes; we can be known only in the unfolding of our unique stories within the context of everyday events.”

This chapter is concerned with motivation to learn and how to encour- age it effectively. Learning is a naturally active and normally volitional process of constructing meaning from information and experience (Lambert and McCombs, 1998). Motivation is the natural human capacity to direct energy

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING, no. 78, Summer 1999 © Jossey-Bass Publishers 7

8 MOTIVATION FROM WITHIN

in the pursuit of a goal. Although our lives are marked by a continuous flow of activity within an infinite variety of overt actions, we are purposeful. We constantly learn, and when we do we are usually motivated to learn. We are directing our energy through the processes of attention, concentration, and imagination, to name only few, to make sense of our world.

Until about a decade ago, an individualistic understanding of motivation dominated the field of psychology. Personal motives, thoughts, expectancies, and goals were concepts that had a strong influence on psychological approaches to facilitating student motivation and learning. Currently, socio- constructivism is a rapidly growing theoretical force in understanding ways to improve learning in schools and colleges (Hickey, 1997). Critical to this view is the realization that people learn through their interaction with and support from other people and objects in the world. We are more aware that to help a person learn may require understanding his or her thinking and emotions as inseparable from the social context in which the activity takes place.

In terms of the current state of research and practice, it seems wise to allow both individualistic and socio-constructivist theories to inform how we teach (Salomon and Perkins, 1998). For example, there is little doubt that what a student finds personally relevant is a socially constructed meaning—that is, it is based on social experience and values. However, to find, edit, and orga- nize an essay based on personally relevant material takes considerable indi- vidual reflection and self-direction. This kind of self-regulation is largely an individual process and we benefit from understanding the considerable research that describes how to teach students these skills (Pintrich, 1995).

Because of the rich cultural diversity within this country, we need mod- els to guide teachers in effective ways to access and strengthen their students’ individual skills as well as ways to include the understanding they bring to learning based on their social experiences. The Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching (Wlodkowski and Ginsberg, 1995) is a model for teaching and for planning instruction based on the principle that individ- ual motivation is inseparable from culture. It offers a pedagogical approach for creating learning experiences that evoke the intrinsic motivation of all students.

After a discussion of motivation and culture, this chapter proceeds to explore some important differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. It continues with an overview of the motivational framework and ends with how to plan lessons to elicit intrinsic motivation among culturally diverse stu- dents.

Motivation: Inseparable from Culture

Colleges have increasing numbers of culturally diverse students. To be effec- tive with all students, faculty have to relate their content to their students’ experiences and the ways in which their students know. Teaching that ignores student norms of behavior and communication provokes student resistance, while teaching that is responsive prompts student involvement (Olneck, 1995).

9MOTIVATION AND DIVERSITY

Engagement in learning is the visible outcome of motivation. Our emo- tions are a part of and significantly influence our motivation. In turn, our emo- tions are socialized through culture. For example, one person working at a task feels frustrated and stops while another person working at the task feels joy and continues. Yet another person with an even different set of cultural beliefs feels frustrated at the task but continues with increased determination. What may elicit that frustration, joy, or determination may differ across cultures, because cultures differ in their definitions of novelty, hazard, opportunity, and gratification, and in their definitions of appropriate responses (Kitayama and Markus, 1994).

Today teachers inevitably face the reality that what may enhance the moti- vation of some students may diminish the motivation of others. Icebreakers are a good example of this phenomenon. Many courses begin with activities to create a more sociable mood. Some of these activities ask students to self-dis- close intimate personal feelings or circumstances to other students, who at the time are strangers to them. Some students enjoy sharing such personal infor- mation with people who are relatively unknown to them. Studies consistently reveal, however, that self-disclosure of this nature may be incompatible with the cultural values of Asian Americans, Latinos, and American Indians, who often reserve expression of very personal feelings for the intimacy of family (Sue and Sue, 1990). An early request for such self-disclosure might be dis- concerting for students from these ethnic backgrounds and stimulate a sense of alienation from the rest of the class or from the course itself. Without sen- sitivity to culture, we teachers may unknowingly contribute to the decline of motivation among our students.

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation: Important Social Differences

Although the cognitive revolution is more than thirty years old, most colleges are locked in midcentury with a deterministic, mechanistic, and behavioristic orientation toward student motivation. Using a system of competitive evalua- tion procedures, grades, and grade point averages, with the “carrot” being eli- gibility for select vocations and graduate schools, they follow the precepts of extrinsic reinforcement. With few exceptions, postsecondary education is a sys- tem based on the assumption that human beings will strive to learn when they are externally rewarded for learning or punished for lack of it. Those students whose socialization accommodates this extrinsic approach tend to succeed, while those students—often the culturally different—whose socialization does not accommodate it fall behind. Colleges successfully educate a dispropor- tionately low number of low-income and ethnic minority students (Wlod- kowski and Ginsberg, 1995). Because the importance of grades and grade point averages increases as a student advances in college, it is legitimate to question whether extrinsic motivation systems are effective for significant num- bers of students across cultures.

10 MOTIVATION FROM WITHIN

Although there has been debate among psychologists about the merits of extrinsic reward systems (Cameron and Pierce, 1996), the general principles of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Psychology in Edu- cation (Lambert and McCombs, 1998) clearly support an intrinsic motivation system for learning among all students. The goal of the research was to deter- mine how psychological knowledge synthesized from studies throughout the twentieth century could contribute directly to improvement in student achievement and the design of educational systems. Lambert and McCombs (1998) concluded that it is part of human nature to be curious, to be active, to initiate thought and behavior, to make meaning from experience, and to be effective at what we value. These primary sources of motivation reside in all of us, across all cultures. When students can see that what they are learning is important, their motivation emerges.

In learning, intrinsic motivation occurs when the activity and milieu of learning elicit motivation in the student. In extrinsic motivation systems, teach- ers are perceived to motivate students through the engineering of rewards and punishments. In intrinsic systems, teachers and students create opportunities, experiences, or environments that are likely to evoke motivation. This differ- ence in the perceived source of motivation is extremely important for reasons of respect and social equity. The prevailing question in an extrinsic system of motivation is, How do I motivate them? This question might imply that less motivated students are somehow dependent, less capable of self-motivation, and in need of help from a more powerful other. At minimum, it suggests that motivation can somehow be imposed on others. Such a view is likely to heighten a teacher’s perception of reluctant students as motivationally dys- functional, to increase the tendency not to trust the perspectives of those stu- dents, and to avoid student-centered approaches to teaching and learning. In an intrinsic system of motivation it is essential to rely on the student’s per- spective and to hear the student’s voice. This reciprocity between the teacher and the student helps us as teachers to realize the importance of cultural rele- vance in instruction. It also helps us to be aware that the responsibility for learner motivation lies not only within the student but also within the institu- tion and within the structure of our courses.

The Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching

To promote equitable learning opportunities for all students, a holistic, cul- turally responsive pedagogy based on intrinsic motivation is needed. The Moti- vational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching (Wlodkowski and Ginsberg, 1995) is respectful of different cultures and is capable of creating a common culture within a learning situation that all students can accept. It dynamically combines the essential motivational conditions that are intrinsi- cally motivating for diverse students (see Figure 1.1). Motivational strategies from an individualistic or socio-constructivist perspective can be assigned and

11MOTIVATION AND DIVERSITY

understood according to the condition to which they most obviously con- tribute. Each of these major conditions is research-based across a number of disciplines (Wlodkowski, 1998).

The Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching system- ically represents four intersecting motivational conditions that teachers and students can create or enhance:

Establishing inclusion: Creating a learning atmosphere in which students and teachers feel respected and connected to one another

Developing attitude: Creating a favorable disposition toward the learning expe- rience through personal relevance and choice

Enhancing meaning: Creating challenging, thoughtful learning experiences that include students’ perspectives and values

Engendering competence: Creating an understanding that students are effective in learning something they value

Figure 1.1. A Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching

DevelopingAttitude

EngenderingCompetence

Es ta

bl is

hi ng

In cl

us io

n

En ha

nc in

g M

ea ni

ng

Learner’s Experience

at the Moment

Tim e

Source: Wlodkowski and Ginsberg, 1995, p. 29. Used by permission of Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers.

12 MOTIVATION FROM WITHIN

As discussed earlier, researchers increasingly view cognition as a social activity that integrates the mind, the body, the process of the activity, and the ingredients of the setting in a complex interactive manner (Lave, 1988). The conventional psychological model of perceiving, thinking, and acting is a lin- ear process that may occur far less often than previous theorists have imag- ined. Because the four motivational conditions work in concert and exert their influence on student learning in the moment as well as over time, the teacher is wise to plan how to establish and coordinate these conditions where pos- sible.

Motivational planning should be integrated with instructional planning (Wlodkowski, 1998). This will help to avoid a serious pitfall common in teach- ing: blaming the students for being unresponsive to instruction. With no moti- vational plan, especially with students who are culturally different from ourselves, we are more likely to place responsibility for this lack of respon- siveness on the students. It is difficult for us to be openly self-critical. Defense mechanisms such as rationalization and projection act to protect our egos. Motivational planning helps us to keep our attention on the learning climate, on how we instruct, and on what we can do about that instruction when it is not as vital as we would like it to be. This diminishes our tendency to blame, which is a common reaction to problems that seem unsolvable.

Applying the Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching

Let us take a look at the Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching in terms of the teaching and learning process. Because most instruc- tional plans have specific learning objectives, they tend to be linear and pre- scriptive: teachers sequence learning events over time and predetermine the order in which concepts and skills will be taught and when they will be prac- ticed and applied. Although human motivation does not always follow an orderly path, we can plan ways to evoke it throughout a learning sequence. In fact, due to motivation’s emotional base and natural instability, it is judicious, especially when facing a time-limited learning period, to painstakingly plan the milieu and learning activities to enhance student motivation. For projects, self-directed learning, and situational learning, as in the case of problem pos- ing, we may not be so bound to a formal plan.

The most basic way to begin is for the teacher to take the four motiva- tional conditions from the framework and transpose them into questions to use as guidelines for selecting motivational strategies (Wlodkowski, 1998) and related learning activities to include in the design of the instructional plan. For example,

Establishing inclusion: How do we create or affirm a learning atmosphere in which we feel respected by and connected to one another? (best to plan for the beginning of the lesson)

13MOTIVATION AND DIVERSITY

Developing attitude: How do we create or affirm a favorable disposition toward learning through personal relevance and choice? (best to plan for the begin- ning of the lesson)

Enhancing meaning: How do we create engaging and challenging learning expe- riences that include students’ perspectives and values? (best to plan through- out the lesson)

Engendering competence: How do we create or affirm an understanding that stu- dents have effectively learned something they value and perceive as authen- tic to their real world? (best to plan for the end of the lesson)

Let us look at an actual episode of teaching in which a teacher uses the motivational framework and these questions to compose an instructional plan. In this example the teacher is conducting the first two-hour session of an intro- ductory course in research. There are twenty students ranging in age from nineteen to fifty-five. Some hold full-time jobs. Most are women. Most are first- generation college students. A few are students of color. The instructor knows from previous experience that many of these students view research as abstract, irrelevant, and oppressive learning. Her instructional objective is as follows: Students will devise an in-class investigation and develop their own positive per- spectives toward active research. Using the motivational conditions and their related questions, the instructor creates the sequence of learning activities found in Table 1.1.

The narrative for this teaching episode goes like this: The teacher explains that much research is conducted on a collaborative basis. The course will model this approach as well. For a beginning activity she randomly assigns learners to small groups and encourages them to discuss any previous experi- ences they may have had doing research and their expectations and concerns for the course (strategy: collaborative learning). Each group then shares its experiences, expectations, and concerns as the teacher records them on the overhead projector. In this manner she is able to understand her students’ per- spectives and increase their connection to one another and herself (motiva- tional condition: establishing inclusion).

The teacher explains that most people are researchers much of the time. She asks the students what they would like to research among themselves (strategy: relevant learning goal). After a lively discussion, the class decides to investigate and predict the amount of sleep some members of the class had the previous night. This strategy engages student choice, increases the relevance of the activity, and contributes to a favorable disposition emerging in the course (motivational condition: developing attitude). The students are learning in a way that includes their experiences and perspectives.

Five students volunteer to serve as subjects and the other students form research teams. Each team develops a set of observations and a set of questions to ask the volunteers, but no one may ask them how many hours of sleep they had the night before. After they ask their questions, the teams rank the five vol- unteers from the most to the least amount of sleep (strategy: critical questioning

14 MOTIVATION FROM WITHIN

and predicting). When the volunteers reveal the amount of time they slept, the students discover that no research team was correct in ranking more than three volunteers. The students discuss why this outcome may have occurred and con- sider questions that might have increased their accuracy, such as, “How much coffee did you drink before you came to class?” The questioning, testing of ideas, and predicting heighten the engagement, challenge, and complexity of this learn- ing for the students (motivational condition: enhancing meaning).

After the discussion, the teacher asks the students to write a series of state- ments about what this activity has taught them about research (strategy: self- assessment). Students then break into small groups to exchange their insights. Their comments include statements such as, “Research is more a method than an answer” and “Thus far I enjoy research more than I thought I would.” Self- assessment helps the students to extract from this experience a new under- standing that they value (motivational condition: engendering competence).

This snapshot of teaching illustrates how the four motivational conditions constantly influence and interact with one another. Without establishing inclu- sion (small groups to discuss concerns and experiences) and developing atti- tude (student choosing a relevant research goal), the enhancement of meaning (research teams devising questions and predictions) may not have occurred

Table 1.1. An Instructional Plan Based on the Four Questions from the Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching

Motivational Condition Motivational and Question Strategy Learning Activity

Establishing inclusion: Collaborative Randomly form small groups in How do we create or affirm a learning which students exchange expe- learning atmosphere in which we riences and expectations they feel respected by and connected to have about research. List them. one another? (beginning)

Developing attitude: Relevant Ask students to choose some- How do we create or affirm a learning goals thing they want to research favorable disposition toward immediately among themselves. learning through personal rele- vance and choice? (beginning)

Enhancing meaning: Critical Form research teams to devise a How do we create engaging and questioning and set of questions to ask in order challenging learning experiences predicting to make predictions. Record that include students’ perspectives questions and predictions. and values? (throughout)

Engendering competence: Self-assessment After the predictions have been How do we create or affirm an verified, ask students to create understanding that students have their own statements about effectively learned something they what they learned about value and perceive as authentic to research from this process. their real world? (ending)

15MOTIVATION AND DIVERSITY

with ease and energy, and the self-assessment to engender competence (what students learned, from their perspective) may have had a dismal outcome. Overall the total learning experience encourages equitable participation, pro- vides the beginning of an inclusive history for the students, and enhances their learning about research.

This class session, like all learning experiences, was systemic. It can be imagined that removing any one of the four motivational conditions would have affected the entire experience and each condition’s link to the entire course. For example, would the students’ attitudes have been as positive if the teacher had arbitrarily given them the task to research sleep among themselves? Probably not.

One of the values of the Motivational Framework for Culturally Respon- sive Teaching is that it is not only a model of motivation in action but also an organizational aid for designing instruction. By continually attending to the framework’s four motivational conditions and their related questions, the teacher can select motivational strategies from a wide array of theories and lit- erature to apply throughout a learning unit (Wlodkowski, 1998).

For using this framework, pedagogical alignment—the coordination of approaches to teaching that ensures maximum consistent effect—is critical (Wlodkowski, 1997). The more harmonious the elements of the instructional design are, the more likely it is that they will sustain intrinsic motivation. That is why one strategy alone, such as cooperative learning or self-assessment, is unlikely to evoke intrinsic motivation. It is the mutual influence of a combi- nation of strategies chosen on the basis of motivational conditions that elicits intrinsic motivation.

This framework provides a holistic design that includes a time orienta- tion, cultural perspectives, and a logical method to foster intrinsic motivation among students from the beginning to the end of an instructional unit. The purpose of the model is to respectfully evoke, support, and enhance the moti- vation to learn that all students possess by virtue of their humanity, and to make the teacher a valuable resource and vital partner in their realization of successful learning.

References

Cameron, J., and Pierce, W. D. “The Debate About Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: Protests and Accusations Do Not Alter the Results.” Review of Educational Research, 1996, 66, 39–51.

Hickey, D. T. “Motivation and Contemporary Socio-Constructivist Instructional Perspec- tives.” Educational Psychologist, 1997, 32 (3), 175–193.

Kitayama, S., and Markus, H. R. (eds.). “Emotion and Culture: Empirical Studies of Mutual Influence.” Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1994.

Lambert, N. M., and McCombs, B. L. “Introduction: Learner-Centered Schools and Class- rooms as a Direction for School Reform.” In N. M. Lambert and B. L. McCombs (eds.), How Students Learn: Reforming Schools Through Learner-Centered Education. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 1998.

Lave, J. “Cognition and Practice.” Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

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Olneck, M. R. “Immigrants and Education.” In J. A. Banks and C.A.M. Banks (eds.), Hand- book of Research on Multicultural Education. New York: Macmillan, 1995.

Paley, V. G. The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter: The Uses of Storytelling in the Classroom. Cam- bridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990.

Pintrich, P. R. (ed.). Understanding Self-Regulated Learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 63. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995.

Rogoff, B., and Chavajay, P. “What’s Become of Research on the Cultural Basis of Cognitive Development?” American Psychologist, 1995, 50, 859–877.

Salomon, G., and Perkins, D. N. “Individual and Social Aspects of Learning.” Review of Research in Education, 1998, 23, 1–24.

Sue, D. W., and Sue, D. Counseling the Culturally Different: Theory and Practice. (2nd ed.) New York: Wiley, 1990.

Wlodkowski, R. J. “Motivation with a Mission: Understanding Motivation and Culture in Workshop Design.” In J. A. Fleming (ed.), New Perspectives on Designing and Implement- ing Effective Workshops. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, no. 76. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997.

Wlodkowski, R. J. Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn: A Comprehensive Guide for Teaching All Adults. (Rev. ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998.

Wlodkowski, R. J., and Ginsberg, M. E. Diversity and Motivation: Culturally Responsive Teach- ing. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1995.

RAYMOND J. WLODKOWSKI is research professor at the School for Professional Stud- ies at Regis University, Denver, Colorado.

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