Approaches to assessment of the level and quality of students' motivation for learning

Abstract

One of the more significant aims of researchers in education is to establish the most effective methods of assessment of students' motivation for learning. As the number of studies on motivation is extremely large, there is also a wide variety of methods and techniques for assessing it. Selfreporting methods are most commonly used, they differ in their theoretical underpinnings, and are used to measure different components of motivation (goals set, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, attributions, aspirations, etc.). Observation is the method most frequently employed within the behaviorist approach to the assessment of motivation for learning. Proponents of the neuropsychological approach maintain that behavior is determined by complex interactions between biological, cognitive and psychological systems, and their research seeks to establish differences in neural activity linked to motivational processes. Within the phenomenological approach a flexible, holistic methodology for studying motivation is being developed, with an emphasis on the subjective experiences of individuals, on meanings and on the perception of their motivational states. The paper analyzes the characteristics, advantages and limitations of the above-mentioned approaches.

Keywords

• motivation for learning
• motivation assessment
• assessment methods
• measurement techniques