This research review aims to examine the impacts rewards have on the students' urge in education especially in their long-term memory. Students who are extrinsically motivated to study tend to be superficial in their studies especially by choosing tasks which are exemplary simple and spend little time on them. Rewards in education tend to have a negative impact on the learners internal motivation leading to increased limitations in the learning process, which results to slow acquisition of knowledge and skills. Therefore, intrinsic motivation tends to be the best mode of motivation hence; the research review will identify a variety of strategies that promote it. Learners’ motivation affects every aspect of their learning ranging from attendance, their school performance and the extra-curriculum activities. Therefore, emphasis on student motivation is important to all teachers to improve the academic performance and increase responsibility and accountability among learners.
Introduction
Motivation is a term that refers to factors that activate behavior. Many human behaviors are triggered by physiological or environmental factors. Abeysekera " Dawson, (2015), define motivation as the process of initiating and maintaining a behavior towards achieving a certain goal. Motives give ideas about the possible outcomes of a certain behavior. There are two types of motivation, the intrinsic, which is majorly concerns with the individual instincts towards achievements and the extrinsic motivation, which comes from the external factors. Students’ achievements are majorly attributed to motivation and rewards (Buckley " Doyle, 2016, p.1164). Intrinsically motivated learners are risk takers and perform well in their tests. Rewards in learning deprive the learner the control over their learning process hence they tend to complete the tasks fast than when the rewards are not awarded.
Motivation among learners tends to affect all their activities in school ranging from their participation in class work, attendance, and involvement in the extra-curriculum activities. In attempts to involve all learners, the teachers are getting more concerned with rewarding every achievement of the learner. However, these rewards may not motivate all the learners especially those that repeatedly fail to get the reward, which results, to building barriers to protect themselves from the schoolwork (Abeysekera " Dawson, 2015, p.4). The students’ interests should be at the center of the learning process with minimal emphasis on the reward.
Teachers should intrinsically motivate their learners by putting the students’ interests at the center of the learning process. Learners should feel that the classroom activities depend on them, which makes them ready and willing to take more risks hence increasing their achievements. According to Donaldson, Dollwet " Rao, (2015), learners in control of the learning process tend to have a higher self-esteem in comparison to other learners. Learners need to know that they are the main decision-makers in the learning process and the content they are learning.
Teachers need training on how to make the learners intrinsically motivated. Learners need to be propelled by their achievements from the activities they are involved in and barely relying on the external rewards. Teachers ought to feel in control of wherever they teach in class, and the process of delivering it to the best needs of the learners. According to Gage, Grasley-Boy " MacSuga-Gage, (2018), teachers’ freedom to decide on what to teach and how to teach are not explained in the curriculum but it comes from their own creativity. Therefore, it is important to rely on the best methods that give the best results especially to enhance students’ memory and achievements.
Intrinsically motivated learners have characteristics, which differ from the extrinsically motivated learners. The external motivators are grades, free lunches and free time. Students may work not in their free will but because they are interested in achieving a reward at the end of the learning event. Harwood, Keegan, Smith " Raine (2015), point out the characteristics of an intrinsically motivated learner as self-directed, risk takers and they are interested in completing the activity. Therefore, from the discussed characteristics it is clear that the intrinsically motivated learner is likely to learn a lot at the end of the learning process leaving behind the extrinsically motivated learner who may quit on the way because of lack of motivation when the reward is not available.
Extrinsic motivation tends to take away the important aspect of a school, which is students’ creativity and learning. Some awards may discourage a learner making them draw away from the school hence affecting their learning process. According to Hanus " Fox, (2015), learners chose tasks which are simpler to complete faster and pass so as to receive rewards. Hence, rewarding tends to change the real meaning of schooling leading to less creativity and withdrawal from the schoolwork.
Rewards have the tendency of affecting the quality of the learning. Some factors affected by rewarding are the acquisition of skills especially if the learners majorly rely on rewards for them to perform any type of activity. The time when the reward is offered to the learners also affects their attitude towards learning (Hanus " Fox, 2015, p.154). Learners without the idea of receiving a reward, exercise all their power to achieving the best results in the learning process while rewarding mainly makes the learners lazy and fixated to the main achievement of the ideal present. Rewarding also affects the amount of time spent on the learning activities. Therefore, rewarding tends to make the learners lazy and narrow-minded.
Learners need an understanding of the importance of becoming intrinsically motivated to become long-time scholars not relying on rewards. They ought to become main decision-makers in their lives without supervision by teachers and following the set deadlines. The inner motive of venturing into an activity ensures that a learner keeps working on their tasks to completion without any problems. Intrinsic motivation also motivates the type of activities the learner engages in. It well explained by Ritz, Brewer " Neumann, (2016), that the intrinsically motivated learners engage in the more challenging works, which they engage in, to the end without losing hope while the same case is not said to the demotivated learners.
Theory governing extrinsic motivation
The theory by B.F Skinner of operant conditioning has really influenced the use of rewards in the classroom. The theory is founded on the idea that if a present is awarded at the end of a certain behavior then the chances of repeating the same behavior are increased. Teachers have adopted this theory by offering gifts such as praises, free lunches whenever a student performs a certain activity in the classroom (Korpershoek et al, 2016, p.647). Rewards though important in the learning process have an adverse effect in the learning process. Learners with the aim of receiving an external reward after an activity have the highest chance of not spending enough time to study the tasks hence ending up forgetting all the learning materials (Scort " Burt 2018). However, the above theory is important and applicable in many cases especially while dealing with learners with disabilities.
Ways of developing intrinsic motivation among learners
Learners should be given the opportunity to feel that they are in full control of the learning processes. Controlling their process of learning improves their attitude towards education by making them feel their full worth in the learning settings. Teachers ought to take care of their learners needs especially through ensuring they feel the autonomy of the classroom environment. According to Ritz, Brewer " Neumann (2016), how the learner perceives the learning environment is important because the main objective of any learning process is to meet the needs of the learners.
Learners ought to be involved in the decision-making processes in a classroom setting. For example, a learner with the chance to choose the materials to work with performs very well (Korpershoek et al, 2018, p. 649). Choices involve the learners’ fully involvement through evaluations and monitoring to find the best choices for their required projects. Hence, from those identified advantages, giving a learner an opportunity to choose makes them fully involved in a certain activity without forgetting the main objective of the learner of fully involving them for better development.
Learners need to understand the meaning of intrinsic motivation and its difference with extrinsic motivation. Knowledge of intrinsic motivation ensures that they get the real idea of learning which is for their own achievements. Intrinsically motivated learners aim at getting the best out of them as they find pleasure in engaging in learning activities (Harwood, Keegan Smith " Raine, 2015, p.12). Nevertheless, setting realistic goals and having the self-concept makes learners achieve the best from the learning activities.
Teachers ought to understand the uniqueness in all learners hence protecting them from discouragement. Teachers play a great role in the way the students achieve their goals. Teachers should avoid discouraging the learners especially by allowing them to be in control of the learning process, listen to their complaints without discouraging them. Students can have opportunities to decide on some materials especially the type of books to read especially to get extra knowledge on the materials already taught. Therefore, teachers should understand the role they play in the learners’ motivation.
Criticisms of intrinsic motivation as the main cause of achievements in learners
The highly motivated learners are likely to participate in all activities without expecting any external reward. However, a less motivated learner requires an external reward to act accordingly or else they are likely to withdraw from all the activities they engage in. In the learning process, the mind may not be the only requirement instead motivation of an individual plays an important part in achieving the educational goals (Harwood et al, 2015, p.13). Motivation initiates activities, determines choices and lack of it may lead to failures. Hence, the need to give rewards especially where the learners are not intrinsically motivated. Extrinsic motivation is among the best methods of improving the motivation and the drive of learning among the learning-disabled learners. The rewards among these learners tend to improve their learning process although not very effective especially in the real world. These types of rewards are very important to make these learners started and ready to work to achieve their goals in education. Therefore, intrinsic motivation may not work well in such cases among these types of learners hence the need to provide them with rewards that guarantee motivation to start any activity.
Teachers who are required to increase the intrinsic motivation among learners may not necessarily understand the meaning of it. Hanus " Fox, (2015), explains that teachers require undergoing training on motivation and its importance in the learning process. Teachers as agents of motivations should also ensure they are motivated to teach for best results. Therefore, the motivation among learners does not entirely rely on whether it external or internal but it is affected by other factors such as the teachers and the availability of learning materials to achieve the best results in learning. Therefore, learners’ achievements do not rely on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among learners but there also other factors although research may not explain it.
The learning methods to be adopted to achieve the best results in instilling intrinsic motivation among learners discourage teacher monitoring and setting deadlines. In an extent, minimal monitoring to the unmotivated learners creates a room to become less engaged in the learning activities hence affecting their overall achievements (Gage, Scott, Him " Macsuga- Gage, 2018, p.265). Nevertheless, this may make the teachers less concerned with the learners with the idea that intrinsic motivation will guide the learners on their own. Therefore, it is clear that the lazy teachers can easily manipulate the above research.
Strengths of the research
The above research is important in the learning institution especially if utilized in a better way. Intrinsic motivation is important in the learning environment especially because it affects all the aspects of learning ranging from arriving at school, engaging in extra-curriculum and in any classroom activities. Donaldson et al, (2015), emphasizes that if the external rewards are utilized well they also bring forth good results depending on the time they are given. Therefore, it is important to engage the external rewards in a school setting without solely relying on them.
Intrinsic motivation plays an important role in improving learners’ achievements. Intrinsically motivated learners are self-directed, risk-takers and engage in tasks for long hours. Learners who are extrinsically motivated have the tendency to choose simple tasks and spend little time doing tasks (Gege et al, 2018, p.270). Teachers have a role to play in instilling intrinsic motivation in learners. They also need important training on the best teaching methods that encourage autonomy among learners. Teachers can allow the learners to make important choices as a way of encouraging.
The research also shows the importance of extrinsic motivation among the learning disabled learners who find doing the simplest tasks hard. After the above research other questions which need addressing could be to what extent do the learning disabled learners need external rewards. How much needs to be considered by teachers in classrooms to avoid demotivating learners but ensuring they meet the main objectives of learning.
Conclusion
The study aimed at understanding the role of awards among learners’ achievements. It also discusses the importance of intrinsic motivation among learners and how autonomy can be achieved in learners. Teachers role in developing intrinsic motivation among learners is explained and how to be sustained. Extrinsic motivation is identified as being important in motivating the learning impaired students and it boosts their skills. However, through the evaluation of research extrinsic motivation is noted to have a negative effect among learners by reducing their creativity, minimizing their risk-taking chances and reducing the amount of time utilized in working on tasks.
References
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