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Examining different motivational patterns in individualized learning.

Stefan Kulakow¹, Diana Raufelder¹

¹Department of Educational Science, University of Greifswald, Germany.

Journal of School Psychology

|December 24, 2023

Summary

Student motivation patterns differ significantly based on learning environments. Teacher-directed learning environments show higher rates of low motivation compared to student-centered approaches, highlighting the impact of educational context.

Keywords:

Academic self-concept Individualized learning Latent transition analysis Motivational belief Task value

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Area of Science:

Educational Psychology
Motivation Theory
Learning Environments

Background:

Situated expectancy-value theory identifies diverse student motivational profiles beyond simple high/low motivation levels.
Students can exhibit varied combinations of success expectancies and task values.

Purpose of the Study:

To identify and compare motivational patterns in secondary students across Student-Centered Learning (SCL) and Teacher-Directed Learning (TDL) environments.
To analyze the stability and changes in these motivational patterns over a school year.
To investigate the predictive role of achievement choices and performance on motivational pattern shifts.

Main Methods:

A two-wave, person-oriented study involving 1153 German secondary school students (mean age 13.97 years).
Multigroup latent transition analysis was employed to identify and track motivational patterns.
Data collection occurred across different learning environments (SCL vs. TDL).

Main Results:

Four distinct motivational patterns were identified: High Motivational, Medium Motivational, Low Motivational, and Highly Confident/Hardly Interested.
Significant differences in the distribution of these patterns were observed between SCL and TDL environments.
TDL environments had approximately 47% of students in the low motivational class, double that of SCL environments.

Conclusions:

The educational context, specifically the learning environment, strongly influences student motivational patterns.
Identified motivational patterns demonstrated high stability throughout the school year.
Findings support the situated expectancy-value theory by emphasizing the context-dependent nature of student motivation.