A study on students' academic motivation

Academic motivation is one of the most pivotal problems of educational psychology. It is not surprising that this problem has long been occupied by the minds of academics, which is proved by a recordable number of publications both of Russian and foreign authors. The study of the structure of professionally oriented motivation of students of pedagogical faculties will allow us to solve the problem of increasing the effectiveness of academic activity through training and professional career development.

While studying the problem of students’ low motivation as well as the ways of its stimulation, the Finnish researchers concluded that one of the main motivators for students is their interest in learning. Therefore, a university teacher should make his or her subject more exciting. Apart from that, students’ motivation as a system of incentives in different types of their activities should be oriented toward the main goals of the system of modern education [2].

The Pakistan researchers proved that without motivation learning is impossible, therefore, educators need to continuously motivate their students to achieve the educational goals [1]. Many factors affect the students’ motivation, which increases the speed of their work and efficiently improves the process of learning. Australian psychologists investigated the factors that can facilitate or hinder the educational process of the 11th grade students. In the course of the study, they concluded that, despite the fact that the students were positive about the classes and described themselves as highly motivated to learn, two interrelated factors influenced the level of students’ cognitive involvement: teacher’s control over all learning activities and students’ interest in the learning process [3].

The current study

The subjects of the current study are 78 students at the Faculty of Pedagogy, Psychology and Communicative Studies (Kuban State University, Russia) aged from 18 to 21 years old. We applied a 16 –item questionnaire “The Motives of Students' Academic Performance” (Rean, Yakunin, 1994) [4] to identify the hierarchy of the motives of both educational and professional activities of students majoring in psychology (Table 1). The respondents were asked to choose the five motives, which they regard as most significant for their academic performance.

Table 1. “The Motives of Students' Academic Performance”

Results

Through the analysis of the results of the survey, we identified the motives vital for the students of Kuban State University majoring in psychology. Thus, 81.2% of the respondents consider the motive ‘to be a highly qualified specialist’ as the leading one. It is noteworthy that 59% of the subjects report that it is essential for them ‘to be successful in their future professional activities’. Furthermore, a degree/ diploma motivates 57.7% of the interviewees. The main motive for 41% of the respondents is ‘to successfully continue their education in subsequent courses’. The motive of ‘acquiring deep knowledge’ was highlighted by 38.5% of the subjects.

Nevertheless, the least significant motives for students’ learning are ‘to keep up with the study of subjects’ (23.1%) and ‘to be ready for the next classes’ (20.5%), followed by the motive ‘to fulfill the educational requirements’ (15.4%). However, the least popular motive among the interviewees is the desire ‘to be an example for fellow students’ (11.5%).

Conclusions

The motivation for academic performance consists of students' assessment of various aspects of the educational process, its content, forms as well as the students’ individual needs, which coincide with the goals of education. Thus, the academic motivation of students majoring in psychology includes the internal motives of educational and professional activities, which are related to students' interest in learning, the desire for self-development, and the development of positive personal qualities. The students’ external motives are explained by the fact that educational activities are carried out by the call of duty, the desire to get a good mark or obtain a special status among peers.