Exploring Novice and Experienced Teachers' Perceptions of Motivational Constructs with Adolescent Students.

Student motivation is at the forefront of educators' minds as high stakes testing continues to pressure teachers to produce passing scores. Educators are also facing rising curricular demands to ensure students have the requisite skills to be successful in the twenty-first century workforce. However, student engagement is often problematic for adolescent students in core subjects (Shernoff, Tonks, & Anderson, 2014). Many simply go through the motions, listen to their teachers passively, and put forth minimum effort (Bedient, Scolari & Kowalewski, 2003). To help counteract this tendency and bolster achievement, teachers are striving to create programs, curricula, and lesson plans that will inspire students. This is especially important at the high school level since motivation and academic interest generally decline as students progress through their K - 12 experience (Lepper, Corpus & Iyenger, 2005; McInerney & Lam, 2011).Teachers' beliefs about student motivation are generally understudied, and their perceptions of effective motivational techniques are often misaligned with what actually motivates students (Wiesman, 2012). Many high school teachers do not effectively make use of the established motivational principles (Anderman & Leake, 2005), and they would likely benefit from a greater understanding of students' motives (Bozack, 2011). Educators understand the importance of student engagement (Sparks, 2014), but unfortunately, a cursory review of in-service workshops and pre-service teacher education courses indicates a lack of focus on the topic.In order to increase academic achievement and student engagement, educators must employ effective motivational strategies. When teachers understand what truly motivates high school students, they are likely to enhance student success. Studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between various motivational constructs and academic achievement (Dishon-Berkovits, 2014; Dweck, 1986; Eccles & Wigfield, 2002). In addition, teachers' efforts and classroom design can make a difference in motivating students (Guvenc, 2015; Wigfield, Eccles, & Rodriquez, 1998), and when proper motivational strategies are used, students' attitudes and behaviors improve (Erwin, 2003).Educators should analyze their perceptions in order to ensure they are implementing motivational techniques that align with research, which in turn will positively influence engagement and academic achievement. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine teacher perceptions of student motivation at the high school level and to find out if experienced teachers have a different understanding of how to best motivate students. More specifically, research questions included the following: What are teacher perceptions regarding the effectiveness of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, goal orientation theory, and student self-efficacy? What are the differences between the beliefs of experienced and novice teachers regarding student motivation?Motivational ConstructsExtrinsic and intrinsic motivation are drive-oriented theories that look at why individuals might strive to accomplish a certain task. When students are intrinsically motivated, they take action because they have an inherent desire to accomplish a task, because the task has personal relevance to their lives, or because they want to experience stimulation, fun, and excitement (Eccles & Wigfield, 2002). Linnenbrink and Pintrinch (2002) more specifically claimed that a student's intrinsic motivation can be affected by his or her situational interest, which develops when external factors generate interest. For example, Wigfield, Guthrie, Tonks, and Perencevich (2004) studied the effects of two reading instructional programs on motivation. One incorporated investigative, cooperative, and hands-on activities, and the other did not. After surveying students in both groups, they found that students' levels of intrinsic motivation increased when teachers used the activities that promoted situational interest. …