Research on Motivation in Collaborative Learning: Moving Beyond the Cognitive–Situative Divide and Combining Individual and Social Processes

Abstract

In this article we propose that in order to advance our understanding of motivation in collaborative learning we should move beyond the cognitive–situative epistemological divide and combine individual and social processes. Our claim is that although recent research has recognized the importance of social aspects in emerging and sustained motivation in collaborative learning activities, the social is mainly conceived as a unidirectional source of influence on individual motivation. In the article we examine the significance of motivation in research on collaborative learning. We discuss two characterizations of the role of the social in conceptualizations of motivation, namely, social influence and social construction, and outline our case for moving beyond the cognitive–situative divide and combining individual and social processes in research on motivation. Finally, we present illustrations from recent research on motivation in collaborative learning that has attempted to bridge the cognitive–situative divide across theoretical perspectives or using different methods.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The preparation of this article was supported financially by the Finnish Science Academy grants no. 113576 and 110734 to the first author and the Australian Research Council Discovery grant no DP0986867 to the second author. We thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable advice on an earlier version of this article.