Motivation

Motivation, the psychological construct ‘invented’ to describe the mechanism by which individuals and groups choose particular behaviour and persist with it, has a history going back millennia in all cultures. Ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, and Indigenous cultures from all continents developed rubrics about positively motivated behavior usually under the mantle of ethical behavior and morality (see, for example, Framarin, 2009; Hsu & Wu, 2015; Pakdel, 2013; Reeve, 2015). Furthermore, the construct of motivation and how to develop positive motivation and behaviour has permeated all areas of human endeavour. Educational psychology, in particular, has a long history of studying the nature and dynamics of motivation for learning (McInerney, 2015). Much of the last 150 years of investigation was dominated by Western theorising and research. And psychologists and educators have learned an enormous amount that has informed educational practice to enhance learning. The last forty or so years has seen a move away from a Western base to theorising and research, a move which now takes culture and human variability as a central tenet for effective research. Rather than looking for regularities and universals with regard to motivation, often powerless in explaining group difference across groups and cultures, and indeed within groups and cultures, more attention is being paid to the culturally specific elements of motivation that may have more efficacy in explaining motivated behaviour in the classroom (King & McInerney, 2016; King, McInerney & Pitliya, 2018). This issue of Educational Psychology is well situated within this current zeitgeist.

Cheng (2019) examines the function of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in Taiwan and the United States. While common beliefs based on historical research in the West posit the superiority of intrinsic motivation for enhancing educational achievement, Cheng found that the dynamics of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation work quite differently in the two cultural settings. We should always ask the question why these constructs (or any others for that matter) should work the same way in quite different cultural milieus rather than, as in the past, expecting them to. Questioning the applicability of Western constructs in non-Western settings should always be paramount.

Hoffman and Kurtz-Costes (2019) examine an interesting and culturally relevant intervention to enhance the motivation of American Indian children to study science. This research is important because it not only positions an Indigenous group as the focus but utilises a novel methodology that is not constrained by Western protocols. Although the intervention did not appear successful, the robustness of the method and its short duration should be revisited in subsequent research.

Manganelli et al. (2019) tackle the relationships between self-determined motivation, self-regulated cognitive strategies and prior achievement in predicting academic performance. Italian students participated. The findings are in line with extant research, autonomous motivation and critical thinking are predictive of academic performance, while students with more controlled motivation have lower academic motivation. As exemplified in this research, the transposition of models and theories from North America and their further development from a European perspective allow us to examine the generality of findings and give an impetus for the development of new theoretical perspectives.

In a similar vein Thomas, Cunha, Americo de Souza, and Santo (2019) examine fairness, trust and school climate in growth mindset among a sample of Brazilian children. The important roles of parental and teacher influence, belief in a just society and various school contextual variables in the development of growth mindset, which are fundamental elements of the research, are tailor-made for cross-cultural testing. The Brazilian context is very relevant for such a study, as the authors state: ‘Brazil is a society of great social inequality; it has many poor and vulnerable groups, yet it is not a poor country. Compared internationally, Brazil has a medium per capita income and plenty of natural resources, yet its distribution is starkly unequal…. For this reason, Brazil is a very relevant yet understudied place to assess perceptions of justice and mindset beliefs’.

Münchow and Bannert (2019) pick up a theme that has been predominant in European research, that is, the importance of emotions in learning and motivation. Emotions research has, more recently, been impacting North America and international research (see, for example, Crocker et al., 2013). The Münchow and Bannert study focuses on positive feelings and the effectiveness of emotional design in enhancing learning. The results suggest that no superiority effect was found with the emotional design. However, it is possible that the small sample and limited design mitigated the potential positive effects. This is a promising line of research to follow-up with stronger research designs.

Using the Big Five Factor Theory of personality, Ljubin-Golub, Petričević, and Rovan (2019) examine the role of personality in motivational regulation and academic procrastination. Using a Croatian sample, the researchers examined the relations between motivational regulation strategies and procrastination at levels of personality dispositions. In research using North American constructs, as in this study, it is essential to demonstrate methodologically that the research is culturally valid and reliable. Attention is paid in the research to validating the derived questionnaires for the Croatian context. The results demonstrate the importance and usefulness of considering personality characteristics such as conscientiousness, agreeableness and environmental control in understanding academic procrastination.

Collie, Martin, Bobis, Way, and Anderson’s (2019) study utilises growth modeling to examine aspirations for, or disengagement with, mathematics learning. They gave richness to the study by acknowledging that a complex set of variables are always implicated when considering issues of motivation. In this study, expectancy-value theory, and various socio-educational attributes are included. The findings echo extant research; however, the development of interest or disengagement was impacted by motivation and educational factors. The conclusion highlights that simplistic explanations of developmental trajectories in motivation and learning are inadequate.

In summary, these seven articles present very interesting perspectives on motivation and learning across diverse settings using a range of methodologies. The studies were situated in diverse cultural settings, which is part of the current stream of investigation revisiting theories, research, findings and applications that have been too long dominated by Western protocols. While Western protocols undeniably contribute to the improvement of educational practices internationally, they may be further enhanced by significant attention being paid to differences that characterise groups, and the specific ‘local’ features of motivation and learning that must form the foundation of effective educational practices.