Extrinsic+Motivation

Motivation is the driving force that helps individuals achieve or reach a specific goal. Extrinsic motivation is those driving forces which come from external factors or outside the individual. Such external forces/ factors may include things such as rewards or praise and are quite popular for use by parents and teachers in order to stimulate an individual’s learning. According to Krause, ‘Students who are extrinsically motivated use the task as a means to get something they want, such as praise or rewards, or as a means of avoiding something unpleasant, such as punishment and loss of privileges’ (Krause et al, 2010, page 263). Extrinsic motivation, over time, has become one of the most popular and commonly used practices, with students of all ages, by teachers. It is used in order to encourage students to: This type of extrinsic motivation used by teachers is often enforced through extrinsic forces such as:
 * Extrinsic Motivation in the classroom **
 * Work to the best of their ability
 * Behave in an appropriate manner at all times (behaviour management strategy)
 * Complete a task in a given amount of time, etc
 * Praise
 * Rewards
 * Privileges
 * Avoidance of punishment
 * Avoidance of loss of privileges, etc

As a teacher, I believe it is important to limit the amount of extrinsic motivation used, as it is also extremely important for students to have intrinsic motivation towards/ for school work and activities. The extrinsic motivation method is very useful when students do also have intrinsic motivation, (which is important for teachers to encourage and teach), and also for use with students with disabilities, learning difficulties or behavioural problems. A good example for the use of extrinsic motivation is, in a mainstream classroom, with a child with ADHD. Students with many disabilities, including ADHD, quite often have trouble keeping focused and need extrinsic motivators to encourage progress and learning. Something as simple as a reward or sticker chart could be a very useful tactic that keeps the student on task and focussed. Keeping a record book of the student’s behaviour and praising and rewarding the child with a sticker following good work gives confidence to such children and helps to encourage good work and positive attitudes. Once the student receives a certain amount of stickers, the child may be rewarded with a prize. In order to continue encouraging the student and their learning, the reward should be something of interest to the child and something educational or useful. Krause, K., Bochner, S., Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. (2010). //Educational psychology for learning and teaching,// (3rd ed.). Australia: Cengage Learning.
 * Reference**