Foreign Literature

Woolfolk (2004), defined motivation as an internal state that arouses, directs and

maintains behavior. It can be explained in terms of personal traits or individual

characteristics or as a state, a temporary situation.

Alderman (2004), emphasizes the role of cognition and self in motivation and

recognizes the importance of the social nature of motivation in school and environment.

Alderman (2004), cited in Pintrich (2000), that like intrinsic and extrinsic

motivation, students can and often do pursue learning and performance goals at the

same time.

Motivation is an academic engagement that is “cognitive, emotional, and

behavioral indicators of student investment in and attachment to education (Tucker,

Zayco, and Herman, 2002).”

The different types of motivation have been argued to fall along a motivational

continuum that reflects the degree of self-determined behavior, ranging from extrinsic to

intrinsic (Deci and Ryan, 2000).

However, this notion of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as two ends of a

continuum has been challenged. An alternative explanation is that just as motivation

can include both trait and state factors, it can also include both intrinsic and extrinsic

factors. Intrinsic and extrinsic tendencies are two independent possibilities and at any

given time students can be motivated by some of each (Covington and Mueller, 2001).

Intrinsically motivated students are more likely to be voluntarily persistent and

learners with more intrinsic interest display lower levels of boredom, demonstrate more
active involvement in tasks and more task persistence (Ushioda and Miserandino,

1996).

Extrinsic motivation is the willingness to learn because of the effect of rewards or

punishment. While extrinsic motivation occurs when learners engage in activity for the

purpose of attaining rewards (Alderman, 1999).”

Engaging in behavior to avoid punishment can also be regarded as extrinsic

motivation (Areola, 2010).

Bull (2000) also stated that there are always conflicts between internal and

external motivators; students are being manipulated externally to do one thing and

internally to do another. In these conflicts, the strongest motivator attracts and

manipulates the behavior. An extrinsically motivated learner study hard to acquire

tangible rewards, while intrinsically motivated learners’ study because they view

learning as worthwhile experience accompanied with personal standard excellence.

According to Sherwood (2002), in an article entitled “Motivation and Rewards,”

neuroscientists have recently discovered that the human brain actually produces

chemicals called Opiates. This chemical regulates stress and pain as well as produces

positive feelings that act as reward. This system, which is based in the brain’s center or

hypothalamus, is known as the hypothalamic reward system. This is an internal reward

system, which varies from one child to another. As a result, according to Sherwood,

“you can never create an external system of rewards that is fair to every child because

different children interpret such rewards differently.”

Three field experiments done by Sheldon, et. al (2003), with the self- theory

tested on both high school and college students, rendered that intrinsic (vs. extrinsic)
goals, and autonomy-supportive (vs. controlling) learning would improve student’s

learning, performance, and persistence.

It is obvious that students who are not motivated to succeed will not work hard. In

fact, several researchers have suggested that only motivation directly affects academic

achievement; all other factors affect achievement only through their effect on motivation

(Tucker et al., 2002).

Bandura’s (1993), learning theory has particular relevance to motivation. He

believes that people motivate themselves and guide their actions by planning ahead

Teachers should therefore help students to set realistic goals and guide their actions by

planning ahead.

Timmins (1999), cited in Stranges (1999), said that, “After a reward system is

removed, students fall back into their old work patterns”. This guidance counselor

observed that rewards seem to have a short-term effect until the reward goes away.

She finally emphasized that highly motivated students are not affected by reward

systems, for students who are already gifted or motivated, it does not really matter if the

reward is true or not.

Littlejohn (2001), stated in an article that reward system could itself be

demotivating for weaker students. He explained that failing students, who are unlikely to

get rewards, do not take long to work out since they believe it is someone else who will

get the reward – no matter how hard he or she works. The reward system may

demotivate of weaker students on the other hand decreases. Thus, he concluded that

by utilizing the “Reward System” approach, the gap between the weaker students and

the stronger students would get wider and wider overtime.

Stranges (1999), cited several instances where people were not affected by reward

systems. He mentioned the case of a student whose parents offered a large monetary

sum as reward for every good grade. The reward goes as high as $400 for every

grading period, yet, the student continued getting bad grades.

According to Akubuiro (2004), teacher is oftentimes blamed for the poor

performance of the learner. However, explanation for this low performance is offered

when it comes to the child’s cognitive or intellectual ability. Little attention was focused

on the fact that the child’s conception of himself/herself in Mathematics may influence

his/her achievement in the subject or the possibility that a child’s attitude towards a

subject may also affect his/her performance in that subject.

In the article, “Classroom Rewards Reap Dividends for Teachers and Students”

by (Scholl, 2003), she commented that although intrinsic motivation of the students is

more reliable as encouragement to come to school, do their homework and focus on

their classroom activities, supplementing their interval drive to succeed with external

rewards or external motivation may even yield a better result. She observed that

rewards may boost students’ scholastic achievement and help them develop acceptable

classroom behavior.

Local Literature

Abrugar (2001) as cited in Ceballo (2006), stated that motivation plays a

significant role in learning helping students to better achieve particularly in learning

English. She also said that motivation does not only involve teachers but by other
factors as well, such as intrinsically (within the individual) and extrinsically (from the

environment of the individual).

Acero (2000), explained that the primary task of the teacher is to motivate and

guide the learners to accomplish their learning activities. This involves looking for ways

by which students may develop interest and desire to learn and plan interesting

activities to achieve the objective using appropriate strategies.

The opinion of Bustos and Espiritu opinion (1996), is also parallel to other

authors emphasizing that motivation is a process arousing in the individuals attention

and interest. They furthered that the teacher should take into account the dynamic

nature of the learner, past experiences, total environment and his manifold needs,

wants, and every individual differences.

Arenas (2004), stated that the principle of cause- effect is apparent in the study

of motivation and behavior. Motivation is the cause and behavior is the effect. Thus, it is

motivation that gives direction and thrust to one’s behavior. Without motivation, behavior

may not occur.

Foreign Studies

Pintrich and Schunk (2002), described motivation as a process whereby

goaldirected activity is instigated and sustained. They also stated that motivation is

engaging in an activity for its own sake. They described intrinsically motivated people as

those who work on tasks because they find it enjoyable. For instance, students will not

engage in an activity unless they have reasonable expectations of success and how

they come to value the activity in some way (Eccles, 2002).

inconsistent, thus, asserting that one reason may be methodological differences in the

dependent variable of past studies. When the dependent variable is behavior during a

free-time session, the rewards undermine intrinsic motivation, however, when the

dependent variable is measured as task performance, rewards often served to increase

performance.

According to Hansen (2000), a student’s performance depends on different socio

economic, psychological, and/or environmental factors. The findings of research studies

proved that a student’s performance is affected by different factors such as learning

abilities where new paradigm about learning assumes that all students can and should

learn at higher levels but it should not be considered as constraint because there are

other factors like race, gender, sex that can affect student’s performance.

Goldman (2001), explained the effects of age, qualification, and distance from

learning place and other factors on students’ performance. The performance of students

may not be directly affected by aforementioned but may be associated with qualification

in quantitative subjects. It was also discovered that those who live near the university

perform well than the who did not. It was observed that students who live at close

proximity to their school were able to come to school early were able to study more than

other students whose travel time consume their time for learning opportunities.

Zimmerman (2001), discovered in his study that the results were somewhat

contradictory to Sacerdote’s results it reinforced belief that students’ performance

depends upon different factors. It says that weak peer might reduce the grades of

middling or strong students.

discovered that sometimes, a student may be fascinated in a subject and will be eager

to learn more without outside influence or help. This kind of situation happens when the

child is greatly motivated intrinsically. It is when a student enjoys an aspect of an activity

enough to be motivated within. An intrinsic incentive could arise in any subject of

interest such as dinosaurs, famous people, or far off places. Realistically, topics that are

learned in schools today do not arouse children since they find the information useless

in their everyday lives.

Local Studies

Ceballo (2006), cited Maningas (2004), who conducted a study on the

relationship between goal orientation and self-efficacy to academic performance of

selected college freshmen the study discovered that a great minority of the respondents

used the learning goal orientation. As such, they took difficult task and sought challenge

and exerted effort to learn something new. However, they were found to have low level

of anticipation in mastering tasks. Several respondents using the performance goal

orientation were found to be ego-involved in achieving their goal toward self-enhancing

ego orientation. They were also ambivalent towards their own capacities. Their

overriding motivation is to learn of master a task and not merely to earn grades. Such

sets the most favorable condition for the teachers and students. The cited study is

related to the present study since selfefficacy and goal settings are factors that motivate

the students to learn, thus, improving their academic performance.

mathematics to the achievement of the students. This study aimed to find out the

correlation between the motivation and the achievement of the students in Mathematics.

The study’s result was that motivation was highly correlated in achievement of the

students.

Ceballo (2006), stated in her study that a teacher must be able to keep students

motivated and try to prevent boredom, apathy, and non-cooperation recognizing

students who are properly motivated will fully accomplish their works in the classroom.

In turn, they will also understand why they need to learn, and see how learning is fun.

The effects of motivation will increase their attitude towards learning, allowing them not

only to learn various skills and areas that interest them while exploring areas that do not

interest them. She also stated in her study that motivation moves students to participate

in a given learning activity while inner forces drive them to reach the maximum level of

their performance. The students’ own desire energizes behavior toward the

achievement of his/her goals. Although, students are expected to show relative stability

in motivation for schoolwork, the motivation to participate in the task determines

whether students actually engaged in the task or not.

Dr. M. Maughan’s (2004), MOTIVATION EDU 395 Module 2A: Extrinsic

Motivation also stated that the basis of difference between extrinsic and intrinsic

motivation is twofold: 1) the motivation is directed from outside of the individual; and 2)

the type of reward generated by the motivation is also Ponce (2000), expressed that

academic performance reflects the productive integration of the student’s interest and

the teacher’s expertise in the teaching learning situation. It demonstrates the students
grasp of subject content which is partly measured by oral and written test. However,

such measurements do not directly access holistic individual capabilities in relation to

intelligence quotient, motivation and interest, attitude toward the subject and attitude

towards the teacher. It refers to the extent of student’s achievement in terms of

knowledge, skills and values acquired vis-avis the content, course, scope and degrees

of difficulty of the course.

Ponce (2000), expressed that academic performance reflects the productive

integration of the student’s interest and the teacher’s expertise in the teaching learning

situation. It demonstrates the students grasp of subject content which is partly

measured by oral and written test. However, such measurements do not directly access

holistic individual capabilities in relation to intelligence quotient, motivation and interest,

attitude toward the subject and attitude towards the teacher. It refers to the extent of

student’s achievement in terms of knowledge, skills and values acquired vis-Avis the

content, course, scope and degrees of difficulty of the course.

Student’s achievement which may be indicated by grades of all subjects taken

must both give an idea of one’s ability in terms of skills and theoretical knowledge.

Theoretically speaking knowledge is of equal importance with technical and vocational

knowledge which the students must possess. It is not enough that the individual should

master only manipulative skills. It is necessary that he should understand the basic

principles, theories, scientific facts, and procedures and processes involved in a

particular trade which would help him solve related problem, and discover or develop

new technology. Possessing this expert knowledge would make better-informed

technical worked capable of achieving. Scholastic performance of students; however, as

factors. One of these is the right choice of field of specialization, which is believed to

have some bearing on student performance. (Digma, 2003)

Celerian (2004) conducted a study about the reward system. It was aimed to

ascertain if a reward system could enhance the learning behavior, motivation and

performances of underachieving sophomore students in Mathematics. In carrying out

these objectives out, the research utilized the quasi- experimental design using pre-test

and post-test involving equivalent groups. The researcher chose the last sections of two

(2) barangay national high school in Iligan City as the experimental and control groups

respectively, since the said sections matched in terms of self - esteem and pre-

achievement test result. The study revealed that the employment on reward systems in

Math class could significantly influenced student motivation, reaction/ attitude of the

student toward the lesson and their participating behavior but not the performance and

execution skills of the students in problem solving/ activity.

Ceballo (2006) studied the effects of motivation on task persistence and

performance attainment of fourth year high school students in Pililla National High

School, Pililla, Rizal. Based on the finding of the study, the following conclusions were

drawn: 1.) students taught with motivational techniques showed higher level of

persistence than those who were not exposed to motivations; 2.) sex, size of the family,

parents' educational attainment and academic performance do not affect the task

persistence of the control group but the monthly income affects them. However, all

variables in the experimental group are not significant and have nothing to do with

students' task persistence; 3.) respondent exposed to motivation projected higher level
of performance attainment than respondents who were taught without motivational

inducement; and 4.) sex, size of the family, monthly family income, parents' educational

attainment and academic performance were significant in attaining performance

achievement.