How to boost Thai students' motivation

The research was grounded in the established principle that without motivation there will be no learning. Researchers also assumed that students have a natural interest in their environment as a precondition of learning, and that this interest can be either strengthened or suppressed by schooling.

Researchers first studied 9th graders in several different kinds of Bangkok schools. They classified their motivation as either internal and long-lasting, or external and situation-based. Researchers found that the more space teachers gave to learners, the better were the learning outcomes. The second finding was that teachers’ motivation strategies can reduce students’ desire to learn, or even make their internal motivation disappear entirely. Third, the reputation of the school had no connection with learning outcomes or motivation.

The second phase of research, from January to February this year, comprised a comparative study of 9th graders in all four regions of the country and by size of school. Learning and internal/external motivation were probed via questionnaires sent to teachers and students at randomly selected schools nationwide. Special attention was paid to three core subjects – mathematics, science and English. 

The study ignored test scores, which have a strong external motivating factor but do not correlate with long-lasting learning, and instead concentrated on the everyday learning situation. 

Motivation among students was shown to be highest in the South. This trend was evident in all schools, irrespective of their size. Furthermore, teachers in the South seemed able to assess their students’ learning progress and status in a more realistic way than elsewhere. This was strongly related to better motivation, which led in turn to better learning outcomes. Institutions in the South displayed “successful-school” characteristics, which go beyond content-based curricula and regard all students as learners.

Another main trend of the data showed that both motivation and learning were higher in small schools (fewer than 500 students), in all regions. Also, overall learning outcomes were better in small institutions, even though some big schools (1,000-plus students) in the South and North also showed good motivation and learning levels. In all these trends, the ability of teachers to assess the students’ real motivation and learning was a key factor in enhancing that motivation and learning. Students across all regions said that a caring teacher they liked was an external motivating factor that could replace the missing internal motivation. For cases in which the teacher was not liked, external learning of “some” topics did not take place. 

Liked teachers plus high levels of motivation occurred together most often in small schools. 

In medium-sized and large schools, teachers tended to lose the attention of the majority of the class as they focused on the more interested students and those sitting at the front of class. On the other hand, teachers seemed to think they could improve students’ individual motivation by giving motivational support on a mostly collective basis, for the whole class. However, feedback from students showed that classroom-level motivation was not a strong enough driving factor for even a single lesson – never mind long-term learning outcomes. Such classes showed a high dropout rate of between 10 and 20 per cent of students. It seemed that the students needed, expected and respected more individual motivational support.

To close the regional motivation gap, schools should first focus on the learning context and favour smaller class sizes. These give more space for, and attention to, each single learner and thus foster improved motivation. 

Second, we require more research on socio-regional development to discover whether there are local social factors that prevent learning or the motivation to do so. 

Third, we now need an ongoing revision of the basic education curriculum, and one that is firmly grounded in research rather than opinions without evidence. The old-fashioned content-based teaching model of “share and transfer information” appears less effective for children embedded in today’s interactive digital environment. Instead of passing on information in a one-way interaction regulated by the curriculum, teaching should be a responsive and interactive process. 

Fourth, suggestions for improvements come from students’ experiences. If a lesson was teacher-centred and there were 30-40 students, there was less than 30 seconds time spent on each student. In such circumstances it should come as no surprise if students lose situation-based interest and hence emerge without learning outcomes. 

Finally, the meaningfulness of schooling also matters. If students (who aren’t stupid) become convinced early on that the information given in lessons has no relevance for their lives, there will be no learning of practical skills. Here, teaching methods are a significant factor. Switching the mainstream teacher-centred lesson model to a student-centred learning event would deliver a giant leap for country’s education performance. This could be via effective, research-based training for both trainee and working teachers.

 

Visiting professor Jyrki Loima co-planned, conducted and supervised the motivation and learning research project in the Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, with Drs Vibulphol, Nenthien and Kaewdee.