Motivation Is more Powerful than Interest in Learning English

Cheng+Songmei

【Abstract】Many people say interest is the teacher in learning. In fact， interest is a very important factor in doing things. If one has interest in something， he/she will has the feeling that he/she wants to know or learn more about it. In other words， interest is related to ones preference. Therefore， in teaching practice， teachers usually stress the importance of arousing students interest because students with interest will feel curious and know how to satisfy their curiosity and will attain objectives of their curiosity. On the contrary， motivation is the inner desire and drive to achieve something， which is related to the personal goals. Therefore， motivation can sustain throughout the whole process of learning activities. Interest and motivation are both worth putting into use in teaching， but I think motivation is more powerful than interest.

【Key words】interest； motivation； relation； learning performance instiagate motivation

Interest wont last long

Since interest is a persons preference， one will get bored if he/she does one thing over and over again. I once met with such a student—a clever boy， who was addicted to playing computers so much that he had nothing in mind but playing video games. Many a time， I found him not in the dormitory at night when I went to check the number of students. His father often caught him playing video games in the Internet bars. His parents and I adopted the method of getting the boy to know the terrible effects of playing computer games on him， which didnt work. His father determined to help his son to quit the addiction and discussed the situation with me. Eventually， I asked the father to take his son to an Internet bar and let him play games continuously， accompanied by his father， without being scolded. When he was hungry， his father bought instant noodles for him. After a whole day of playing games in the bar， he told his father he didnt want to play any more because he was tired and bored. Since then， he never stole out of school to play video games during school days and concentrated on his studies and got excellent grades. Later， I asked the boy why he changed so much after the event. He told me that he enjoyed playing video games， but playing it too long made him so bored as to vomit when thinking of it. The boy is not alone. The reason is that interest doesnt last long because one gets bored naturally if doing the same thing repeatedly.

Interest is related to a persons preference and curiosity. If one has curiosity about something， he/she will try to find ways to satisfy his/her curiosity. Lets take playing building blocks for example. A child will thinks it fun when watching other children creating different shapes with building blocks. The child begins to show interest in the game. Then he/she will try to persuade his/her parents to buy him/her a set of building blocks. Once the child has a set， he/she will play with it passionately. One or two weeks later， we will see the set of building blocks lying with other toys.The fact is that the childs curiosity has been met and his/her interest fades away.

Motivation can maintain efforts through the process

Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained（from Motivation and Education）. First， motivation is a process rather than a product. As a process， we do not observe it directly but rather we infer it from actions. Then，motivation involves goals that provides encouragement to action. Goals may change with experience， but the point is that people are conscious of something that they are trying to attain. Next， motivation requires activity—physical and mental. Physical activity entails effort， persistence and other evident actions. Finally， the activity of motivation is instigated and sustained. Starting toward a goal is important and often difficult because it involves making a commitment and taking the first step. But motivational processes are critically important to sustain action. Many major goals are long term， such as earning a college degree， obtaining a good job and so on. Much of what we know about motivation comes from determining how to respond to the difficulties， problems， failures， and setbacks they encounter as they pursue long-term goals. Such motivational processes as expectations， emotions help people deal with difficulties and sustain motivation.

Relation of motivation to learning and performance

In my teaching experience， I often use such a strategy to experiment on how well students complete their tasks. In one class（I often teach two classes） I announce to the students in the last period of the school day that they can leave school earlier as long as they have recited the assigned reading passage. Since students value after-school time， they will concentrate on the task. As a result， most of the students in the class complete the task ahead of time and leave school earlier. In the other class I only ask the students to recite the same passage in the last period of the day. However， at the end of the class， I find no more than half of them can recite the passage.

It is worthwhile to notice this phenomenon—Motivation influences learning process and performance. The students in the first class would like to have more free after-school time， which is the key to boosting their motivation to complete the task. Motivation has a strong effect on students performance， in which students will be enthusiastic about the assignment. I find that students with motivation are intrinsically motivated to continue their learning. Motivation can influence what，when， and how we learn（by Schunk，，1995）. In contrast， students unmotivated to learn are not apt to be attentive to learning during the lesson and wont make every effort to complete the assignment. As we can see from the above， motivation influences students learning and learning performances greatly. Therefore， to instigate students motivation in learning is what we teachers try hard to do.

How to instigate students motivation of learning

We can adopt the following steps to boost students motivation—to arouse students interest， to stimulate students curiosity， to give students encouragement and to help students set goals. Interest is still a factor of motivation， which can be used as a gateway to motivation. If a student gets to take interest in something， he/she will show eagerness to learn more about it without being forced to. In other words， he/she wants to learn it. When we talk about motivation， we cant ignore another factor associated with it—curiosity. Curiosity is a persons psychological tendency towards new things around him/her. Such a tendency is related to attention to， questioning and wanting to do them. The curiosity is especially strong among junior students， who will work attentively and consciously if they are curious about things. Then， we can also use encouragement to motive students to work harder because encouragement can build up students self-confidence to go on. When a persons work is well recognized by others， he/she will have a sense of achievement and his/her motivation will be greatly enhanced. Most importantly， we should help students to set achievable goals. As the saying goes， a person without any goals will not be able to stick to anything. Contrarily， he/she will show persistence in the process of dealing with difficulties and have the power to overcome them. To have specific goals in mind is long-term instigation of motivation and will get students to sustain their motivation in the entire performances of all activities.

Conclusion： Interest and curiosity are what we often pay attention to in our teaching practice， which really influence students learning. However， interest is not permanent because people tend to get bored by doing the same things over and over again， while motivated students with certain goals will show inner desire and drive to achieve their goals in the whole process during which students will have perseverance in the their performances.

References：

[1]Motivation in Education（By Dale H.Schunk）.