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This article was downloaded by: [Gebze Yuksek Teknoloji Enstitïsu ] On: 20 December 2014, At: 18:43 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Early Child Development and Care Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gecd20 Motives for School Learning During Transition from Primary to Secondary School Alexandros Kakavoulis a a University of Crete , Greece Published online: 07 Jul 2006. To cite this article: Alexandros Kakavoulis (1998) Motives for School Learning During Transition from Primary to Secondary School , Early Child Development and Care, 145:1, 59-66, DOI: 10.1080/0300443981450105 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0300443981450105 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub- licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: Motives for School Learning During Transition from Primary to Secondary School∗

This article was downloaded by: [Gebze Yuksek Teknoloji Enstitïsu ]On: 20 December 2014, At: 18:43Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Early Child Development and CarePublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gecd20

Motives for School LearningDuring Transition from Primary toSecondary SchoolAlexandros Kakavoulis aa University of Crete , GreecePublished online: 07 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: Alexandros Kakavoulis (1998) Motives for School Learning DuringTransition from Primary to Secondary School , Early Child Development and Care, 145:1,59-66, DOI: 10.1080/0300443981450105

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0300443981450105

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information(the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor& Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warrantieswhatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purposeof the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are theopinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor& Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should beindependently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francisshall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs,expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arisingdirectly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expresslyforbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Motives for School Learning During Transition from Primary to Secondary School∗

Early Child Development and Care, 1998, Vol. 145, pp. 59-66 © 1998 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association) N.V.Reprints available directly from the publisher Published by license underPhotocopying permitted by license only the Gordon and Breach Publishers imprint.

Printed in Malaysia.

Motives for School Learning During Transi-tion from Primary to Secondary School*

ALEXANDROS KAKAVOULIS

University of Crete, Greece

(Received 10 July 1998)

Key words: Motives, learning, school transition

INTRODUCTION

The scientific interest in the study of human motivation has been enforced by theincreased complexity of living in modern societies that made it necessary to cultivatein children and adolescents the will to acquire many varied skills (physical, cognitive,social). In fact, schools are planned for pupils to carry out all kinds of activitieswhich, for many of them, would not have been a significant part of their younglives and which would certainly not have occurred to them spontaneously. A studyof motivation for school learning is, therefore, a crucial matter for the educationsystem to achieve its substantian goals. Without a knowledge of the ways and meansof encouraging children's learning, and of their motives in the widest sense of theword, without being sensitive to their interests, teaching and learning would beineffective.

Motivation is generally defined as an internal state that arouses, directs andmaintains behaviour (Woolfolk, 1995, p. 330).

A working definition of motivation would be that it consists ofinternal processes whichspur us on to satisfy some need (Child, 19813, p. 33). Motivational processesdetermine the direction and intensity of goal-directed behaviour. They are expe-rienced by the individual as conscious desires, but they are considerably difficult— perhaps impossible — to control them directly. They seem to exist apart fromour volition. What does control our motivation is the question that defines thepsychology of motivations (Atkinson et al, 199612, p. 355).

*A research paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Motivation, AristotleUniversity, Thessaloniki, 27-30 March, 1998.

59

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60 A. KAKAVOULIS

The causes of motivation range from physiological events within our brain andbody, at the most microscopic level, to our culture and social interactions with otherindividual who surround us, at the most macroscopic level.

Theoretical approaches to motivation generally have been concerned with fourbasic questions representing stages in the processes assumed to be present inmotivated behaviour. These are: What initiates action, what direction does suchaction take and why, how strong is the action and why does action terminate? By'action' is meant not only obvious movement, but also mental action: e.g. you cansolve a problem in your head without appearing to do so.

During this closing century there have been three broad lines of theoreticalapproach to human motivation: instinct theories, drive and need theories and cognitivetheories. The instinct theories claim that human actions, as well as those of the animalsto which humans are related, were the outcome of inborn instincts — innate,unlearned tendencies 'which are essential springs or motive power of all thoughtand action'. The instinct theories stress the role of internalfactors in motivation, whilethe drive theories stress the motivational role of external events or objects. Bothinstinct and drive factors operate together in real live motivation and they ofteninteract. It is widely acknowledged that both types of process exist for almost everykind of motivation (Toates, 1986). Drive and need theories suggest that the drives arethe source of motivation, resulting from homeostatic disequilibrium. The drives areclassified as primary and secondary. Primary drives are those immediately necessaryfor bodily survival (e.g. hunger, thirst, sexual behaviour). Secondary (or acquired)drives appear as by-products of the satisfaction of primary needs (e.g. fear, money).Cognitive theories hold the intervention of human thinking as a substantial influenceon our motivation. A person's awareness of what is happening to him or her hasan important effect on future behaviour in similar situations. Perceiving, interpret-ing, selecting, storing and using information from the environment are crucialprocesses which affect our present and future motivation (Child, 19813, pp. 34-41).

Motivational theories as well as results of empirical studies have sustained schoolteaching and learning to a great extent. Creating conducive classroom learningenvironments, responding to the need for achievement and affiliation amongschool children, success and failure and their causes as sources of motivation, andacademic motivation measures have been great concerns of Educational Psychology.

Academic Motivation

The motive for school learning, while having no well established origins in primaryneeds, is nevertheless a useful concept which has some face valiblity in the class-room. Ausubel perceives at least three components in achievement motivation: a.cognitive drive, which is task-oriented in the sense that the enquirer is attempting tosatisfy his need to know and understand, and the reward of discovering newknowledge resides in the carrying out of the task. b. self-enhancement, which is ego-oriented or self-oriented and represents a desire for increased prestige and statusgained by doing well scholastically, and which leads to feelings of adequacy and self-esteem, c. a broader motive of affiliation, which is a dependence on others for approval.

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Satisfaction comes from such approval irrespective of the cause, so the individualuses academic success simply as means of recognition by those on whom he or shedepends for assurances (Ausubel & Robinson, 1969).

There are two general explanations for the source of achievement motivation(Stipek, 1993). Some psychologists see achievement motivation as a stable andunconscious trait — something the individual has more or less of. For others theorigins of high achievement motivation are assumed to be in the family and culturalgroup of the child. Children who see that their actions can have an impact on theirenvironment and who are taught how to recognize a good performance are morelikely to grow up with the desire to excel (Lefton, 1994).

Personality Factors

School performance is directly related to personality factors which are indices ofthe children's actual behaviour. In an older study by Lavin (1965) a variety ofpersonality traits which have been shown to correlate with school achievement isreported. It summarises these by listing six main personality correlates of highattainment in school or college: social maturity, emotional stability, flexibility inproblem-solving, achievement motivation, achievement linked with conformity andachievement linked with independent thinking.

Schlesser and Finger (1962) developed a scale which attempts to measure academicmotivation as shown in the class-room situation. It aims to identify non-intellectualcorrelates of school success, such as attitudes, behaviour and self-concepts relevantto the school situation.

Professor N. Entwistle (1967 and 1968) of the University of Edinburgh, deviseda similar scale, the Academic Motivation Self-rating Inventory, to measure the 'academicmotivation' factor found by Finger and Schlesser (1965). The scale consists of 24items relating to attitudes to school, ambition and study habits. The followingexamples indicate the type of items included.

Does your mind often wander off the subject during lessons?Is it important to you to do well at school?Do your friends think that you never take work seriously?Do you worry about not doing well in class?

'Academic motivation' scores were found to be related to teachers' ratings, ofmotivation; rank-order correlations varied between +0.04 and +0.55, with an averageof+0.33. The test-retest reliability coefficient was found to be +0.83 after an intervalof two and a half months. (Entwistle, 1967, 1968).

More recent studies have focused on the effects of the classroom learning en-vironment on academic motivation (Knight & Waxman, 1990) on the effects of themodels of school learning (Keith & Cool, 1992), on the effects of school belongingand friends' values (Goodenow & Grady, 1993), and on the effects of family rela-tionships and self-esteem (Andrews et al, 1994). A new Academic Motivation Scalehas been developed to measure intrinsic, extrinsic and a motivation in Education(Vallerand et al, 1992).

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62 A. KAKAVOULIS

THE PRESENT STUDY

The Aims of the Investigation

Clearly the motives for school learning are formed by both personal — tempera-mental factors as well as environmental — social influences. Some of these influencesmay come from both the family and the school and are related mostly with persons(parents, teachers, classmates) and interpersonal relations in the school community.They may be related as well with the teaching subjects, the methods of instructionand the every day events of the school life.

On the basis of these rather theoretical assumptions we made the hypothesis thatduring transition from primary to secondary school the pupils' motives for academiclearning might be changed radically since they enter a new and in many respectsdifferent school environment, compared with the one of the primary school thatthey have experienced previously. The motives that are explored here are relevantto the pupils' relations with the teachers, their interests for the subjects taught, theparents' expectations for their children' academic achievement, the pupils' persist-ence in completing successfully their school duties, their ambitions for furtherstudies etc.

The question therefore that arises and this study attempts to answer is: How thepupils' motives for school learning are at the end of their attendance in primaryschool and how these motives are differentiated during their transition from pri-mary to secondary school? Besides this, since academic motives are related topersonal and social factors, to what extent the differentiation of these motives arecorrelated to gender, intelligence, achievement, as well as to socio-economic andeducational level of the pupils' parents?

The Sample and Procedure

To test the above hypothesis and give some answers to related questions we appliedthe "Academic Motivation Self-rating Inventory" devised by Entwistle (1967). Thisinventory, which was translated to the Greek language and adjusted for the purposeof the present study, consists of 24 questions to which answers are "yes" or "not".By their answers pupils reveal their motives for the school and the academiclearning. The number of positive answers is the measure of the pupil's academicmotivation. For measuring the pupils' intellectual ability the "Georgas Test ofIntelligence for Children: Vocabulary B", was used.

The inventory was answered by 486 pupils of the 6th grade of primary school (firstphase: one month before they finished primary school) and by 340 pupils of thesame sample when they entered to secondary school (second phase: one monthafter they start attending secondary school). The sample was drawn from 16 classesof primary schools and 29 classes of secondary schools in Athens and suburbs ofboth state and private sector. (See Table 1). There was a balance between malesand females.

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Table 1 Number of Pupils Who Completed the Academic Motivation Self-rating Inventory in6th Grade of Primary School and 1st grade of Gymnasium

Primary

A. Phase: 6th

1st Peristeriou35th Piraeus111st Pagratiou16th Ampelokipon1st Ag. ParaskevisPallinisGerakaMorfotikis (private)

Schools

Grade of PS.

Noof classes

22322221

16

Noof pupils

7653828958604523

486

GymnasiaB. Phase:

llthAthinon3rd Piraeus7th Pagratiou3rd Ampelokipon2nd Ag. ParaskevisPallinis

Morfotikis (private)

1st grade of G.

Noof classes

555355

1

29

Noof pupils

672855444280

24

340

The average (x) of the two measures for 342 pupils in the two phases wascalculated and were found to be 21.00 and 21.34 respectively. The t-test was appliedto test the degree of significance of the difference of the two averages (21.34-20.00= 1.34). The Mest was found to be 2.48 with degrees of freedom (df) :150. This meansthat the difference (0.34) is statistically significant on the level higher than 1%. Theacademic motives therefore appear to increase significantly, when pupil entersecondary school. That means the increase is not a result of a chance fluctuation,but of some factors which influence systematically the pupils' academic motivationwhen they begin their attendance at a secondary school. The first hypothesis,therefore, that the pupils' academic motives are changed during transition fromprimary to secondary school was confirmed.

Applying the statistic Pearson (r), the degree of correlation between the motivesfor academic learning in the 6th grade of P.S. and the 1st grade of Secondary Schoolit was found r = 0.78, that is a statistically significant correlation in a level higherthan 1%. This means that pupils of high academic motives in primary school tendto display high academic motives when they enter secondary school, with probabilityof error lower than 1%.

The degree of correlation between academic motives and gender, intelligence,school achievement and parents' socioeconomic and educational level was calcu-lated as well in 6th grade P.S. and 1st grade S.S.

Applying biserial (b) correlation method it was found that a correlation betweensex and academic motives in the 1st class of S.S. was 0.188. With the <-test thedifference of the two group averages (males = 20.9 and females = 21.6) was checkedand it was found t = 1.964 with (df = 78). In the table of lvalues it was found thatthere is not statistically significant difference between the two sexes. The same wasfound for the boys and girls in 6th grade of P.S.

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64 A. KAKAVOULIS :

Table 2 Average (x), standard deviations (s) and correlation coefficient (r) between academicmotivation and intelligence, achievement, socioeconomic level in 6th grade P.S. and 1st gradeS.S. for 90 pupils of die sample.

Variable '• x s • ; , • ' • • Pearson r

. . . : with variable 1 (etc.).' 6th grade of P.S. 1st grade S.S.

1. Academic Motivation2. Intelligence3. School achievement4. Father's occupation5. Father's education

21.30108.82

8.143.243.06

1.7713.701.941.171.01

0.170.25*0.160.46**

0.23*-0.85**0.09

-0.19

Applying Pearson (r) the correlation between academic motivation and the othervariables (intelligence, achievement, socio-economic and educational level) wascalculated. The results of these calculations are presented in Table 2.

THE RESULTS

The main results of this investigation are:

a. Academic motivation increases significantly when children enter secondary school.b. There is a significant correlation between academic motivation in 6th grade P.S.

and 1st grade S.S.c. Academic motivation in the 6th grade of P.S. is significantly correlated with

school achievement and father' occupation. In 1st grade of S.S. it is significantlycorrelated with intelligence.

d. Academic motivation is independent from sex, and socioeconomic level in both6th grade of P.S. and 1st grade of S.S.

DISCUSSION - CONCLUSIONS

Motivation and particularly cognitive motivation have been recognised as a basicfactor which influences school learning. Social theory of motivation particularlymaintains that motivation is determined, to a great extent, by the interaction ofthe individual with the environment. Field theory e.g. suggests that the behaviourof an individual in a given situation is due to all the forces (i.e. the demands,attitudes, sanctions, attractions, etc., of other individuals and groups) acting be-tween the person and his environment, rather than to the properties of the individualas such (Kurt Lewin, 1936).

On the basis of these theoretical assumptions we tried to investigate if academicmotivation changes when children move from primary to secondary school, as this

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MOTIVES FOR SCHOOL LEARNING 65

is a great change in their lives. It was found that academic motivation increasessignificantly when children enter secondary school. Similar results were obtainedby Nisbet and Entwistle (1969). They found improvements from primary to second-ary for both boys and girls (significance of difference 4.57, p < .001 and 3.46 p <.001 respectively).

It seems that during transition period some factors positively influence pupils andreinforce their academic motives so they participate more willingly to the learningactivities in a secondary school. Probably this reinforcement comes, to some extent,from the change of the school environment (a new start, new classmates, newteachers, new subjects etc) as from psychology of learning it is known that a novelstimulus or a familiar object in an unusual setting will create attention.

Entrance to a secondary school on the other hand must reinforce, in the begin-ning at least, the pupils' self-esteem. The motives of self-confidence, of competition,of excellence and of self-confirmation etc., are more activated, as the individual isfound himself in an environment which he/she values and from which he/she getsa prestige.

The increasing of the academic motives at the beginning of secondary educationis particularly important for the pupils' new start in a new level of their schooling.At the same time these findings should be considered by educational policy in orderto guarantee proper learning situations so that pupils continue their education,keeping their academic motives constantly at high levels.

The academic motives are independent of sex. This confirms the results of otherstudies which have shown that boys and girls are the same in academic motivation.A review done by Stein and Bailey (1973) generally supports the view that strivingfor achievement is no more likely in boys than in girls.

Human motivation on the whole and particularly cognitive or academic motivesseem to play an important role in school learning and adjustment. The results fromthis study indicate the importance of the transition period from one school levelto the next for keeping the pupils' academic motivation at high levels. This meansthat both school and family should care for creating and keeping a highly motivatingenvironment for reinforcing and renewing children's academic motivation(Kakavoulis, 1984, pp. 98-101).

References

Andrews, J.A. et al. (1994). Explaining the Relation between Academic Motivation and Substance Use:Effects of Family Relationships and Self-Esteem. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society ofResearch in Adolescence (San Diego, CA, February 9-13).

Atkinson, R.L., Atkinson, R.C., Smith, E.E., Bern, D.J. and Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (199612). Hilgard'sIntroduction to Psychology. Harcourt Brace College Publications.

Ausubel, D.R and Robinson, F.G. (1969). School Learning. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Child, D. (19813). Psychology and the teacher. London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.Entwistle, NJ. (1967). The transition to Secondary Education. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Aberdeen.

Ζάχαρη, Δ (1989). Παρώθηση, Κίνητρα, Ιδεολογία, Επίδοση. Αθήνα: Γρηγόρη.

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66 A. KAKAVOULIS

Goodenew, C. and Grady, K.E. (1993). The relationship of school belonging and Friends' values toAcademic Motivation among Urban Adolescent students. Journal of Experimental Education, 62, 60-71.

Holtzman, W.H., Diaz-Guerrero, R. and Swartz, J.D. (1975). Personality Development in two cultures: A cross-cultural longitudinal study of school children in Mexico and the United Stales. Austin: University of TexasPress.

Kakavoulis, A.K. (1984). The Transition from Primary to Secondary Education: Psychological and Educationalconsequencies. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Athens (in greek).

Keith, T.Z. and Cool, W.A. (1992). Testing models of School learning: Effects of quality of Instruction,Motivation, Academic Coursework and Homework on Academic Achievement. School Psychology Quarterly7(3), 20-226.

Knight, S.L. and Waxman, H.G. (1990). Investigating the Effects of the Classroom Learning Environ-ment on Student Motivation in Social Studies. Journal of Social Studies Research, 14(1), 1-12.

Κωσταρίδου — Ευκλείδη, Α. (1995). Ψυχολογία Κινήτρων. Αθήνα: Ελληνικά Γράμματα.Lefton. L.A. (19945). Psychology. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Lewin, K. (1936). Principles of Topological Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.Nisbet, J.D. and Entwistle, N.J. (1969). The Transition to Secondary Education. University of London Press.Payne, O.L. (1992). The Effects of Motivation and Classroom Learning Environment on Black Second-

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Schlesser, G.E. and Fingers,J.A. (1962). Personal Values Inventory, Hamilton, New York: Colgate UniversityPress.

Stein, A.H. and Bailey, M. (1973). The socialization of achievement orientation in females. PsychologicalBulletin, 80, 345-366.

Toates, F. (1986). Motivational Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Τριλιανού. Θ. (1988). Η παρώθηση. Αθήνα: Λύχνοζ.

Vallerand, R.J. et al (1992). The Academic Motivation Scale: A Measure of Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Amotivation in Education. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 52(4), 1003-1017.

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