Abstract

Motivation is the force that keeps you going and doing things, and that arouses your interest and desire for success. It is the drive that sustains your will to float not to drown even in the face of serious difficulties. Extrinsic motivation refers to action or behaviour performed in the hopes of receiving an external reward or outcome. Extrinsic motivation is very vital in enhancing the teaching and learning process.

This study investigated the Influence of Extrinsic motivation on student’s academic achievement in some selected Secondary schools in the Buea Municipality. Specifically, the study sought to examine the influence of reward/gifts, the influence of praises, and the influence of role models on student’s academic achievement in secondary schools.

The study was guided by the Behavioural Theory of Motivation, Cognitive Theory of Motivation by Brunner (1966), Humanistic Theory of Motivation by Abraham Maslow (1941), and the  Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura (1986). The study employed a descriptive survey research design. Data was collected purposively, with the use of a questionnaire, from a sample population of 150 students from 2 selected secondary schools.

Data were descriptively analyzed from the questionnaire by calculating frequencies and percentages. Findings revealed that extrinsic motivation has an influence on student’s academic achievement in some secondary schools in the Buea Municipality. The study has proven that the use of rewards/gifts has little or no influence on student’s academic achievement in the selected secondary schools in Buea Municipality.

This is evident as students did not receive gifts when they ask questions and teachers do not give them gifts when they do their homework well. It was equally revealed that the use of praises has an influence on student’s academic achievement in secondary schools in Buea Municipality. As teachers congratulate students in the classroom and appreciate them in front of their friends in school. Furthermore, students agreed that their friends clap for them in class as well as being hailed by their friends.

The study further revealed that the use of role models has an influence on student’s academic achievement in secondary schools in Buea Municipality. This was proven by the fact that role models motivate students to work hard, students gain inspiration to study hard due to the people they admire.

The study recommended that schools and government should continue to award scholarships to deserving students. This will encourage academic competition among students and their performance will improve remarkably. It was further recommended that parents and teachers should provide enough motivation to students.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

This chapter focuses on the introduction to the study, the background of the study, statement of the problem, research questions, hypotheses, justification, the significance of the study, the scope of the study, and the operational definition of terms.

Background of the Study    

Generally, Motivation is viewed as the reason for acting or behaving in a particular way, a set of facts and arguments used in support of a proposal. According to Luma, (1983) motivation is the force that keeps you going and doing things, and that arouses your interest and desire for success. It is the drive that sustains your will to float not to drown even in the face of serious difficulties.

According to Tambo, (1984) Motivation is the process of arousing, sustaining, and regulating activity. It is the act of applying incentive and arousing interest for the purpose of causing a pupil to perform in the desired way. Motivation results from the interaction of both conscious and unconscious factors such as Intensity of desire or need, incentive or reward value of the goal, Expectations of the individual and of his or her peers.

In the light of the above viewpoints, motivation acts as an incentive that arouses students’ interest and desire for success. In the teaching-learning situation, motivation can be extrinsic or intrinsic that is to say two types of motivation exist. Extrinsic motivation is defined by psyche study. Com (2018) refers to action or behaviour performed in the hopes of receiving an external reward or outcome.

According to Psychestudy.com, extrinsic motivation could be used to motivate a whole group, thus increasing productivity in the workplace or creating a better learning environment. Psychestudy.com also stated that extrinsic motivation could lead to personal benefits. It (Psychestudy.com) added that extrinsic motivation could lead to behaviour that could never have been possible otherwise. Psychestudy.com went further to explain its point by giving an example that; a student might never feel the intrinsic motivation to study, but extrinsic motivations like medals or other forms of prize might motivate the student to study harder.

The explanation provided by Psychestudy.com indicates that, from personal academic benefits, extrinsic motivation has an economic advantage as it has the potential of stimulating productivity in the workplace.

According to Tambo, (2012) it comes as a result of pressure or forces outside the learner. A child who is extrinsically motivated learns because he/she is afraid of punishment by parents or teachers. A child may also learn because he/she wants to be rewarded with marks, praises, a pleasure trip, and Christmas clothes from parents. Parents are in the habit of motivating their children extrinsically by promises of such rewards. Teachers and parents play a major role in motivation, which leads to students’ educational success. Students who have lost interest in learning need more extrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation is also seen as motivation that comes from outside the individual. The motivating factors are external or outside rewards such as money. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not necessarily enjoy an activity to perform well in order to receive some kind of reward or to avoid negative consequences (Aamdi, 2007).

Also, in the view of Meadows-Fernandez (2017), extrinsic motivation is reward-driven behaviour. According to Meadows-Fernandez, extrinsic motivation, rewards, or other incentives like praise, fame or money are used as motivation for specific activities. Meadows-Fernandez gave examples of extrinsic motivation which include competing in sports for trophies, completing work for money, customer loyalty discounts, buy one get one free sales, frequent flier rewards, helping people for praise from friends or family, doing work for attention, either positive or negative, doing task for public acclaim or fame, doing task to avoid judgment and completing coursework for grades.

From the definition and examples of extrinsic motivation provided by Meadows-Fernandez, it is understandable that, extrinsic motivation is either material or psychological in form. Meadows-Fernandez went further to stress the need to motivate students.

According to Meadows-Fernandez, motivation will increase students’ time on task and is also an important factor affecting their learning and achievement. The authority (Meadows-Fernandez) continued that, motivation enhances cognitive processing.

Achievement motivation by Murray, (1938) is the need to accomplish something difficult that is to overcome obstacles and attain a high standard to rival and surpass others. To increase self-regard by the successful exercise of talents. It is also to outperform others and to meet high standards of excellence. Above all, the need for achievement involves the desire to excel especially in competition with others. High achievement motivation correlates positively with measures and career success and with upward social mobility among lower class men. Marray developed the Thematic Appreciation Test (T.A.T) to measure the need for achievement and other human motives.

A number of studies show that people who score high in need for achievement differ notably from those in moderate or low need for achievement scores. One way to help instil a desire to achieve is to encourage children to set reasonable gaols and to provide ample reinforcement for their success. Reasonable goals are likely to be achieved thus allowing children experience success.

Winterbotton (1958) found that children who demonstrate high achievement motivation usually had parents who expected them to master their own environment and to show independent behaviour well before their teenage years. Although every student has that enthusiasm to learn, statistics have shown that some students needed to be motivated before effective learning can take place. This researcher was extrinsically motivated at the high school by her parents and family members. Presently she has observed that intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic motivation because, with intrinsic motivation, one is driven to search for knowledge so as to increase one’s skill in learning. However, both forms of motivation are necessary for the teaching-learning process.

Although it is still not very clear which of these two types of motivation is preferable with regards to learning, it may be much better for the teacher to try to understand both types of motivation and use them in a complementary manner. For example, the teacher can use marks or praises to extrinsically motivate the students.

At other times he may convince pupils about the need to be more knowledgeable in the subject (intrinsic motivation). It should be noted that teachers are in privileged positions to know the most appropriate form of motivation to be used because they have the opportunity to observe the students in various situations for many hours. This even explains why some teachers said some students in the class are ‘’unmotivated ‘’ because they do not show sufficient interest in what they have to learn and therefore something has to be done to arouse their interest in learning.

More so, if learners are not motivated, they will not have interest in learning for example and when they do not perform well it becomes a problem not only to the parents and teachers but to the environment and society as a whole. This is because when learners do not attain their academic goals, majority turn out to be bandits or cause societal miss-happs such as drug abuse, scam, robbery, and other mal-practices that one can think of as a result of not been motivated either extrinsically or intrinsically.

On the other hand, we can say that if these learners were motivated able to attain their educational goals, they might have been better placed or better still be able to know what is wrong and what is right. This will enable one to know where and what he/she wants and where they are heading.

Statement of the Problem

Achievement motivation plays a major role in students’ academic performance. It has been shown that some students need to be motivated before effective learning can take place. During my teaching practice, I observed that students who are motivated by indicators such as praises, gifts, and public recognition turn to perform better and have high participation in class as well as ask questions to understand.

This is as opposed to students who are not extrinsically motivated. Moreover, if learners are not motivated they might not have an interest in learning for example, and when they do not perform well it becomes a problem not only to the parents and teachers but to the environment and society as a whole.

This is because when learners do not attain their academic goals, which may lead to dropout and impending social problems. On the other hand, we can say that if those learners were motivated and able to attain their educational goals, they might have been better placed or better still be able to invest more useful energy in their learning. It is for this reason that the study seeks to investigate extrinsic motivation on students’ academic achievement

Research Objectives

General Objective

To find out the effects of extrinsic motivation on students’ academic achievement of some selected schools in Buea subdivision.

Specific Objective

1. To investigate the extent to which rewards can influence the academic achievement of students.
2. To find out the influence of praises on the academic achievement of students.
3. To find out role models affects student’s academic achievement