Description
Formative assessment is often connected with student motivation. Students can be motivated in different ways into making their schoolwork. In secondary education, autonomous motivation (i.e. intrinsic motivation and positive extrinsic motivation) is to be pursued as much as possible.
How it works
There are 3 core conditions to achieve autonomous motivation:
- Autonomy: a student must have the perception that they can influence their own actions.
- Relational connectedness: a student needs to belong and to feel appreciated.
- Competence: a student believes that they can achieve the desired outcomes and trusts their own abilities.
Background information on motivation theory (in Dutch): Maarten Vansteenkiste, ‘Hoe we kinderen en jongeren kunnen motiveren. Toepassingen van de zelfdeterminatietheorie’. In: Caleidoscoop, 22 (2010) 1, 6-15.
Tips
Increasing autonomy
By giving students a choice. For example:
- Let students choose on which part of your feedback they will work.
- Offer multiple options to discuss a book that they have read (e.g. create a poster, write a review, make a presentation).
- Give students the space to to think up their own assignment that fits the objectives.
Increasing interconnectedness
By consciously investing in good rapport and probing students' interests. For example:
- Discover the students' interests in short conversations with them.
- Be understanding and try to see the underlying problem when students did not process your feedback.
Increasing competence
By offering structural support. For example:
- Clarify the objectives (see 'clarifying objectives')
- Describe the success criteria for attaining an objective explicitly.
- Give positive feedback (see 'effective feedback')
- Offer clear procedures: about how to ask for help, when to ask the teacher or peers a question, which tools to use, how much time is provided for a specific task, ...
Example
Example of a motivation sheet for an English class (12-14 years old)