Chapter 10 page 207
Motivational researchers have identified many different techniques that help increase students’
motivation. Because there are so many varied techniques, researchers have proposed to organized these
strategies around acronyms. A commonly used (and very useful) acronym is the TARGET acronym (Ames,
1992; Anderman xx; xx). The letters in the TARGET acronym stand for:
Task
Autonomy
Recognition
Grouping
Evaluation
Time
In my view, there are some important motivational techniques that are either left out of the TARGET
framework or not made salient enough within it. To highlight these techniques, I will present additional
motivational techniques under a second acronym of BESS. BESS stands for:
Belonging
Expectations
Short-term goals and self-evaluation
Strategies
Altogether, then, I will present 10 categories of motivational techniques, the six TARGET categories and
the four BESS categories. As I discuss the techniques within each category, I will also explain why these
instructional techniques work. These techniques work because they increase the value of academic tasks
and/or the expectation of success, and because they encourage learning goals rather than performance
goals.
Recall from the previous chapter the formula of expectancy-value theory:
Motivation = Value of Goal x Expectation of Success
Recall, too, that the motivation can be motivation to perform, or motivation to learn (or both). You can
increase motivation by increasing either the value of the goal or the expectation of success. You can
increase value of the goal by increasing interest, by increasing relevance to goals, or by increasing
autonomy. You can increase the expectation of success by improving students’ knowledge and strategies so
that they believe that they can succeed, by encouraging students to attribute success to effort rather than
ability, and to foster the belief that “ability” can be improved by making effort to increase knowledge and
strategies.
The TARGET TechniquesCarole Ames and her colleagues have tested the TARGET framework using the following method: One
group of teachers learned about the TARGET framework, and they each agreed to implement one specific
technique within each dimension. Following discussion among the teachers and researchers, each teacher
decided on his/her own what technique to implement. A control group of teachers conducted their classes
as usual. The students in the classes in which teachers implemented the techniques from the TARGET
framework were more highly motivated than the students in the control classes.