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62 CHAPTER 3Yes No- Does this class have more than 50 students
in it? - Does your instructor provide timely feedback on
assignments? - Are you participating in group study sessions?
Although it is important for students to understand that the class-
room environment can influence their motivation, they need to take
responsibility for their own behavior. My daughter came home one
day during her freshman year and told me that she received a low C
on a midterm exam. In the same breath, she reported that she did not
like the instructor, implying a relationship between the low grade and
her dislike of the instructor. I responded that my expectations for her
academic performance were not based on her like or dislike of courses
or professors, and told her she had to learn to do well in all types of
situations.
In chapter 1 you learned that self-directed students learn how to
overcome obstacles to increase the probability of their academic suc-
cess. Think about some of the actions you can take to improve your
academic learning when you don’t like your instructor, find the course
boring, or when the instructor spends all his or her time lecturing and
doesn’t encourage student interaction or small-group work.Internal Factors
Students’ goals, beliefs, feelings, and perceptions determine their
motivated behavior and, in turn, academic performance. For example,
if students value a task and believe they can master it, they are more
likely to use different learning strategies, try hard, and persist until
completion of the task. If students believe that intelligence changes
over time, they are more likely to exhibit effort in difficult courses
than students who believe intelligence is fixed. In this section of the
chapter, I’m going to explain why the answers to the following ques-
tions can provide insight to your own motivation:- How do I value different academic courses and tasks?
- What are my goals?
- What is my goal orientation?
- Do I believe I can do well on different academic tasks?