Applications of motivation research to practice

This special issue of Theory Into Practice focuses on applications of motivation theory and research to educational practice. This topic is especially timely today because teachers need knowledge about theories and research that prepare them to motivate learners at different competency levels. Teachers ask why some students appear to have low academic motivation and what they can do about it. They also ask questions such as: How can we translate to practice the theories we learned during our education program? What can we do to sustain the motivation of all our students? What can we do to raise our students’ interests? How can we use the theories of self-regulation, mind-set, attribution, and control-value to spark student motivation? Research on motivation that is conceptually attractive and presented in general terms often provides little guidance and instructional tools helpful to teachers dealing with students with low motivation. This special issue suggests some practical answers to these questions. The field of motivation has come a long way in providing important theories and research findings. Most theories of motivation explain human development and the role of cognition and environmental conditions that influence human functioning and agency. Nevertheless, the construct of academic motivation is fuzzy. Textbook definitions often do not provide practical guidance about how teachers can impact the motivation of their students. For this special issue, we have adopted a practical definition of academic motivation, which involves students’ needs, goals, and beliefs while they engage in tasks for the sake of learning and enjoyment or for recognition or rewards (see Anderman, 2021). All students have needs (e.g., to complete a class assignment). It is well known that students’ beliefs influence their academic motivation (e.g., the belief that by staying focus during class, the student will obtain an A in the class). Goals can strongly motivate students (e.g., completing a homework assignment without answering the cell phone). Teachers benefit from understanding their students’ needs, beliefs, and goals. Research demonstrates that students who are motivated to learn successfully master critical academic tasks, reach high academic achievement, and sustain motivation under considerable challenges (Schunk et al., 2014). Despite such evidence, however, teachers still need to understand applications of motivation research to practice to their respective disciplines at different developmental levels. Although there are many motivational theories from diverse perspectives, this special issue aims to fill the gap between motivational theories and the practice of teachers, learners, families, administrators, and school professionals. The contributors to this issue describe diverse motivational processes such as expectancies and values, self-efficacy, attributions, interests, self-determination, goals and goal orientations, emotions, mindsets, delay of gratification, and culture and their classroom applications. The contributors translate theory into practice by providing valuable and straightforward tools teachers can have at their disposal for dealing successfully with their daily classroom demands. THEORY INTO PRACTICE 2022, VOL. 61, NO. 1, 1–4 https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2021. 1929000