Motivational Strategies Adopted By Physics Teachers For Enhancing Students Performance In Secondary Schools

This study was carried out to examine the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools using some selected secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State as a case study. The study was specially carried out to ascertain whether there is a significant relationship between motivation and students academic performance, determine whether physics teachers implement motivational strategies during the teaching and learning of physics in secondary schools, and find out the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools. The study adopted descriptive survey design. Four research questions were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study was made up of 160 teachers that were selected secondary schools in the study area. Questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection. The researcher made use of frequency and mean for data analysis, while the hypothesis was tested using Pearson Correlation Statistical Tool, SPSS v23. The study also revealed that there is a significant relationship between motivation and students academic performance. In accordance with the findings, the research recommended that motivation is important for students performance, hence teachers should make sure that they motivate students because motivation makes students active in learning, eliminate fear of participation in learning process, motivation makes students active in learning and maximize professional teacher-student relationships.

Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

Teachers often enter the profession because of their heartfelt desire to witness and support the physical, emotional and intellectual growth of their students. Yet a teacher"s performance is measured largely by student achievements. Because motivation influences both developmental and performance outcomes, educators have a vested interest in their students" motivation. However, understanding that motivation is not an easy task. Motivation is a complex and dynamic construct that is a function of the past, present and future and is dependent on both the whole group and the individual (Hardré & Sullivan, & Pintrich, 2002). Teachers should view motivation as a key approach to the classroom and to their relationships with the students within that classroom (Schunk, & Pintrich & Meece, 2008). Students do bring all of their past experiences into a classroom with them and those experiences are often outside of the teacher"s direct control. However, students" motivation is also dramatically influenced by a complex of interactions with their teachers, the context and culture of the school and community, and their personal experiences both in and out of the classroom (Hardré & Sullivan, 2001). Motivation has been used as a psychological tool to encourage students to increase academic performance in schools. Motivating students in secondary schools is one of the important issues to be taken in consideration.

With the recent cry from parents and other stakeholders being about poor performance of secondary school students on science subject such as physics, there becomes a need for teachers to motivate the students, so as to facilitate improvement in science academic performance.

The process of creating basic motivational conditions, generating initial motivation, maintaining and protecting motivation has been found to be the best strategy to bring about effective learning (Crookes, 1991; Dorney, 2001). This has been confirmed by scholars who have theorized the motivational strategies in teaching and learning (Crookes, 1991; Dorney, 2001).

In many secondary schools in Nigeria, you can find students outside the classroom while a teacher is teaching and even far away from the school environment during school hours. This situation can be attributed to lack of motivation in learning. In addition to that, some students dislike some subjects for the reason that they are difficult and sometimes even tend to avoid the teacher of the subject concerned.

The term motivation has been defined by several scholars as follows: Guay (2010) defines motivation as "the reasons underlying behaviour". Broussard and Garrison (2004) see it as "the attribute that moves us to do or not to do something". Kleinginna (1981) defines motivation as an internal state or condition (sometimes described as a need, desire, or want) that serves to activate or energize behaviour and give it direction. Dorney (2000) defined motivation as an abstract, hypothetical concept that people use to whole range of motives - from financial incentives, e.g. a raise in money to idealistic belief that explains why they do what they do. In associations to definitions given, motivation can also be defined as the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal and elicits, controls, and sustains certain goal directed behaviours.

Motivation involves a constellation of beliefs, perceptions, values, interests, and actions that are all closely related. As a result, various approaches to motivation can focus on cognitive behaviours (such as monitoring and strategy use) non-cognitive aspects (such as perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes), or both. Teacher"s motivational strategies to students aim at improving academic performance of students hence to increase students" academic motivation.
Gottfried (1990) defines academic motivation as "enjoyment of school learning characterized by a mastery orientation; curiosity; persistence; task-endogen; and the learning of challenging, difficult, and novel tasks". On the other side Turner (1995) define academic motivation as the "voluntary uses of high-level self-regulated learning strategies, such as paying attention, connection, planning, and monitoring". According to Crookes (1991), creating motivational condition in the classroom include demonstration of appropriate teacher behaviours, demonstrate the acceptance and caring behaviour, taking students" learning progress seriously and portray high expectations of what students can achieve. Others include enthusiasm and creation of pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere, encouraging risk-taking and acceptance of mistakes as a normal part of learning.

In explaining the motivational strategies to students Schmidt (1991) maintains that teachers should vary the activities, tasks, and materials due to the fact that lessons that always follow the same format can lead to increased levels of boredom and decreased levels of attention. Dornyei (2001) on other side argues that motivation goes through phases: motivation needs to be generated and then maintained. Therefore, in view of the above, it is the expectations of this study that by assessing the strategies that teachers use to motivate students in teaching and learning processes the findings of the study will propose the strategy that can be used not only to improve academic performance of students but also to create good and professional friendship between students and their teachers for well being of education.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Although research on motivation is extensive, (Nandola, 2011; Skok, 2013) few researchers have cared to dwell on the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools. Moreover the literature on motivation explains more about what motivation is and how it can affect teaching and learning (see example Junio, 2009; Robert, 2004) but not many researchers have looked into the strategies that teachers use to motivate students. This study aims to fill the gap in the literature by looking into the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

Generally, this study seek to assess the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools.

Specific objectives are stated below.

1. Ascertain whether there is a significant relationship between motivation and students academic performance.
2. Determine whether physics teachers implement motivational strategies during the teaching and learning of physics in secondary schools.
3. Find out the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools.

1.4 Research Questions

The study was guided by the following research questions:

1. Is there a significant relationship between motivation and students academic performance?
2. Does physics teachers implement motivational strategies during the teaching and learning of physics in secondary schools?
3. What are the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools?

1.5 Research Hypothesis

Ho: There is no significant relationship between the adoption of motivational strategies and enhancement of students performance.

Ha: There is a significant relationship between the adoption of motivational strategies and enhancement of students performance.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The finding of the study is very important as it will contribute to the literature on the strategies to motivate students. This is because educators throughout the country are continuously seeking information on a better learning environment with academic success for all students. By ensuring academic success of students, this will have diverse social, economic, cultural and political advantage from individual level, family, community and a nation as whole. Failure to find proper ways to motivated students to study will result to poor performance of students, and as education form the basis of development of any nation hence poor performance of students will in turn lead to poor performance of respective government.

The study is useful for researchers as well, as it can be used also as a basis for other studies aiming at finding information concerning better environment for students" performance. Due to the fact that only few researches have been done about strategies teachers use to motivate students, the findings of this study will help other researchers who will conduct their studies concerning strategies to motivate students.

1.7 Scope of the Study

This study is focused on the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools. The study will geographically be delimited to some selected secondary schools in Awka South Local Government of Anambra State.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

As with any human endeavor, the researcher experienced small impediments while performing the study. Due to the scarcity of literature on the subject as a result of the discourse"s nature, the researcher incurred additional financial expenses and spent additional time sourcing for relevant materials, literature, or information, as well as during the data collection process, which is why the researcher chose a small sample size. Additionally, the researcher conducted this inquiry in conjunction with other scholarly pursuits. Additionally, because only a small number of respondents were chosen to complete the research instrument, the results cannot be applied to other secondary schools outside the state. Regardless of the limits faced throughout the investigation, all aspects were reduced to ensure the best outcomes and the most productive research.

1.9 Definition of Terms

Teacher:

A teacher is someone who has the requisite training and who is saddled with the responsibility of creating the desirable changes in the behaviours of his or her pupils. The teacher is someone who helps others to acquire skills, attitudes, knowledge, ideas, techniques etc. The teacher is therefore seen as someone who possesses knowledge and methods of imparting it into the children.

Teaching:

Teaching is described as the process and system of transferring ideas, attitudes, skills, techniques etc to other individuals for the purpose of bringing about positive behavioural change. It is the interaction that takes place between a teacher and student under the responsibility of the teacher with the principal aim of bringing about the expected change in the student"s behaviour.

Student:

A student is anyone who is still undergoing any form of training. That is, any one who is still undergoing learning is regarded as a student.

Academic Motivation:

Academic motivation as "enjoyment of school learning characterized by a mastery orientation; curiosity; persistence; task-endogen; and the learning of challenging, difficult, and novel tasks".

1.10 Organization of the Study

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows:

• Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), historical background, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the study, definition of terms and historical background of the study.
• Chapter two highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, thus the review of related literature.
• Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study.
• Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding.
• Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study.

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations:

5.1 Introduction

This chapter summarizes the findings on the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools using some selected secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State as a case study. The chapter consists of summary of the study, conclusions, and recommendations.

5.2 Summary of the Study

In this study, our focus was to examine the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools using some selected secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State as a case study. The study is was specifically set to ascertain whether there is a significant relationship between motivation and students academic performance, determine whether physics teachers implement motivational strategies during the teaching and learning of physics in secondary schools, and find out the motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools.

The study adopted the survey research design and randomly enrolled participants in the study. A total of 141 responses were validated from the enrolled participants, where all respondent are teachers of some selected secondary schools in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State.

5.3 Conclusions

Based on the findings of this study, the researcher made the following conclusion:

1. There is a significant relationship between motivation and students academic performance.
2. Physics teachers implement motivational strategies during the teaching and learning of physics in secondary schools.
3. The motivational strategies adopted by physics teachers for enhancing students performance in secondary schools includes; open exchange of ideas about the topic, demonstration of appropriate teacher behaviour, accepting all students equally, portrayal of high expectations for all students, encouraging and supporting students, and accepting mistakes as normal part of learning.

5.4 Recommendations

Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are proffered.

• Motivation is important for students performance, hence teachers should make sure that they motivate students because motivation makes students active in learning, eliminate fear of participation in learning process, motivation makes students active in learning and maximize professional teacher-student relationships.
• Parents should make sure that they raise their children in a good manner which can facilitate studying behaviour by ensuring that they provide good care and that all the necessary needs for children development are ensured.
• Teachers should be studying continuously in their respective teaching subjects so as to have adequate mastery of subject matters that they teach.
• Teachers should strive to motivate their students by using appropriate teaching aids so as to facilitate well the teaching-learning processes.

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