The Essay Explores Engagement, Motivation, And Self-efficacy's Impact On Academic Performance.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation

Dsicuss about the Changes In Motivation, Anxiety And Self-Efficacy.

This study involves a formal assessment and understanding of the aspects of Engagement, Motivation and Self-efficacy in the cognitive engagement process within an individual. This study would try to shed light upon the role played by each of these three mentioned aspects in determining the future personal and professional development of an individual. 

The topic undertaken for the purpose of evaluation is extremely crucial considering the fact that it plays a vital role in determining the overall attitude and personality of an individual. This would eventually determine the amount of success they would eventually achieve in their academic as well as professional careers. 

The scope of the topic is large because the three aspects that have been chosen for analysis in this particular study are extremely crucial in shaping up the behaviour and personality of an individual and how they respond to their external environment.

Motivation is an important factor which eventually determines how much committed and focused they are in their life. It is an essential component of a person which keeps them focused in their personal and professional goals and eventually enables them to attain success in their lives. Motivation can be essentially categorised into two types - intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.

According to Deci and Ryan, (2000) intrinsic motivation has been defined as the motivation which is instinctive within an individual and this essentially helps them to increase their own strengths and core-competencies which invariably have a positive impact on their overall academic performance. Individuals that possess greater intrinsic motivation are more likely to get a sense of satisfaction from the learning process and this eventually allows them to perform and excel at their academics by ensuring a greater interest in the learning process. Boyd, (2002) has found out that intrinsically motivated people have a stronger academic concept and understanding and as a result they are more likely to persist with the academic challenges that they face within their learning environment.

The extrinsic motivation is attained from the external environment and it is mainly aimed at satisfying our materialistic tendencies. This type of motivation these is a desired goal or objective which an individual wants to pursue in their lives (such as better career prospects, better lifestyles). According to Zeldin & Pajares, (2000)  the extrinsic motivation is not innate within an individual and it can manifest itself from time to time depending on the situation that an individual is exposed to. The greater the benefits or stakes, the more strongly would be the extrinsic motivation showcased by an individual.

Student Engagement

According to Dogan (2015) Student Engagement can be in form of class engagement and campus engagement. It has been opined by Busse & Walter (2013) that the factors like giving value to education, participation in campus activities, giving value to campus sense of belonging are important aspects of student engagement. On the other hand, it has been opined by Kim et al., (2017) that class engagement includes the emotional, cognitive and behavioural responses of the students towards both the in-class and out-of-class activities.

According to the study conducted by Reyes et al., (2012) behavioural engagement involves the participation of the students in academic, their attendance in class, their efforts and their participation in class. Thus, the social activities and out-of-class activities can also be included within the behavioural engagement. The findings of the study conducted by Shernoff et al., (2014) have revealed that the emotional support, emotional engagement and positive emotions enhance the behavioural engagement of the students. Kuh (2009) has advocated that behavioural engagement tends to predict academic achievement and performance. Fan & Williams (2010) has also suggested that that behavioural engagement leads to enhanced academic performance. Thus, it can be inferred from the discussions that Behavioural engagement and academic performance is positively related.   

According to Kahu (2013), cognitive engagement involves the factors like the value students give to learning, investment in learning, self regulation and planning and learning goals. Parsons & Taylor (2011) has also opined positive relationship between cognitive engagement and learning motivation. Christenson et al., (2012) has advocated that event students with high levels of self efficacy might find it difficult to comprehending the whole course of learning if they are not actively engaged in learning. Thus, it can be inferred that cognitive behavior has positive impact of academic performance.

The results of the study conducted by Quaye & Harper (2014) have been observed to be of the opinion that cognitive and behavioural engagements hold strong relationships with the academic achievements.

According to the Social Cognitive Theory proposed by Loo & Choy (2013) it can be said that self-efficacy beliefs have an influential role on human behaviour. Moreover, it has also been proposed by Joet et al., (2011) that beliefs of an individual regarding his self efficacy is dependent on what one believes can be accomplished with his or her personal skill set rather on his or abilities. So, it can be inferred that self-efficacy beliefs are important predictors of success when compared to prior skills, knowledge and accomplishments. According to Mills (2014) self-efficacy is developed from four main sources that include mastery experiences, social persuasions, vicarious experiences and emotional arousal.

Cognitive Engagement

It has been opined by Alivernini & Lucidi (2011) that mastery experience is referred to as judgements of the competence on the part of an individual’s previous achievements related to tasks. Prat?Sala & Redford (2010) has also opined that successes enhance mastery experiences while it is lowered by repetitive failures especially if failure occurs early in the course of events. Thus, from the above decisions, it can be said when a student looks upon his or her competence as a mastery experience, his or her academic performance increases.

According to vicarious experiences can be referred to as observation of someone’s achievement in a related task. It has been opined by Piniel & Csizer (2015) that vicarious experience has weaker impact on expectancy of self efficacy. However, when an individual is put in an unfamiliar environment where the individual is not able to utilize his or her prior experience and knowledge in completing the task, he can by seeing and observing others perform the similar task without any adverse results and consequences can develop enhanced efficacy expectations (Fantz et al., 2011). This might motivate the observer to put more efforts in doing the task. Thus, it can be said that individuals by observing others perform the tasks can lead to enhanced academic performance.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is clear to us that all the three aspects discussed above are extremely crucial for ensuring the personal and professional growth and development of an individual.  Engagement, Motivation and Self-efficacy are all playing a significant role in affecting the academic performance of the students by showcasing their levels of commitment while they are pursuing academic excellence. By having a proper and thorough understanding about the diverse aspects of motivation, engagement and self-efficacy we would be able to understand how these three aspects are influencing the academic learning process. This assignment has played a vital role in helping us to understand how the aspects of motivation, engagement and self-efficacy can impact the overall learning process of an individual and how it would eventually determine their future academic growth and success.

References

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Boyd, F. B. (2002). Motivation to continue: Enhancing literacy learning for struggling readers and writers. Reading and Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 18, 257–277.

Self-Efficacy

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Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well being. American Psychologist, 55, 68–78.

Dogan, U. (2015). Student engagement, academic self-efficacy, and academic motivation as predictors of academic performance management . The Anthropologist, 20(3), 553-561.

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Kim, C., Park, S. W., Huynh, N., & Schuermann, R. T. (2017). University students’ motivation, engagement and performance in a large lecture-format general education course. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 41(2), 201-214.

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