A self report perspective on motivational styles of OBE learners at a primary school in KwaZulu-Natal.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of the motivational styles that learners display when engaging in their schoolwork. The study was conducted with 132 grade seven learners at a primary school in KwaZulu-Natal. The five variables examined were extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, attributions, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. Learners had to respond to a self-report questionnaire adapted from The Academic Self-Regulation Questionnaire (Ryan and Connell; 1989), and Morgan and Jinks Self-Efficacy Scale (Morgan and Jinks; 1999). Items were related to learner's involvement in classwork, homework, and participation in lessons, and based on the five motivational variables mentioned previously. The Likert Scale with response options of Very True, Sort of True, Not very True, and Not at all True were used. In favourable statements Very True was scored four, Sort of True three, Not very True two, and Not at all True one. The scoring was reversed in the case of reversed coding. Emanating from the study, the findings reveal that learners reported doing their work for fear of punishment, and adherence to rules (extrinsic motivation), value their work (intrinsic motivation), have strong internal attributes (attribution), understand the work (self-efficacy beliefs), and can work on their own to achieve personal goals (self-regulation styles). The implications is that Curriculum 2005 may be having a positive effect in developing learners who are motivated to achieve academically.