Factors in Student Motivation
Authored by: Steven C. Howey
Educators across the country are frustrated with the challenge of how to motivate the ever increasing number of freshmen students entering college who are psychologically, socially, and academically unprepared for the demands of college life. Such students often exhibit maladaptive behavior such as tardiness, hostility towards authority, and unrealistic aspirations.

The standard approach is to address the problem as an academic issue through remedial or developmental instruction. Developmental education programs however do not address the whole problem. Lack of motivation is not limited to the academically weak student. Successful remedial and study strategies courses aimed at the underprepared student have demonstrated that students who really want to improve their skills can do so when motivated. However, even the best remedial instruction programs have failed to positively impact the student who is both underprepared academically and unmotivated. When students have both a lack of academic skills and lack motivation, the greater problem is motivation (Kelly, 1988). Faculty often have neither the time or inclination to address difficult motivational issues in the classroom, consequently, the task of trying to effectively motivate such students often falls to academic advisors.
Opinions about the role of motivation in academic achievement and what can be done about it vary widely among college faculty, administrators, and student services professionals. Consideration about unmotivated students opens a Pandora’s box of questions: Can anything be done about these students? Can motivation be taught? What kind of strategies can be used to influence motivation? Is this time wasted that might better be used on those students who are already motivated?

The problem of devising effective strategies that influence