Motivated teachers motivate students: Instructional practices for enhancing students’ motivation.

A large body of evidence has been provided about the importance of different aspects of students’ and pupils’ motivation. Broadly speaking, motivated students and pupils perform better, experience higher levels of positive affect, enjoy a good class climate and are less at risk of dropping out compared to less motivated students. Much research has been conducted to study different facets and predictors of students’ motivation, while little research has been devoted to explore teachers’ motivation and its relationship with students’ motivation. Based on the thesis that ‘motivated teachers motivate students’ and that motivation can be taught directly or indirectly, this chapter will discuss helpful teaching strategies for raising students’ motivation. First of all, research about predictors of students’ motivation will be presented, then the question about motivation in teachers will be explored. Finally, effective instructional strategies for students’ motivational improvement will be reviewed. Suggestions will be provided for increasing the four levels of motivation: pleasure, relevance, confidence, and effort. Avenues to create more motivationally oriented instruction and to help teachers increase motivation will be addressed.