Rincón del Maestro

Motivation in times of vulnerability

«Motivation rests firmly on cultural, cognitive, social, and personal foundations. Motivation has been mastered through centuries of nationwide, community and personal efforts.»

Leonardo Varela Santamaría

Co-coordinador del Área de Pedagogía del Departamento de Lenguas

“From my weakness I drew strength that never left me”. These words are quite fitting in these dire times. Borges wrote them in the text The Garden of Forking Paths. The text suggests life can be a labyrinth, a metaphor most people now relate to. So, how can we find strength in times of weakness? Whereabouts can it be found?

The answer, as unsurprisingly as it is, lies in front of our very eyes, or rather, within us. Motivation, indeed, helps us draw strength from our perceived weakness. Plenty of nonsense is talked and written about how to define it. This article brings some facts into the academic party. Let us put motivation under a microscope.

When scholars study motivation they do not respond to hearsay. No, their probe reveals there is no magic formula. Motivation rests firmly on cultural, cognitive, social, and personal foundations. Motivation has been mastered through centuries of nationwide, community and personal efforts. The impact of culture on how we perceive ourselves cannot be denied. For most cultures, motivation is perceived as “the desire to excel, that is, the impetus for excellence and success” (Michael, 2017). This impetus is transferred among individuals through oral traditions, folklore, and cultural artefacts. Hence, motivation is not necessarily structured across cultures similarly.

In Finnish Sisu means “strength, perseverance in a task that for some may seem crazy to undertake, almost hopeless” (Smirnova, 2018). Finnish draw from a nationwide concept to deal with challenging situations. Emilia Lahti, a researcher of Sisu from Aalto University in Helsinki claims that for Finns “the second wind of strength is Sisu”. Lahti says, “we all have these moments when we all need to reach beyond what we think we are capable of” (Lahti, 2019). Surely, this nationwide

construct of motivation is echoed somewhere else too. In Colombia, we have a common concept for collective motivation Berraquera. Berraquera, writ large, means “cualidad de la persona decidida, de carácter, valiente, corajuda, audaz, tesonera, que nada la detiene, dispuesta a enfrentar las dificultades y capaz de grandes áreas” (Yarce, 2013). Achievement is a recurring theme in both Sisu and Berraquera, and it permeates the very conception of motivation for most academics.

Longstanding psychological theories associate the concept of achievement to that of motivation. Motivation refers to “any force that energizes and directs behaviour towards a fixed goal” (Reeve, 2009). One does need a great deal of self-determination to motivate oneself to achieve goals. We need to view it from a perspective of controlled and autonomous motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000). The former is external, introjected; while the latter is identified, integrated and intrinsic. Controlled motivation comes from external contingencies and forces i.e. win a scholarship, earn a salary. Autonomous motivation is driven by personal values, commitment and self-interest i.e. do good to others, give the best of you. No wonder why there are mixed feelings when it comes to motivating ourselves.

When the sparks of motivation fly, we are higher achievers; but when they subside, we need to self-direct our energy to pursue what we want. Then again, how do these concepts appeal to our regular readers? Motivation is certainly paramount in educational practices and language learning as well.

Let us commence by claiming that in education motivation should not be the focus of instruction or planning. Motivation is a multifaceted concept that entails contingent and internal forces that are outside any practitioners’ complete control. What educators and language learners should do is to focus on educational engagement (Kuh, 2003). Educational engagement is understood as engaging students in purposeful activities within and without the school; it is

The impact of culture on how we perceive ourselves cannot be denied.

aided by a clever and timely allocation of resources. The idea of these pedagogies of engagement (Smith, Sheppard, et al, 2005) is to build up people’s knowledge and skills so that they become competent, autonomous, and relatable. Easier said than done you might think, especially when pedagogies of engagement work on the principle that physical resources, human resources, and social conditions are symmetric. In many countries, these principles are never met. Then, how can we help students and teachers stay tuned? For some psychologists, high levels of motivation are the key to do so. When people have clear individual set goals, affordable university lifestyle, a strong sense of belonging, clear career-driven goals, selfinterest, and highly-compliance with procedures” (Pintrich, 2003) we are highly likely to attain what we pursue. However, knowing what we want and ensuring we know how to do so are ‘big asks’ these days. At times, we feel as if we needed a recipe to navigate self-determination and motivation. Do we?

Cognitive theories of motivation may help explain motivation and the like –at least to schol- When the sparks of motivation fly, we ars- but why are higher achievers. do language learners tend to feel unmotivated even when they know they can source such energy from themselves? We can then draw if from our immediate sources of support. Grandparents, parents, friends, teachers, colleagues can offer support, wisdom, and love; they can be the beacons of motivation when we need it most. They can teach us that self-discipline is like the language we learn; it requires constancy, attention, and care. They share that to feel motivated we need to hear first than be heard. They know that you should be the change, not the Referencias: problem. They will tell you that if 1) Christenson, Reschly, Wylie you want your friend and students (2012) Handbook of Research on to take pride in their work, you Student Engagement Springerlink should take more pride in yours. 2) Kuh, G (2003) The National They have learnt that to commit Survey of Student Engagement: Conothers you ceptual and Empirical Foundations should hon- 3) Pintrich, P (2003) A Motiour agree- vational Science Perspective on the ments, not Role of Student Motivation in Learnpeople. We ing and Teaching Contexts. are compas- 4) Ryan, R & Deci, E (2000) sionate and Self-determination theory, and the understand- facilitation of intrinsic motivation, ing when we social development and well being. honour agree- 5) Smirnova, O (2018) Sisu: ments with The Finnish Art of Inner Strength our friends, peers, and students; https://bbc.in/2YfedPi and we should do so at all times on 6) Smith K & Sheppard S (2005) an adult-to-adult basis. Pedagogies of Engagement: ClassWe find strength in times of room-based Practices. Journal of weakness when we see that it is Engineering Education. always possible. We need to con- 7) Yarce, J (2013) La -bernect personally, academically, raquera- algo muy propio de los and professionally with those who colombianos. have made it happen. We need to https://bit.ly/3bNt9Ip reassure ourselves we can make

Taken from: https://www.rinconesazules.es/frases-motivadoras-cortas/ it; we will see it through. This is at the very core of self-determination and motivation.