Dynamics of Learning Motivation in Early School Age Children

Abstract

The paper presents outcomes of a longitudinal study on learning motivation in children of early school age. The aim was to reveal the leading motives in first, second, third and fourth grades and to explore the dynamics of some learning motives in children over the whole period of elementary school. As it was found, the learning activity in the children was mostly motivated by social motives, among which the leading ones were the motives of self-determination and well-being. As for learning motives, over the course of all four years the children were for the most part motivated by the content of the learning activity, and not by its process. The dynamics of certain social motives of the learning activity varied across the sample, with some going through the periods of increase and decrease and others having a one-way dynamics. The study also revealed a decrease in the motivation rooted in the learning activity itself between the second and third year; at the same time, in the second, third and fourth years the children were more motivated by the content of the learning activity than by its process.