August 19, 2007

TEACHERS are seldom happy with their students. Unsurprisingly, one gets to often hear that students of this generation are manipulative, distracted and not serious -- the list goes on. But a very common complaint or observation made by teachers is that students of this generation are not as motivated as they used to be.

Most faculty hold various external factors responsible for this low motivation such as the abundance of distractions in students’ lives, an undisciplined lifestyle, overexposure to mass media and to the family background as well. However, few relate it to their classroom practice and do not critically reflect on their role in having disinterested students. Is low motivation a student problem?

“If you want to ask any questions do not come to my office. I have lots of other work to do. Ask me only in the classroom” says a senior teacher in his class. Sadly this attitude is typical of most of teachers who speak casually without realising the impact their words can have on a student’s motivation. Furthermore, today’s teachers do not want to extend their relationship with their students beyond the classroom as a majority have little time for students’ queries and find it unimportant to deal with individual problems. Students are taken as a package not as individuals with varying abilities and needs. This attitude of detachment leads to low motivation among students. In fact it is teachers’ low motivation about the whole enterprise of teaching and learning that has its effects on students’ motivation.

A majority of the students relate teacher’s attribute with the subject which means that if they like their teacher they like the subject being taught by the teacher. A student of English at Karachi University says about his teacher: “My teacher has made the course of research (which is generally considered challenging and boring) easy by only taking interest in our learning. She has put up the days on the board when we can see her for any problem be it academic or personal.”

Linking to the faculty interest factor Shama Perveen Kolachi, an English language teacher at a government degree college for girls Larkana, shares her experience. Whenever she took interest in the learning and lives of her students and listened to them, she found high motivation from them for her course.

What makes classroom learning a boring experience for most students is the sheer monotony of their teachers’ practice. They know before hand how their teachers are going to begin their class each day, their patent vocabulary, and their routine strategies for teaching. On the contrary what students need is enthusiasm and variety -- whether it is the hand out or the use of teaching aids or the kind of questions and tasks set to them. There must not be redundancy in them and it has been observed that teachers who are unable to bring in the element of enthusiasm and variety generally score very low on students’ evaluation.

Enthusiasm or the lack of it can not be masked. Every thing that a teacher does before during or after class reflects on his/ her enthusiasm for teaching. Let us see a case at an M. Phil class. Early in the course the teacher walks in the class and announces that the course syllabus is too long. Therefore it is advisable that the participants choose one topic from the syllabus list and prepare one presentation on it. She rationalises her decision of having students making presentations without her input on the topics on the fact that if she gave input on these topics the course would not be complete. From the next class the teacher relaxes and students give presentations on topics they have never heard of.

This relegation of responsibility on the shoulders of students not only de-motivates them but also forces them to use short cuts in academics, like copy and paste options and the internet.

The classroom environment is largely an expression of one’s enthusiasm for teaching and learning. However, it is also considered by many that by encouraging student one invites problems for himself/herself. As when students get empowered they can ask all sort of questions and the inability to answers on the part of the instructor will belittle the image of the teacher. In reality if students are not empowered in the classroom they will not find anything worth attending and find such classroom dull, dry and boring. The net result is low motivation. Ambreen, a post graduate student at a private university, says of her teacher: “the best thing about him is that he allows us to question him or disagree with him and he respects our views on politics. We find ourselves very comfortable and highly motivated in his classes.”

Some of the tried and tested strategies for raising students’ interest and motivation is to encourage peer to peer interaction as this largely helps make the classroom more democratic and tension free. Likewise giving importance to students’ contribution made during or outside the class works wonders in involving them in the class whether it is by encouraging them to ask questions or make comment or getting their ideas. Positive reinforcement in the form of appreciating remarks during the class not only motivates them but helps them build their confidence and raise their self-esteem. Professor Dr. Nisar Ahmed Zuberi, a retired professor at the department of mass communication, says that “to say that students are not motivated is incorrect. It is their motivation that brings them to educational institutions. To raise this level of motivation is the job of a teacher.” He further elaborates by saying that some teachers enter their classroom with their notes which they dictate and then walk off. Research in the field of classroom teaching gives evidence that the use of visuals helps raise students’ motivation. Even textbooks on research make use of cartoons and graphs and charts to hold the attention of their readers. He says there is no harm if teachers can participate in discussions on the likes of his/her students.

Mr Mustafa, a lecturer in political science at Sindh University, holds a different view. He says that students are only interested in passing the examinations. Their presence in the classroom is largely because of strict policy of the universities otherwise no one would attend classes. Also, students are happy with the teachers who spoon feed them by dictating notes. He says that he has tried different strategies such as group work, pair work, presentations and assignments but students remained unmotivated.

I shared this problem with a colleague who has recently returned with a post- graduation degree from a university in the UK who had this to say: “The problem with the present set of teachers is that they remain so uninvolved that they cannot go deep into the psyche and needs of the learners. Hence the product/outcome is the mere mechanical learning process with no final concrete, tangible achievement as such. Therefore teachers need to reflect on and review their roles and gear their teaching according to the needs of their learners to inculcate motivation and fortify the teacher-student bond and bridge the gap that exists.”

Finding intellectually curious students, self motivated and with the passion to learn for the sake of learning is difficult. A majority come to classes with a utilitarian bent of mind. They get interested in ideas and skills only when they are shown the relevance and utility of the skills and knowledge they are imparted. Some of the common mistakes teachers make are that they do not give enough time to their students after asking a question to be able to think and come up with their answers. Teachers ask a good question and then without giving the right amount of time start answering the question themselves.

Another common mistake is that teachers intimidate students by spotting them or by directing the question to particular students. Similarly while waiting for the answer, teachers move from one student to another until the best answer arrives. What they de-value is the significant contributions made by the ones whose answer they neglect. Rather than the teacher-student Q&A session, if teachers can get students to respond to one another’s questions, this will not only motivate them but will also give them the confidence that all important ideas and answers do not necessarily come from the front of the class.

The writer is an English language faculty at a private university in Karachi.