Interest development and self-regulation of motivation

Author(s):  
David McLoughlin

In this chapter, the author investigates the importance of interest as an essential component of both self-regulation and motivation which are both critical in the development of learner autonomy, especially outside the classroom. The author shows how interest not only initiates motivation but can also sustain it in the long term. The role of interest as a source and a driver of motivation has not always been emphasized enough, but its significance has been increasingly recognized in research over the last couple of decades (Hidi & Ainley, 2009; Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Sansone, 2009; Sansone & Thoman, 2005, 2006). Because interest is now seen as crucial in enabling learners to maintain their motivation over time, it has a particular relevance to individuals in self-directed or ‘beyond the classroom’ learning contexts. In such contexts, learners have to regulate their own motivation to a great extent. They can do this by setting goals and monitoring their progress in attaining those goals. They can also maintain their motivation by finding what interests them and by developing that interest. Some studies have shown how autonomous learners use interest as well as goals to regulate and sustain their motivation (McLoughlin & Mynard, 2015, 2018; Mynard & McLoughlin, 2016). This chapter examines how a focus on interest helps learners become more effective at regulating their motivation, as well as how interest development can play an important part in creating more autonomous learners.

10.29007/5xsb ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Martínez-Flor ◽  
Esther Usó-Juan

Studies analysing the positive role of pragmatic instruction in formal settings have increased over the last decades. Within this area of interventional pragmatics, some studies have particularly examined whether the effectiveness of the instruction implemented is sustained over time. In order to shed more light on the long-term effects of instruction, this research investigates English as a Foreign Language learners’ use of complaining formulas not only after immediately receiving instruction, but also two months later. Results show that learners keep using a variety of appropriate complaining formulas two months after having participated in the instructional period. These findings are discussed and directions for future research suggested.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greta M. Fastrich ◽  
Kou Murayama

Interest is an important motivational element for learning in the school environment. However, little research has directly addressed how interest develops over time as knowledge accumulates. To gain a better understanding of interest development, we developed a paradigm where participants gain step-by-step information about lesser known countries. After reading each piece of information, participants rated their interest in and liking of the country. Growth-curve modelling showed that interest grows during knowledge acquisition until it eventually stalls and starts to decline. We also found that the opportunity to choose information boosted the growth in interest and delayed its decline. Further analysis revealed that people disengaged from a topic (i.e. stopped accessing information about a particular country) when their interest started to decrease.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 326-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irena Heszen

Temperament is probably an important factor that influences coping activity. The framework of the study was the Regulative Theory of Temperament by Strelau, where six temperamental traits are distinguished: emotional reactivity, perseveration, activity, briskness, sensory sensitivity, and endurance. These traits were hypothesized to be connected to coping activity in accordance with their psychological characteristics. It was also expected that the associations between temperament and coping activity should depend on stress intensity. Participants were 278 diabetics and 232 patients after first myocardial infarction (MI). The study was longitudinal and two diseases had been purposely selected so as to represent stress intensity either increasing (in diabetes) or decreasing (after MI) over time. Temperamental traits as well as coping activity components: cognitive appraisal, affect, and coping strategies were measured using self-report questionnaires. As hypothesized, temperamental traits were connected to coping activity. Phase-related changes in coping activity confirmed an increase in stress levels in diabetics, while cardiac patients tended to experience the situation as more challenging. While the expectation referring to the differential role of temperament under different levels of stress intensity was not confirmed, the connections of temperament with coping activity were found to decrease under long-term stress.


2021 ◽  
pp. 263-285
Author(s):  
Jack Bauer

This chapter examines how the transformative self facilitates long-term self-regulation. Most research on self-regulation targets the immediate moment (referred to here as micro self-regulation) or personal events that last weeks or months (meso self-regulation). In contrast, the transformative self functions as a tool for macro self-regulation in one’s attempt to shape one’s life over time (for which evolving life stories are especially well suited). Hedonic, transformative self-regulation comes in the forms of realistic optimism, self-improvement motivation, cybernetic feedback motives, intentional self-development, and the flexible pursuit of goals. Eudaimonic, transformative self-regulation is especially helpful for adaptation to life’s difficulties and is found in dual-process models of adaptation to loss and potential trauma. These dual processes aim to regulate and balance both affect and meaning-making. The quiet ego represents a synthesis of these forms of self-regulation, balancing detached awareness (e.g., mindfulness), inclusive identity (e.g., interdependence, compassion), perspective-taking (e.g., value perspectivity), and growth-mindedness.


ILR Review ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan L. Gustman ◽  
Olivia S. Mitchell ◽  
Thomas L. Steinmeier

Because employer-sponsored group pension plans entail agreements between workers and their employers explicitly linking future payment and employment, they offer an unusual window into long-term employment relationships. This review of recent research on pensions explores how pensions influence employee compensation, retirement, turnover, and other matters central to the determination of labor's price and quantity over time. The authors also outline some unanswered questions and difficult-to-reconcile findings.


2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEANINE TREFFERS-DALLER ◽  
RAYMOND MOUGEON

In this Special Issue, the focus is on contact-induced language variation and change in situations of societal bilingualism that involve long-term contact between French and another language. As is well known, when two or more languages are spoken by groups of speakers in the same geographical area, over time, features from one language can be transferred to the other language, especially when the languages in question are unequal in terms of prestige, institutional support and demographic factors. The process that leads to the adoption of such features in the contact languages is generally known as INTERFERENCE or TRANSFER, and these terms are also used to describe the features in question (i.e. the end product of the process of transfer). In this issue we prefer to use the term TRANSFER over the use of the notion INTERFERENCE, as the former has fewer negative connotations than the latter.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 702-704

Kim Oosterlinck of Université Libre de Bruxelles reviews “Financial Elites and European Banking: Historical Perspectives,” edited by Youssef Cassis and Giuseppe Telesca. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Nine papers look at the role of financial elites in different European societies and markets over time, providing historical comparisons and cross-country analysis of their adaptation and contribution to the transformation of the national and international regulatory/cultural context in the wake of a crisis in a long-term perspective.”


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin McManus ◽  
Rosamond Mitchell ◽  
Nicole Tracy-Ventura

The current study investigated advanced L2 learners’ linguistic development before, during, and after a nine-month stay abroad, the extent to which contextual changes (home-abroad-home)influenced the nature and magnitude of development, and the ways in which relationships among different linguistic elements changed over time. Participants were 56 university learners majoring in French (n = 29) and Spanish (n = 27), who spent an academic year abroad in the middle of a four-year BA degree program. Oral data were collected six times over 21 months to trace development and change in complexity, accuracy, fluency, and lexis (CAFL). Results showed ongoing improvements over time on most measures, including accuracy. Correlations indicated long-term relationships between fluency and vocabulary only and that accuracy-complexity relationships emerged in instructed home contexts only. These findings suggest that the affordances of home and abroad contexts can shape learners’ linguistic development and use differently. The role of pre-departure linguistic ability is discussed as critical to understanding the nature and extent of L2 linguistic development in study abroad.


Author(s):  
Kevin McManus ◽  
Rosamond Mitchell ◽  
Nicole Tracy-Ventura

Abstract The current study investigated advanced L2 learners’ linguistic development before, during, and after a nine-month stay abroad, the extent to which contextual changes (home-abroad-home) influenced the nature and magnitude of development, and the ways in which relationships among different linguistic elements changed over time. Participants were 56 university learners majoring in French (n = 29) and Spanish (n = 27), who spent an academic year abroad in the middle of a four-year BA degree programme. Oral data were collected six times over 21 months to trace development and change in complexity, accuracy, fluency, and lexis. Results showed ongoing improvements over time on most measures, including accuracy. Correlations indicated long-term relationships between fluency and vocabulary only and that accuracy–complexity relationships emerged in instructed home contexts only. These findings suggest that the affordances of home and abroad contexts can shape learners’ linguistic development and use differently. The role of pre-departure linguistic ability is discussed as critical to understanding the nature and extent of L2 linguistic development in study abroad.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1047-1056
Author(s):  
Brian W. Haas ◽  
Michelle R. vanDellen

Cultural context can affect how changes in self-concepts are either valued or tolerated. However, very little is currently known regarding how culture may differentially confer consequences to people that change their self-concepts over the course of several years. We investigated the moderating role of culture (Japan and USA) on the link between long-term (∼4 years) self-concept changes and a comprehensive set of well-being measures (hedonic, eudaimonic, and family based). We found that American’s self-concept instability was more negatively associated with one’s well-being and emotional support within one’s family than Japanese. Furthermore, Americans were particularly negatively impacted when they became less agentic and conscientious over time. One possible interpretation is that Western, individualistic cultures may discourage people from changing their identities throughout their adult life. Although American culture often espouses the sanctity of freedom, American culture may also limit people’s freedom to change how they see themselves over time.


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