Increasing Students’ Motivation for Learning Activities in the Pedagogical University

   The article is devoted to the problem of increasing the motivation of students for educational activities in a pedagogical university. Based on the study of psychological and pedagogical research, the authors reveal the role of motivation in higher education, present a description of the content of the concept of «motivation», analyze ways to increase the level of students’ motivation for learning activities, and also offer their understanding of the problem. The authors, relying on their own practical experience, describe ways to increase the educational motivation of students of the Surgut State Pedagogical University as part of the study of disciplines. In addition, they present the results of an empirical study of the educational motivation of 1st and 5th year students of this university. To measure the level of academic motivation, the authors used the “Academic Motivation Scale” methodology of a team of researchers led by T. O. Gordeeva. Comparison of the results of the average values on the scales made it possible to identify the leading types of learning motivation of students. To determine statistically significant differences in motivation scales, Student’s t-test was used for independent samples. The results allowed us to conclude that the first-year students have motives for learning activities related to avoiding possible problems, for example, from parents, the dean’s office, as well as a lack of interest and a sense of meaningfulness in learning. Thus, the need for systematic work on increasing the educational motivation of students was confirmed. The authors come to the conclusion that educational motivation is one of the decisive factors in the effectiveness of the educational process in the university, representing a set of motives that cause students to be active in the educational process.

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