The elusive motivation: the development of motivation in real time

This study analyzes the development of motivation over time. Four secondary school students, all of them in first grade, were followed for two weeks and asked to report on the development of their motivation over several lessons of German and Spanish, using the so called motometer. The results show that there are differences in motivation that are consistent, but that within these levels of motivation there is quite some variation. Most of the consistent differences in motivation are probably caused by differences in attitude, whereas the smaller changes are probably due to environmental factors, interacting with individual non-course related factors. The participants in this study also seem to include their mood and feelings in the definition of motivation. To come to a better understanding of the complex nature of motivation the framework as used in Dynamic System Theory is probably a useful one. Also there is a need to focus on the individual and his or her personal development instead of looking for larger scale grouping variables, and to reconsider our definitions of motivation.