Abstract:
Motivation is increasingly recognized as contextually situated, and this
recognition has led to considerable research into motivation in authentic
learning environments such as classrooms. Developing sociocultural perspectives
on motivation, however, requires consideration of theoretical
issues beyond those of context. This article discusses two separate empirical
studies that are grounded in sociocultural principles in that they
reconceptualize the constructs of interest and student regulatory activities
as fundamentally social in nature and origin. Using multiple methodologies
that allow focus at the levels of both classroom and individual,
these studies employ the notion of transformative internalization and
subsequent externalization to explain the social origins of individual motivational
processes. The study of interest followed a small group of stu-dents within a primary science classroom, and employed a range of qualitative
methods including observation of lessons, the videotaping of lesson
segments, interviews with students, and written student reflections.
The study of student regulatory activities investigated the impact of a
teaching intervention in primary social studies classrooms, and used a
combination of quantitative (questionnaire-based) and qualitative methods
(semistructured interviews, observations of classroom activities, and
student reflections). Both studies contribute to the development of sociocultural
perspectives on motivation through empirical researchguided by
such theoretical notions as intersubjectivity, canalization, and coregulaiion.
