The Effect of a Brief Training in Motivational Interviewing on Trainee Skill Development

Motivational interviewing (MI) is an empirically based practice that provides counselors with methods for working with resistant and ambivalent clients. Whereas previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of training current clinicians in this evidenced‐based practice, no research has investigated the efficacy of teaching MI to counselors‐in‐training who work with clients from the general population. The authors examined the effect of a student‐based training in MI for 43 graduate‐level counselor trainees using a quasi‐experimental controlled design. Statistical analyses based on pretest and posttest assessments revealed participants’ knowledge and skill in MI significantly improved in the treatment group. Implications for training future counselors and suggestions for additional research are explored.     

Students’ motivational beliefs in science learning,school motivational contexts,and science achievement in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Taiwanese students are featured as having high academic achievement but low motivational beliefs according to the serial results of the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Moreover, given that the role of context has become more important in the development of academic motivation theory, this study aimed to examine the relationship between motivational beliefs and science achievement at both the student and school levels. Based on the Expectancy-Value Theory, the three motivational beliefs, namely self-concept, intrinsic value, and utility value, were the focuses of this study. The two-level hierarchical linear model was used to analyse the Taiwanese TIMSS 2011 eighth-grade student data. The results indicated that each motivational belief had a positive predictive effect on science achievement. Additionally, a positive school contextual effect of self-concept on science achievement was identified. Furthermore, school-mean utility value had a negative moderating effect on the relationship between utility value and science achievement. In conclusion, this study sheds light on the functioning of motivational beliefs in science learning among Taiwanese adolescents with consideration of the school motivational contexts.     

Motivating learners in open and distance learning: do we need a new theory of learner support?

This paper calls for a new theory of learner support in distance learning based on recent findings in the fields of learning and motivational psychology. It surveys some current learning motivation theories and proposes that models drawn from the relatively new field of Positive Psychology, such as the ‘Strengths Approach’, together with Dweck’s Self Theory and Anderson’s insistence on proactive support, could be developed into a ‘Proactive Motivational Support’ theory. Such a theory might enable distance educators to support learners more successfully than existing models of learning skills development and remedial support. The paper then reports on further findings from experiments (one previously described in Open Learning), using these approaches in the UK Open University. These findings confirm the previous results, showing significant increases in retention that, in the context of the Open University’s funding arrangements, appear to be at least self‐financing.     

Examining Hong Kong students’ motivational beliefs,strategy use and their relations with two relational factors in classrooms

This study examines Hong Kong students’ motivational beliefs, strategy use and their relations with two relational factors in classrooms – student learning community and teacher support and involvement. A total of 2206 Grade Four to Grade Nine students responded to a questionnaire that comprised three instruments, including two scales measuring student learning community and teacher support and involvement in classroom, respectively, and the Chinese version of the Motivated Strategy for Learning Questionnaire. Our findings suggest that the two relational factors could play an important role in facilitating students’ intrinsic value, self‐efficacy, and strategy use, reflecting some culture‐specific features of students’ self‐regulated learning in Hong Kong classrooms. The implications of these findings for understanding Hong Kong students’ motivational beliefs and strategy use are discussed. Finally, suggestions for future research are put forward.     

体育课动机气氛对维汉大中学生目标定向、身体自尊影响的实验研究

选取大学、中学的维吾尔族和汉族教学班,进行两种不同动机气氛的教学,考察动机气氛对目标定向和身体自尊的影响。以课堂气氛为自变量、Ames的TARGET教学模式为指导,在课堂中营造学习气氛和成绩气氛。在选取的大、中学维汉十个教学班进行了为期8周的两种课堂气氛的教学实验,得出以下结论:1)动机气氛可以改变学生的目标定向、身体自尊。学习气氛教学可以提高学生的任务定向、身体自尊;成绩气氛教学则提高学生的自我定向。2)在动机气氛的主效应上,不具有年级差异和民族差异。     

Physical education teachers’ perceptions of perceived mattering and marginalization

Background: In many countries around the world, physical education (PE) has been identified as a marginalized subject. PE teachers have been found to feel negative consequences associated with marginality, such as stress, burnout, and early career attrition. Recent evidence also indicates that physical educators can develop a sense of perceived mattering both in relation the subject of PE and their role as that teacher of that subject. Less is known, however, about the relationship between perceived mattering and marginalization, and how teachers navigate social messages associated with each that they receive while teaching. Role socialization theory has emerged as an approach to studying teachers’ experiences in school environments, and can be used to understand their experiences with marginality and mattering.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to understand how the social environment of schools influences PE teachers’ perceptions of marginalization and perceived mattering, and how these two constructs interact.

Method: The investigation was conceptualized as an interview study, and framed using a social constructivist epistemology. Participants included 30 in-service PE teachers (16 males, 14 females) from the Midwest region of the US. Data were collected using in-depth qualitative interviews, and analyzed through a collaborative approach to data analysis that drew upon both inductive and deductive forms of analysis.

Results: Participants identified experiences with both perceived mattering and marginalization in their work, and noted that sometimes these messages were contradictory. Some participants felt the effects of marginalization as their discipline was viewed as a dispensable commodity that is only meaningful for the service it provides to other teachers (e.g. gives elementary classroom teachers a break for planning). Some of the teachers internalized their marginal status and began to see their primary function as supporting the work of teachers in other subjects. Nevertheless, the participants derived a sense of mattering by building relationships with colleagues, administrators, and students, and by advocating for the discipline. Teachers also felt validated when colleagues acknowledge their attempts to implement effective practices, but struggled when working with colleagues who are resistant to change.

Conclusions: PE teachers experience both marginalization and perceived mattering, which are shaped largely by social interactions within the school environment. This study specifically lends to the view of marginalization and perceived mattering as two constructs at opposite ends of a continuum, rather than a binary conceptualization. This suggests that it could be the summation of marginalizing experiences and those that promote mattering that lead physical educators to develop overall impressions of their role in schools. Furthermore, this study adds to the literature indicating that physical educators may eventually internalize feelings of marginalization when consistently told that they do not matter. This has implications related to the washout effect whereby teachers who no longer feel as if they are making meaningful contributions to children’s education may compromise their teaching practice.     

心理契约与和谐采编关系建构

本文分析了心理契约与和谐采编之间关系的建构问题.     

A study on motivational factors of students in German Language Teaching Department at Trakya University

There are many definitions, views and theories for motivation. This study aims to state expressly what type of motivation factors according to the students＇ grades affects the students of German Language Teaching Departments （Turkey） negatively or positively. How the external and internal factors affect the students of German Language Teaching Departments in terms of motivation will be determined in this study. A questionnaire has been given to the students （freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes） of Trakya University German Language Teaching Departments （2008） to collect data for showing the motivation profile of these students. The questionnaire has been transferred to SPSS program except quantitative analysis. The frequency and the percentage distributions of the data have been calculated with the aim of determining the students＇ views. In conclusion, it is possible to state that German Language Teaching Department students have been affected by the positive and negative motivation factors and the achievements and failures of these students could vary depending on the different reasons. On the other hand, the students of German Language Teaching Department have attributed important roles to the lecturers. Many features of the lecturers have affected the students＇ motivation positively.     

体育课不同动机气氛对维、汉大中学生主观幸福感影响的干预研究

选取大学、中学的汉族和维吾尔族10个教学实验班,进行两种不同的动机气氛的教学,以课堂气氛为自变量、Ames的TARGET教学模式为指导,在体育课堂中创设学习气氛和成绩气氛,进行了为期8周的两种课堂气氛的教学实验,考察动机气氛对主观幸福感的影响。得出结论:1)学习气氛实验班的主观幸福感水平明显高于成绩气氛实验班;2)学习气氛教学情境对不同年级学生的主观幸福感水平的影响程度不同;3)成绩气氛教学情境对学生的主观幸福感的负面影响更大;4)不同动机气氛下,在维族和汉族学生的幸福感水平上不同年级均呈现出变化规律的一致性。     

规则导向型组织文化下领导者动机组合对绩效的影响研究

从领导者素质-动机组合出发,选取组织文化这个情景,研究在规则导向型组织文化下领导者动机组合对领导绩效的影响,建立了研究个体的动机倾向组合和领导绩效关系的概念模型。研究得出:各种情景下,三高动机组合都是最优组合;权力动机高、成就动机高、亲合动机低组合不一定适合所有情景下的领导;在规则文化下,权力动机是主导因素,比较起其他动机,权力动机对领导绩效有更大的影响;亲合动机过高对领导绩效有负向影响。