Bringing It All Together

Let’s now take a look at the approaches we have seen in Section Five using a framework that, hopefully, will make clearer the approaches we can use to enhance learner motivation—both external and internal.

As discussed in Section Five, the approach of behaviourism in our teaching/tutoring provides rewards for achievement; the liberal approach engages the learner with stimulating knowledge; and, the social justice approach can raise motivation to learn (and act) based on an increased awareness of social injustice. These act as external motivators.

The internal motivators are typically less observable and “less measurable,” as Skinner would say. But, by using the approaches of nurturing and self-directed learning from the very outset and transformative learning as occasions present themselves, we can help unpack learners’ fears and deep-seated self-doubts. These two approaches work with the inner-self…they touch on personal “inner-most-needs.”

The line between the two sets of motivators—external and internal—is thin. We can easily ask where one approach begins and the other ends, as is common with any attempt to simplify the complexities of the human condition. But these five approaches have shown themselves to be effective and have proven themselves repeatedly in the adult education research literature (e.g., Pratt, 1998), not to mention in my own practice through the years.d in Section Five (and discussed above) that could be used in a classroom or tutoring program.