This document discusses motivation in the classroom and compares approaches between Australian and Malaysian primary schools. It outlines three main approaches to motivation: behaviourist, cognitivist, and humanistic. Students in Australian classrooms generally enjoy school and see teachers as caring, while Malaysian students often dislike school due to an emphasis on fear and punishment. The document concludes that motivation is a better approach than corporal punishment, and that the Malaysian system could benefit from positive practices used in Australian schools.

1. Motivation in the Classroom
Jude Tan (3X)
Nurul Ain Amylia Ahmad (3G)

2. Overview
• Definition of Motivation
• Approaches in Motivation
• Motivation: Theory into Practice
• Comparing the approaches in the Australian
and Malaysian Primary School Classrooms
• Should we make changes or go with the flow?
• Conclusion

3. What is Motivation?
• Motivation is defined as an internal state that
arouses, directs and maintains behaviour (Woolfolk,
2004).
• Motivation is thought to be responsible for quot;why
people decide to do something, how long they are
willing to sustain the activity and how hard they are
going to pursue itquot; (Dörnyei, 2001).
• In own simple words, “To make students want to do what you
want them to do –by giving them a MOTIVE to do so.”

4. Approaches
• Behaviourist Approach
• Cognitivist Approach
• Humanistic Approach

5. Behaviourist Approach
• Humans are motivated to perform or repeat
certain behaviours if they are rewarded and
de-motivated to do so if they are punished.
• Students know that good behaviours will be
rewarded and there are consequences for
misbehaviours.
• Positive reinforcements are more likely to be
used.

9. Cognitivist Approach
• Bandura’s Self-efficacy Theory
• Self-efficacy can determine whether or
not student will engage in a learning task
and whether or not the student will
persist in his or her efforts to master the
task.
• Influenced by:
– Mastery experiences
– Vicarious experiences
– Social persuasion

11. Cognitivist Approach
• Bandura’s Self-efficacy Theory
• Self-efficacy can determine whether or
not student will engage in a learning task
and whether or not the student will
persist in his or her efforts to master the
task.
• Influenced by:
– Mastery experiences
– Vicarious experiences
– Social persuasion
– Physiological and emotional arousal

13. Humanistic Approach
• Humans are motivated towards certain
behaviours because of self-actualisation.
• The goal is to enable students to enhance
their experiences of themselves so that
they become less defensive and more
open to learning from their experience.
• E.g: Teacher gives freedom to students so
that they feel responsible for their own
learning.

14. Comparing Australian and
Malaysian Primary School
Australian Classrooms
Classrooms
Malaysian Classrooms
Most students like to go to school Most students dislike attending school
Students desire praise from the teacher Students fear the teacher’s punishment
Students learn because they are motivated Students learn because they fear worse if
they do not learn
Students are keen to contribute ideas Students are scared to make mistakes
Students sees their teacher as a Students respect their teacher because
caring figure of the authority
Emphasises on REWARDS in teaching Emphasises on FEAR in teaching discipline.
self-discipline.

15. Is canning still a routine in
Malaysian classrooms today?

16. Caning is revived in Malaysian
Schools
• MoE brings corporal punishment back to school after 3 years
it since was banned in 2006.
• Reason?
– “We need to take such preventive measure because
students today are ‘too creative’ in breaking the rules,”
Deputy Education Minister, Wee Ka Siong told the Agence
France-Presse (AFP) on Tuesday (7th April 2009).
• The answer to parents?
– “We will allow the headmaster or anyone who is
authorised to carry out the punishment, while parents will
be informed and invited to witness the canning to avoid
misunderstanding,” he added.

17. Is corporal punishment an effective
solution?
• Effects of punishment are only temporary and
produces aggression (Strassberg, Dodge, Pettit & Bates,
1994).
• Accumulated research supports the theory that
corporal punishment is an ineffective discipline
strategy with children of all ages and, furthermore, that
it most often produces anger, resentment, and low
self-esteem in the victim (Paintal, 2007).
• As a negative impact for the future, corporal
punishment sends a message to the child that violence
is a viable option for solving problems (Straus, Gelles,
& Steinmetz, 1980; Straus, Sugarman,& Giles-Sims,
1997).

18. Conclusion
• Motivation is a better way to teach self-discipline compared
to corporal punishment.
• Corporal punishment has more long-term negative impacts on
the student compared to the temporary effects.
• It is important that we reflect on the positive practices we
observed and learnt from the Australian schools and bring
changes to the Malaysian Education system.
• We can prove that corporal punishment is unnecessary in the
education system, starting with our own class of students.

19. References
• Agence France-Presse (AFP) (2009, April 7). Hukuman rotan diberlakukan lagi di sekolah
Malaysia. [Canning is revived in Malaysian Schools]. DetikNews. Retrieved May 20,
2009 from
http://www.detiknews.com/read/2009/04/07/141024/1111707/10/hukuman-rotan-
diberlakukan-lagi-di-sekolah-malaysia
• Dornyei, Zoltan. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
• Paintal, S. (2007). Banning corporal punishment of children. An ACEI Position Paper.
International Focus Issue 2007, p410-413.
• Strassberg, Z., Dodge, K. A., Pettit, G. S., & Bates, J. E.(1994). Spanking in the home and
children’s subsequent aggression toward kindergarten peers. Development and
Psychopathology, 6, p445-461.
• Straus, M. A., Sugarman, D. B., & Giles-Sims. (1997). Corporal punishment by parents and
subsequent antisocial behavior of children. Archives of Pediatrics and
AdolescentMedicine, 155, 761-767.
• Woolfolk, A. (2004). Educational psychology (9th ed.) Pearson A & B.