Browsing by Subject "motivation"

Tutkielman aihe on Eurooppalaisten japanin opiskelijoiden opiskelumotivaatio. Lisäksi tutkielmassa tarkastellaan myös japanin opiskelijoiden omakuvaa vieraan kielen oppijoina. Keskeisin tutkimuskysymys tutkielmassa on millaista motivaatiota japanin opiskelijoilla on opintojensa suhteen ja kuinka he kuvailevat itseään ja taitojaan kielen oppijoina. Tutkielman teoriaosuudessa kerrotaan japanin kielen oppimisen mahdollisista haasteista ja esitellään aiempia tutkimuksia liittyen vieraan kielen oppimiseen ja motivaatioon yleisesti. Tutkielmassa perehdytään varhaisiin ja modereihin motivaatioteorioihin sekä kieli-identiteetin ja motivaation keskinäiseen suhteeseen ja teorioihin. Teoriaosuudessa esitellään yksityiskohtaisemmin juuri ne teoriat joita hyödynnetään tutkielman analyysissä. Nämä teoriat ovat Itseohjautuvuusteoria (Self Determination theory), Tavoiteteoria (Achievement Goal theory) ja motivaatioteoria omakuvasta kielen oppijana (L2 Motivational Self System theory). Tutkimusmenetelmä on haastattelut ja tutkimusaineistona toimii kymmenen litteroitua haastattelua, jotka on tehty yhden saksalaisen, viiden suomalaisen ja neljän espanjalaisen japanin opiskelijan kanssa. Haastateltavat ovat hyvin erilaisista taustoista, opiskelevat japania eri tasoilla ja heidän ikäjakaumansa on 22-40 vuotta. Tutkielman tulokset osoittavat että japanin opiskelijoilla on sekä sisäistä että ulkoista motivaatiota opintoihinsa. On myös mahdollista, että sisäisen ja ulkoisen motivaation välillä vallitsee ristiriita. Opiskelijat kertovat harjoittavansa japanin kieleen ja kulttuuriin liittyviä asioita runsaasti myös vapaa-ajallaan ja he ovat erittäin orientoituneita hyödyntämään kieltä tulevalla urallaan, mikä osoittaa sisäistä motivaatiota. Toisaalta opiskelijat kertovat suorittavansa esimerkiksi esitelmiä ja kokeita vain päästäkseen läpi kielen kursseilta, mikä puolestaan osoittaa ulkoista motivaatiota. Yleisimpiä uratoiveita ovat kääntäjän tai tulkin ammatit, mutta muitakin suuntautumismahdollisuuksia on. Esimerkillistä on se että vaikka opiskelija on keskeyttänyt aktiiviset opintonsa, hän voi silti kokea haluavansa jatkaa opintojaan tulevaisuudessa. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että japanin opiskelijoiden omakuva kielen oppijana vaihtelee runsaasti, sillä jokaisella on omat vahvuutensa ja haasteensa kielen suhteen. Esimerkiksi yllättävän harva haastatelluista kokee kielitaitonsa erittäin hyväksi ja etenkin kielen puhuminen tuottaa monille ongelmia mm. kohteliaisuuden ja sujuvuuden suhteen. Kaiken kaikkiaan tutkielman tulokset osoittavat, että japanin opiskelijoilla on erittäin paljon sisäistä motivaatiota, mutta myös ulkoista motivaatiota opintoihinsa. Suurin osa heistä tähtää myös käyttämään kieltä tulevalla urallaan joko kotimaassaan tai Japanissa. Japanin opiskelijoiden omakuva vaihtelee runsaasti henkilökohtaisten vahvuuksien ja heikkouksien mukaan, mutta heidän ajatuksensa siitä mitä muut odottavat heiltä japanin oppijoina ovat suhteellisen yhtenäisiä.

The goal for this study was to examine how students of educational science had experienced the remote studies caused by the pandemic and to examine how the remote studies had affected the students motivation, self-discipline and ability to concentrate. I was also interested in finding out how the students perceived their academic self-efficacy. The research approach in this study was phenomenographic. Phenomenographic studies strive to understand personal experiences. All together 5 students were interviewed about their experiences with remote studies. The interviews were semi-structured and done remotely through zoom. Afterwards the interviews were transcribed and analyzed with thematic analysis. The conducted study shows that the students were affected by the remote studies. Their motivation, self-discipline and ability to concentrate was affected by the remote studies. All of the participating students felt that they had good academic self-efficacy despite the remote studies.

Motivation has an important role in academic learning for learning is regulated by motivation. Further motivation is centrally manifested by goals. Goals reflect values and regulate individual's orientation and what they strive for. In spite of the central role of motivation in academic learning, discussions on post-graduate education has somewhat overlooked motivational processes and concentrated on the excellence of performance. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of goals PhD students have and how they experience their role in their own scientific community. It was also purpose to study how these goals and experienced roles are in relation with study each other, context, possible intentions of quitting studies and prolongation of studies. Furthermore, the aim was to investigate how different postgraduates differ in terms of how they experience their learning environment. The data was collected with the "From PhD students to academic experts" - survey (Pyhältö & Lonka, 2006) from four complementary domains: medicine, arts, psychology and education. The survey consisted of both likert-scaled items and open ended questions. The participants were 601 postgraduate students. The goals and the experienced role in scientific community were analysed in terms of qualitative content analysis. The relation between goals and experienced role and background variables were tested using χ² and the differences between different postgraduate groups using one way analysis of variances (ANOVA). The results indicated that postgraduates goals varied based on whether they brought up goals related to the product (outcome of the thesis process), the process (thesis process as whole) or both the product and the process. Product goals consisted of for example career qualification and better status as process goals consisted for example of learning and influencing ones own discipline. The experienced role of the postgraduates differed in terms of whether the conception was organised, unorganised or controversial. Both the goals and the experienced roles were in relation with study context and commitment to the studies. The different postgraduate groups also differed in terms of how they experienced their own learning environment.

Abstract The theoretical framework for this study comes from Carol Dweck’s (2000, 2006) theory of mindsets. Mindsets impact on core beliefs that individuals hold about the malleability of qualities of the human condition. A person with a growth mindset believes that abilities can be developed. A person a with fixed mindset believes that people have a certain amount of abilities, such as talent and intelligence. Mindsets have an impact on learning results, persistence and goals. Mindset also affects on how person reacts to challenges. Whilst theory of mindsets is internationally known and well researched, there has been less research regarding young children’s mindsets. The aim of this study is to examine what are the school subjects third grade pupils like and which factors influence that. In addition, study aims to examine what factors in learning motivates third grade pupils and how mindsets are presented in pupil’s answers. This study examined third grade students from two primary schools in Helsinki. The data of this study was collected as a part of Kirsi Tirri’s Copernicus research project’s intervention which utilized growth mindset pedagogy. The data of this study was gathered before intervention. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods. The analysis was performed using inductive and deductive content analysis. Statistical methods were used to examine how two factors, gender and school, impact on pupils answers. The results of this study showed that mathematics was clearly the most popular subject, which differs from the previous study. Results suggest that subject-specific motivation was most often affected by a factor inherent in the nature of the subject, such as calculation. Factors behind learning motivation highlighted learning environment, especially it’s social dimensions. Mindsets were one of the factors that affected subject-specific motivation and learning motivation. Most pupils reflected a fixed mindset. Mindsets were presented in many ways. Pupils answers highlighted attitudes towards challenge. The results also implicate that mindset can differ in different subjects.

In a varied working environment, individuals are expected to have an increasingly strong ability to tolerate change and adversity. Several research findings point out that a motivated person performs better in challenges, which enables them to succeed in their changing tasks. Therefore, it is important to understand how the factors that influence motivation are un-derstood on the individual level. Quantitative research has widely studied areas of work moti-vation, often using self-determination theory. In this research the theory of self-determination was used to pursue to give structure to the individual’s perception of factors influencing work motivation, and individual’s perceptions and experiences were emphasized rather than their generalizations and connections. The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe and understand media workers` per-ceptions of their motivation and how environment appears as part of perceptions. This research was carried out in collaboration with one media company. The data was collected with semi-structured interviews, where ten employees of the media company were interviewed. Educa-tional background of the interviewees was at least a bachelor’s degree, and all of them were currently working in various media positions. Among the interviewees were digital salespeople, product developers and a journalist manager. The data was analyzed with thematic analysis. As motivating factors media workers emphasized the possibility of influencing their own work, freedom, and responsibility, as well as internal rewards from work. Interviewees perceived as internal rewards the meaning of the work, self-development, and social support, and these were perceived as more significant than the value of the external rewards. The expectations to the organization were centered around development-friendly and equality-oriented work com-munity, where people work together but individual operating models are allowed. Based on this research, organizations would benefit from focusing on designing operating models and prac-tices which would allow for more flexible opportunities in considering individual wishes and goals in future decision making.

One of the key characteristics of the Nordic sense of affinity and cohesion is the idea of a shared and common language community. The Nordic language community is based on the concept of inter-Nordic language comprehension, meaning that all members of the community ideally rely on the use of a Scandinavian language when in contact with one another, either as a first or a second (foreign) language. Another feature of this sense of community is the common Nordic efforts in language policy and planning, which, since the establishment of the Nordic institutions, have manifested themselves through various political endeavours, all with the aim to preserve and promote the use of Scandinavian as a lingua franca in Norden. Using a motivational, discursive, intertextual and interdiscursive approach to language policy and planning research, the purpose of this study is to uncover the motivation (goals, attitudes and motives) behind as well as the policy discourses (and their potential connections and discrepancies) used in the formulation of two central Nordic language policy agreements: the Nordic Language Convention, signed in 1981 and ratified in 1987, and the Declaration on a Nordic Language Policy, signed in 2006. In doing this, the study relies on the underlying assumption that language policy and planning is a socio-cultural construct of both explicit and implicit character. The analysis further explores how the uncovered motivational and discursive elements might mirror the linguistic complexities and diversities of the Nordic language community. The temporal range of this study is determined by the two selected language policy agreements, dividing the analysis into two historical eras of official Nordic language policy and planning which represent the socio-political, -cultural and -historical context of each respective language policy agreement: the early era of 1971–1987 and the late era of 1988–2006. The analysis suggests that there was no marked motivational or discursive ideological shift between the two language policy agreements. The narrower national language discourse of the Convention, motivated by early era socio-political issues of linguistic integration and freedom of movement, was somewhat expanded upon by the broader multilingual and democratic discourse of the Declaration, in turn motivated by the late era need to define the Nordic language community in and for the 21st century global community. Yet, the power, ideological and normative pendulum of both agreements still shifted towards the Scandinavian languages and the idealistic vision of effortless inter-Scandinavian communication in the region – forming the very basis of the symbolic integration of Norden through the concept of Nordic ideology.

Aims. The purpose of this thesis was to examine what kind of achievement goal orientation groups can be found in the context of non-formal, job-related online learning, and how the discovered groups differ from each other in perceived costs of online learning and in assessment of work organization’s supportive learning culture. The study’s context offered a unique application to the goal orientation profile research, as the examined type of learning was non-formal learning, or more specifically, non-formal online learning related to work. This study contributes to building an understanding of motivational processes among people in working life and presents practical implications for the development of online learning practices and materials so that those would be more encouraging and supportive to a wider audience of learners. Methods. The research data was collected by an online questionnaire during January and February 2021. Altogether, 170 individuals from Europe and North America, working in different roles and fields, participated in the study. The participants were classified into goal orientation groups by utilizing a person-oriented approach and Two-Step cluster analysis. To examine in-between group differences, analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed. Results and Conclusions. Four distinct goal orientation profiles were identified: learning-oriented, success-oriented, performance-avoidance-oriented, and avoidance-oriented. Learning-oriented differed from the other groups in perceived costs, as they assessed the online learning costs to be significantly lower. In organizational learning culture, avoidance-oriented evaluated their work organization to have a less supportive learning culture than the rest of the groups. After further examination of the study results, it was found that performance and avoidance goals seem to be connected to higher perceived online learning cost, while mastery goals seem to be related to an assessment of a more supportive organizational learning culture. Based on these findings, this study also presents practical implications in the latter part of the paper. All in all, the results indicate that understanding and knowledge of different motivational patterns is crucial for the development and expansion of non-formal, job-related online education.

Syftet med denna avhandling är att med hjälp av tidigare forskning undersöka vilka motiv det finns till frivilligarbete och vilka effekter frivilligarbete har på individen och i förlängningen på samhället. Att frivilligarbete hör ihop med positiva effekter på välmående har bevisats, men det förhållande som finns mellan de olika effekterna på individen har fått relativt lite uppmärksamhet i tidigare forskning. Vidare har det i tidigare forskning konstaterats att frivilligarbete är en social aktivitet där både motivation och effekter till en stor del beror på identitetskonstruktion och sociala aspekter. Därför är det relevant att se på förhållandet mellan de olika ovan nämnda aspekterna. Genom en litteraturöversikt samlas, sammanfattas och analyseras tidigare forskning. Resultatet är att de motiv en individ har till att börja frivilligarbeta ofta beror på hens sociala aspekter – vanliga motiv är till exempel viljan att höra till en grupp, individens religiösa övertygelse och relationell motivation. Frivilligarbete har positiva effekter såsom bättre mental och fysiskt hälsa, större social samhörighet och leder även till positiva följder för samhället. Relationen mellan frivilligarbetets olika effekter undersöks även i avhandlingen och visar på att frivilligarbete leder till välmående i högre grad än vad välmående leder till frivilligarbete. I framtiden kunde det vara intressant att se på hur samhället kunde stödja individer som inte har möjlighet att frivilligarbeta att skapa den möjligheten. Avslutningsvis visar alla avhandlingens fynd att det för det mesta lönar sig att frivilligarbeta.

School-aged children spend an ever-increasing amount of time on social media platforms. Bringing this aspect of students’ lives into the school world has not advanced with the same velocity. The aim of this study was to investigate which obstacles teachers face to implementing social media into their lessons. Previous studies show that there are more advantages to using social media in education than there are disadvantages. The Finnish National Core Curriculum (2014) does not mention social media, but it mentions Information and Communications Technology, multiliteracy and media literacy. Social media can be associated with all the areas mentioned. Many studies published by Finland’s National Board for Education also recommend using social media or its equivalents in schools. In this study the perceptions of five language teachers in an elementary school in Helsinki, Finland were investigated. The teachers were interviewed separately and the interviews were recorded. The data gathered was transcribed and then analyzed by way of qualitative content analysis. The results of the analysis show that according to teachers many obstacles exist. These include the amount of time it would take to find content that fits the purpose of the lessons, the lack of mobile devices and accounts provided by the employer (in this case the city of Helsinki) and the lack of easily accessible and simple guidelines on how to utilize social media in teaching. In the future, similar research on the educational implementation of social media in lower secondary school and high school is needed. It is important to clarify which guidelines steer teachers’ actions, and how much freedom individual teachers have. An easily accessible and straightforward guide on data protection and copyright issues is needed. More research on how teachers could overcome these obstacles would benefit the students of tomorrow.

Children have an intrinsic motivation to play, and play is an essential part of the versatile development of a child. A child learns, for example, social, emotional, motoric, and cognitive skills through play. The same skills are taught in Finnish schools. It is justifiable that play is a visible part of the Finnish elementary school curriculum, in which play is encouraged to be used as one of the methods in teaching. The significance of play decreases in the curriculum for the 3-6th graders even though that age of students are still children who play. The aim of this research was to study how play appears in 4-6th graders’ actions and speech in the school context, to give a voice to the school children. In addition, the aim was to study how play appears in learning and motivation, and how it appears in the building of the sense of community in a new group. This master’s thesis is qualitative research, and it is conducted through an ethnographic method. The data was collected from a class of 25 students in grades 4-6th in a Finnish ele-mentary school in August and September of 2021. The collected data had field notes, video material, photos, and interviews. The data was analyzed by coding it in themes to answer the research questions. The concluded themes discussed how play appeared in the school con-text and what kind of role play had in the building of the sense of community. The research results indicate that the students experienced play to be an inspiring and moti-vating way to learn. The students felt that play was a refreshing break from the ordinary book-oriented studying even though they were also studying while playing. The results also show that the teacher had a significant role in building both the sense of community and the learn-ing of the students. With the teacher’s support, the students learned while playing and had the courage to play with the classmates who they did not know before.