Toward a linking of motivational theories

ABSTRACT: Motivation is.widely believed to be a critical component of the learning process in the elementary classroom,-but educatio'nal research has failed to substantiate this belief. To investigate interrelationships among selected motivational variables, demographic, motivational and achievement characteristics of 400 elementary school students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 were measured. Results indicated that ability and'effort were the dominant causal factors in classroom motivational processes, although incentive value, was also important. Classroom motivational processes were rooted, in part, in the degree to which an individual's self-concept of ability was realistic. The findings suggeSt that Motivation is a dynamic