Motivating Low-Achieving Students during Pre-Service Teaching

Motivating high school low-achieving students is a daily struggle for pre-service teachers as well as in-service teachers. Based on empirical work, the study explores four factors that contribute to the lack of motivation of high school students observed by student teachers during pre-service teaching. They are: 1) instructors’ low academic expectations on students; 2) instructors’ strategies conflicting with students’ behaviors; 3) teachers’ perception of students’ family life; and 4) curriculum pressure on teachers to teach to the End-of-the-Course test. The ultimate purposes of the study are to help pre-service social studies teachers develop more effective ways to promote motivation by taking into consideration in the process of instructional design the learning needs, learning styles, and learning abilities of students.