motivating underachievers: make them want to try

8/9/2019 Motivating Underachievers: Make Them Want to Try

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MOTIVATING UNDERACHIEVERS: MAKE THEM WANT TO TRY

Sri S. Billah

Peflgajar Jllrilsa/l Bahasa lnggris Sekolah Tinggi Bahasa Asing LIA Jakarta

Abstract

Despite th e effort

s

many times, a teacher doesn make underachievers work harder.

Some underachievers feel that they will not

be

able to do Ihe lasks given by the teacher

regardless their efforts. Many others ure

slIre

of their ability,

m

they are afraid of failure.

Therefore, they choose

01 tryil l

instead.

II

saves them from

th

e

di

sappointm ent ami

humiliation. In order to Ol e rcome this, the teacher should pay attention to the siudents

emotiona l faclOr as well

us

their self

co

nfidence.

Kllowing th

ese will help the teacher make the

und

erachievers work harder.

Key words: underachievers, effort affective factor,

self

esteem

Sooner or later,

no

matter what

su

bj

ect you are teaching, you will notice

an underachi ever

in

your class. As the regular students work to complete tasks,

the underac hi evers lag behind, challenging your teaching skill, a nd your

patience, with failures of turning in assignments, makin g complaints or

excuses. Challenged and determined to help your stud ents, you decide to stay

after class for studenHeacher conferences and to find out what goes on behind

this impassiv

it

y.

You search for special projects

to

arouse their interest a

nd

encourage positive attitudes. However, no matter how hard you tried, such

strategies have had only limited success.

Why try?

Ho w do you cope with learners who do not seem to be mo tivated much

in

a g

iv

en activity? Are they rea

ll

y making enough

ef

fo

rt to

succeed? Or are

they merely performing the motion to fulfill requirements or to satisfy some

authority- parents, teachers, and peers? There are several causes of

unde

ra

c

hi

evement. Boredom, laz

in

ess, and apathy do not rea

ll

y explain this

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problematic behavior. For many smart students who are weak

in

their subjects,

n f

trying makes more sense than otherwise.

Take Anita, for exa

mpl

e. Anita, an intelligent sophomor

e

rarely hands

in homework, or fails to show up on the day an assignment is due. Wh en given

in-class she compl ains, That

s

too ha

rd

or I can t

co

ncentrate, until help comes from a fellow student or teacher. On tests

Anita tries

1

copy from a neighbor. Another student , Bernard, would never

cheat on a test or seek help from a teacher or a fellow student. Yet, he is

obv

iou

sly

in

attentive

in

class. A

co

ntinual 'bad luck keeps him f

ro

m

co

mpl

e

tin

g a good number of tasks, parti

cu

larl y ones dealing with newly-

pre se nt ed

material

s.

He

mi

splaces course-books or notes somewhere.

He lo

ses

his assignm ents because the computer breaks down, etc.

Both Bernard and Anita pay a price for Ihe ir lack of effo

rt:

bad grades,

reprimands from teachers, detentions from taking exams, etc. Yet, th

ey

persist

in

their

be

h

av

io

r.

Wh

y?

The answer is simpl

e:

th

ey

see

the

benefits of not

tr

ying are worth the costs. Anita is sure she c nnot do

th

e assigned wo rk , no

mailer how hard she tries. S

in

ce efforts or lack

of

efforts

will

lead

to

th

e same

end , i.e. fai lure, it is qu ite

lo

gical to make the least possible effort. As a result,

Anita continues to rely on teachers and fellow student s to get her through tasks

and assig

nm

ents. Unlike Anita, Berna

rd

wanls so

mu

ch to believe

th

at he is

inte lligent and competent. However, he has serious doubts. He is afraid to try

hard an d fail. That is why Bernard resorts to n ttrying-and flaunting his lack

of effort. This enables himself to ho

ld

on to the

se

lf-image of competence.

Self-esteem

According to H. Douglas Brown, self-esteem is the most pervasive

aspect

of

any behavior. Self-esteem is essentially the way we feel about

M

i

v4

ling U

nd

chi n ,s: Them W. nl lo Try (Sri S.

8i11ah

)

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ourse lves, the extent

in

which we va

lu

e or admire ourselves. t is the sense of

personal worth we associate with ou r se lf-concept. (Atwater: 11 3) Thus, no

successf

ul

l

ea

rning ac tivi

ty

can be ca

rri

ed out witho

ut

some degree of self-

estee m, se lf-confidence, kn owledge of yourself, and beli

ef

in

yo ur own

capabilities for

th

at activity. The fo

ll

owing is a we

ll

-accept ed definition

of

se lf-esteem (Coopersmi th 1967: 4-5):

By self-esteem, we refer

to

t

he

evaluation which the indivi

du

al makes and

customarily

mai

n

ta

ins with regard

to

himself; it expresses an attitude of approval or

disapproval, and indicates t

he

extent to which an individual b

el

ieves

hi

mself

to

be

capable, significant, successful and

wo

rthy. In ShOft, self-esteem is a personal

judgment of worthiness that is expressed in the atti tudes that the individual ho lds

towards himself. t is a subjective experience wh

ich

the ind ividual conveys to others

by verbal reports and o

th

er ove

rt

expressive

be

havior.

App aren tl

y

underachievers

like

Ani

ta

and Be

rn

a

rd

have somewhat low

se lf-esteem. When Anita does do we

ll

on an assignm ent or test, she asks

herse lf Me doing we

ll

? How can this be? Maybe the teacher made a mistake

in grad

in

g the papers. May be he likes me or feels sorry for m

e.

It

s

p

ro

bably

just luck. t won't happen aga

in

In

stead of attributing ac

hi

eveme

nt to

her

effort of st

ud

y

in

g, she evide

ntl

y thinks it is a ma

il

er

of

luck or the teacher's

help that she succeeds. In doing so, she also denies her actual experience of

success, a

nd

fa

il

s to discover her potential. Thus, an occasional success will

probab

ly

not boost her self-confidence nor

nu

rture responsibili

ty

for her own

endeavor. Wh al rea

ll

y needs 10 be changed is her be

li

ef thai no effort will

improve her chances of succeeding.

Low-

aC

hi

ev

in

g st

ud

e

nt

s f

ee

l anxious and defensive about criticism of

the ir work, but th e high achievers fee l less anxious and defensive about their

wo

rk

(Coopersmith, 1967). People with high se lf-estee m may bounce back

fro m

fa

ilures with little time spent in

bl

ame or se lf

pi

ty. At thi s juncture,

Bern ard should reflect on th e beli

ef

that making mistakes is not a sign

of

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stupidi

ty

or incompetence, but a natural part

of

the learning process. Only then

wi

ll trying make sense to him.

Affective factor

Learning should be viewed as a

ve

hicle

for

consciousness which

in

corpo

rat

e affective factors

in

the process. ffect refers to emotion or feeling.

Thus, learning should take into

co

ns iderat ion learners' feeling, emotions, and

social experience in the process. Tomlinson (2003: 13) recomme

nd

s

hum anizing mater ial s, which refers to adding activities which help to make

the language learning process a more

affective

experience, and finding ways

of

helping the learners to connect what is

in

the learn

in

g materials

to

what is

in

their minds.

The above belief clicks with that

of

H. Douglas Brown (Brown 1994:

136-137) who states f we were to devise

th

eo

ri

es

of

second language

acquisition or teach ing methods that were based only on cognitive

cons iderations, we would be omitting the most fundamental side of human

behavior...

In

recent years there has been

an

increas

in

g awareness of the

necessity in second language research a

nd

teaching

to

examine human

personality in order to find solutions

to

perplexing prob lems. (Brown 1994;

136- 137). In support of Ernest

Hil

gard who observes th at purely

cogn

iti

ve theories

of

learning will be rejected unless a

rol

e is assigned

to

affectivity (Hilgard 1963: 267), Brown underscores

th

e importance

of

the

affective domain in the language learn ing process

The affective domain or

th

e emotional si

de of

human behavior is

th

e

subject of

re

search by Patricia A Richard-Amato (Richard-Amato 1988: 54),

who states:

The affective domain includes several variables that can either enhance seco

nd

language acquisition or hinder it

,

depending upon whether

th

ey are positive or

MOlivaling Und


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1 Make sure that the ass igned tasks are realistic, so that all students can

complete them when they really try. When your class is a mixed-abi lity

one, this is not easy 10 do. But you can use such techniques as teaching

in sma

ll

groups; creating cooperat

iv

e work g

ro

ups or setting up a peer

teaching program. To minimize the additional burden this places on

you, have your students check some of their own or one ano

th er s

assignments. This also gives stude

nt

s a sense of responsibility for their

own learning

2 Focus students attention on their own progress, not on their fellow

st

udents performance. When students measure th eir success by their

peers performance, those who do not do as

we

ll are bound to feel like

failures. Base grades on mastery or improvement , not on relative

performance. Have slUdents continue to work on assignments for

revision

th

at allows them many opportunities

to

improve perfonnance.

3 Reward effo rt , whatever the outcome. Tell your students that in

learning, as

in

any endeavor, setbacks are

in

evitable But effort and

perseverance

o

payoff.

Praise those when they make progress, not

just when they get everything

ri

ght. If o

nl

y success is praised, some

stu

dents may become demotivated when their efforts

do

not lead

to

immediate mastery-which is a likely outcome when they are studying

new material. And when a student does immediately master a new

skill, take care not to be overly enthusias tic. Otherwise, you w ill risk

sending the message that you really va lue brilliance rather than

diligence, a

nd

slower learners may become di scouraged.

4 Give every stude

nt

opport

un

ities to demonstrate competence in class.

Consider setting aside a few minutes each week for

th

e students

to

demonstrate an nonacademi

s

kill. For example, ask a

Unde ••chievers, Mak e Them Want to Try (Sri S Rillah)

113


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student to pl aya mu sical in st rument and sing solo. This way, even

academically weak students will get a good dose of self-confidence.

Allow students to set their own goals. (Of course, you need to make

sure that these goals

ar

e realist ic but challenging.) For example,

encourage a student w

ho

consiste

ntl

y fails

the

weekly quiz

to

set a goal

for

next week's quiz (say, getting two more problems correct) . Have

the student record the goal and hi s or her ac tu al perfo rm ance on a chart

This will give the s tudent a concrete picture of his or her own progress

and will foster personal responsibility. It will also reinforce the

importance of perseverance.

Good luck for trying

REFERENCE

Atwater, Eastwood 1979. Psycho

lo

gy of Adjustment , Pren tice Hall

Brown, H Douglas, 1994. Principles of Language Learning

an

d Teaching,

Pre

nti

ce Hall

Clouse, Barbara Fine, 1996. Progressions, Prentice Ha

ll

Regents

Dona

ld

, Robert H, et

al

1996. Writing Clear Essays, Simon Schuster

Ri

cha

rd

-Amato, Patricia, 1988. Making It Happen, Longman

Jo

hn

W Santrock, 2001 C

re

ative

Id

eas

an

d Activities

for

Teachers, Learn ing

2

1

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l. 5 No.

2

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