In the field of education, motivation and engagement often go hand-in-hand, as they should. Motivation an engagement influence each other, but there is a key difference.
In an oversimplification, I view motivation as intrinsic and engagement as extrinsic. Of course there are instances where motivation can be extrinsic as well, such as when a teacher offers a materialistic reward for completing an assignment. However, in the case of the article written by Afflerbach and Harrison, they determined that “…motivation is a mindset” (2017).
My definition of motivation is this: The intrinsic forces or beliefs that drive a student to perform in a certain manner.
Even in the case of a materialistic reward, as stated above, students will only act if they view that reward as meaningful or valuable. In this case, they are utilizing their own beliefs and values to make this determination, hence the development of a driving intrinsic force.
On the other hand, engagement seems to be extrinsic. For example, when the environment or activity is intriguing, the student will “tune in.” The student will sort of “perk their ears” and direct their attention in a purposeful way. As teachers, it is important for us to foster an engaging learning environment so that we may draw students in.
My definition of engagement is this: The external factors that drive a student to perform in a certain way.
When a student is interested in the happenings of their environment, they will become more motivated to participate. Afflerbach and Harrison’s comparison of motivation to potential energy and engagement to kinetic energy perfectly illustrates this point. Afflerbach and Harrison state:
Motivation is somewhat like a reader’s potential energy: It is what you have when you are ready to read, when your reading bike is paused, as it were, at the top of a hill. Engagement is more like a reader with kinetic energy: It is manifest when the reader is zooming down the mountain bike trail of a challenging text, fully absorbed, fully engrossed, totally immersed in the activity of reading.
REFERENCES
Afflerbach, P. & Harrison, C. (2017). What is engagement, how is it different from motivation and how can I promote it? Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 62 (2). pp. 217-220.
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