Examining the Protective Role of Motivation for Children with Learning Difficulties’ Academic Achievement

Rachelle M. Johnson Author

04/02/2021 Added

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Looking at how motivation can be used as a tool in potentially making up for the deficits in the academic achievement of children with learning disabilities

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[00:00:01.530]Hello, my name is Rachelle Johnson,
[00:00:03.510]and today I will be presenting my research study on examining the protective
[00:00:08.100]role of motivation for children with learning disabilities,
[00:00:10.890]on academic achievement. This study was done alongside Dr.
[00:00:14.730]Jenna Finch at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.
[00:00:17.630].
[00:00:21.680]First some background literature.
[00:00:23.870]It has been established in past studies that students with learning disabilities
[00:00:27.890]have lower academic achievement than students without learning disabilities.
[00:00:33.500]So the question of the field is why is this happening?
[00:00:36.530]Why are students with disabilities having lower academic achievement?
[00:00:39.980]especially when studies have found that this holds true,
[00:00:42.920]even when controlling for IQ. So this could be due to a number of reasons,
[00:00:48.230]one being a lack of academic support.
[00:00:51.230]It's also known that students with learning disabilities experience more
[00:00:54.920]negative experiences in the school environment,
[00:00:58.040]or it could also have to do with low motivation and developed
[00:01:01.490]learned helplessness.
[00:01:06.500]So past studies have found that motivation does act as a protective factor in
[00:01:10.670]certain underrepresented populations.
[00:01:14.330]This is when found that when looking at students of low income backgrounds,
[00:01:18.890]motivation worked as a protective factor,
[00:01:20.910]such that motivation had a greater impact on their academic achievement than
[00:01:25.880]it did for high income students.
[00:01:28.250]So our study is looking at if this protective factor of motivation extends to
[00:01:32.870]students with learning disabilities.
[00:01:36.740]So we're testing if, whether motivation moderates
[00:01:40.610]the link between learning disability status and academic achievement.
[00:01:47.450]We hypothesized that high motivation would serve as a protective factor for
[00:01:51.440]students with learning disabilities such that high motivation would buffer
[00:01:55.550]against the negative impacts of learning disabilities on academic
[00:02:00.200]achievement. So these graphs kind of outlined what we thought would happen.
[00:02:04.460]So for those, without learning disabilities,
[00:02:07.280]motivation would play a role in their academic achievement,
[00:02:10.760]but that impact would be smaller than when we look at students with learning
[00:02:15.200]disabilities.
[00:02:15.950]Having low motivation would be highly detrimental to their academic achievement
[00:02:21.020]or having high motivation would have a high impact in raising their academic
[00:02:24.650]achievement. So the method we used for this study,
[00:02:30.080]we use data from the early childhood longitudinal study,
[00:02:34.250]the kindergarten cohort of 2011.
[00:02:37.310]This is a nationally representative sample of students across the United States.
[00:02:41.870]And they were followed from kindergarten through elementary school.
[00:02:45.890]We used achievement in math and reading as our outcome variables using
[00:02:50.450]direct cognitive assessments,
[00:02:53.300]learning disability status was measured using a combined report
[00:02:58.310]of parent reported learning disability status and teacher
[00:03:03.100]reported IEP status. motivation was studied,
[00:03:07.900]was measured by students giving a self-report of their motivation.
[00:03:12.580]In fourth grade, we also controlled for child gender,
[00:03:18.010]parental education, household income, and child race and ethnicity.
[00:03:24.310]Our analytic plan. We used a multi-level regression analysis,
[00:03:28.480]which accounted for the nesting of children within their classrooms and schools
[00:03:32.980]and weights were included to ensure that the sample remained nationally
[00:03:37.330]representative of United States children.
[00:03:42.160]So onto the results of our study,
[00:03:44.170]we found that in the main effects they supported past studies,
[00:03:48.730]finding that students with learning disabilities did have lower academic
[00:03:52.150]achievement in both reading and math.
[00:03:55.390]They also had lower motivation than students without learning disabilities.
[00:04:00.700]But what we were focused on was mostly looking at the potential of
[00:04:05.080]motivation as a protective factor.
[00:04:07.660]We did find that motivation did moderate the association between
[00:04:12.130]motivation and learning disability status,
[00:04:15.340]finding that,
[00:04:19.030]our takeaways were that in line with our hypothesis,
[00:04:23.440]motivation acted as a protective factor for children with learning disabilities.
[00:04:29.980]So the positive benefit of having high motivation for math and reading
[00:04:34.270]achievement was stronger for students with learning disabilities and going the
[00:04:39.040]other direction.
[00:04:40.240]The negative impact of having low motivation for math and reading
[00:04:44.650]achievement was stronger for learning disabilities.
[00:04:49.120]So this impact of having, of their motivation did play a big role
[00:04:53.920]in their achievement in both math and reading,
[00:04:57.040]where it did play a role in students without learning disabilities,
[00:05:00.550]but not to the same extent.
[00:05:03.790]So now what do we do with this information and how do we use this information to
[00:05:07.780]help students with learning disabilities?
[00:05:12.430]An added focus needs to be added on increasing motivation
[00:05:17.230]in children with learning disabilities.
[00:05:19.390]There is currently efforts to of course increase their academic and cognitive
[00:05:24.190]abilities in order to increase their academic achievement.
[00:05:28.240]But in order to help these students with learning disabilities achieve that high
[00:05:32.740]academic achievement, more focus may be needed on the area of motivation.
[00:05:40.260].
[00:05:40.620]Past studies have found that while students with please have lower
[00:05:45.090]motivation and low academic achievement,
[00:05:48.600]motivation and academic achievement are related to one another in a feedback
[00:05:53.280]loop such that low academic achievement
[00:05:58.010]relates to lower motivation in the future.
[00:06:00.350]And that low motivation relates to low academic achievement and thus creates
[00:06:05.150]this reinforcing cycle.
[00:06:09.940]we are proposing that in order to,
[00:06:12.220]in a way reset this negatively impacting cycle between
[00:06:16.960]motivation and academic success,
[00:06:20.800]motivational interventions may be needed so that if we could raise
[00:06:25.720]the motivation in students with learning disabilities,
[00:06:28.780]this could reset this feedback loop.
[00:06:31.690]And instead of having low motivation, reinforcing low academic achievement,
[00:06:36.340]raising that motivation and thus resetting to a reinforcing
[00:06:40.990]cycle of having high motivation and high academic achievement.
[00:06:46.150]These motivational interventions could look in several ways.
[00:06:50.050]They could either be formal motivational interventions,
[00:06:53.830]but also it could be informal interventions done by parents and teachers
[00:06:58.780]such as giving more,
[00:07:01.030]positive feedback to students with learning disabilities,
[00:07:05.200]promoting a growth mindset and talking about
[00:07:10.120]the importance of having that high motivation and encouraging these students in
[00:07:13.720]their academic pursuits.
[00:07:16.300]We think that with this research and more of a focused on
[00:07:21.190]motivation and students with learning disabilities,
[00:07:23.740]this can make an impact to help students with learning disabilities,
[00:07:26.620]achieve that high academic achievement and reach their academic potential.
[00:07:32.770]Thank you.
[00:07:33.130]So much for listening today.
[00:07:35.290]My name is Rochelle Johnson and I welcome any questions or discussion.
[00:07:39.670]Thank you.

Examining the Protective Role of Motivation for Children with Learning Difficulties’ Academic Achievement

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Examining the Protective Role of Motivation for Children with Learning Difficulties’ Academic Achievement

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