Motivating the Disabled Learner

Abstract

DISABLE LEARNERS often exhibit a deficiency in attending behaviors, with the result that teachers of such children sometimes complain of a &dquo;lack of motivation&dquo; among their students. A commonly used approach to motivate behavior change is the use of Skinnerian-like behavior modification schedules; however, this requires specialized knowledge and intricate planning from the teacher. In addition, some teachers find themselves philosophically opposed to operant conditioning.A very simple and inexpensive method of motivating students for some types of learning tasks seems to be available. Several empirical studies indicate that, if the child's positive attention is focused on his performance at a task, the task itself may be used to motivate him. It has been shown that many youngsters, including underachievers, may learn more efficiently when they are required to set a goal for a specific lesson.' For example, youngsters can be expected to learn spelling lists more quickly if they are asked, &dquo;How many spelling words do you think you will get right when I test you?&dquo;The primary advantages of the goal-setting approach are that goal setting may be used for a large variety of school tasks, and that little planning is required from the teacher-except to specify to the student the number of items in the learning task.The most effective way to use goal setting seems to be with repeated trials. Thus, if a student is to be tested over the same at Stockholm University Library on August 18, 2015 isc.sagepub.com Downloaded from

Educating Delinquents

“…Some writers have stressed the importance of giving delinquents experience in setting their own goals and providing them with abundant feedback so that they may become more realistic in their goals (Kahn, 196 1;Tutt, 1974). Although delinquents' performance at rote learning tasks can be improved through the use of goal setting (GagnP, 1974;1975), some empirical evidence suggests that no feedback may enhance the performance of goal-setting delinquents who have been shown to be present-oriented; their behavior is not usually guided by the possibility of future consequences (Beshai, 1971). Delinquents may use financial incentives for short-term tasks as goals rather than secondary reinforcers (hfouk, 1969).…”