Transferring motivation from educational to extramural contexts: a review of the trans-contextual model

Abstract

Students' self-determined or autonomous motivation in educational contexts is associated with adaptive educational and behavioural outcomes including persistence on educational tasks and academic performance. A key question for educators is whether promoting autonomous motivation toward activities in an educational context leads to increased autonomous motivation toward related activities in extramural contexts. In this article, we present a trans-contextual model that demonstrates the processes by which autonomous motivation is transferred from educational to extramural contexts. Using an integrated, multi-theory approach including self-determination and planned behaviour theories, we propose a motivational sequence in which perceived support for autonomous motivation for a given activity leads to autonomous motivation in educational contexts but also to autonomous motivation toward activities in extramural contexts. Autonomous motivation toward the activity in extramural contexts is proposed to be associated with attitudes, perceived control, and intentions to perform the activity in future and actual behaviour. We review recent prospective and intervention research that has applied the model to explain the transfer of autonomous motivation toward physical activity from a physical education context to a leisure time context. We also outline how the model can be applied in other educational contexts such as the transfer of motivation for science and language activities in educational contexts to motivation toward assignments in these subjects in extramural contexts. The applicability of the model as a basis for educational interventions to promote motivational transfer across contexts is discussed.

Perceived autonomy support and autonomous motivation toward mathematics activities in educational and out-of-school contexts is related to mathematics homework behavior and attainment

“…Current results provide the first evidence that the model can be extended to academic disciplines across educational and out-of-school contexts. This is important theoretically as it points to the possibility that the proposed pattern of effects are likely to be general and applicable to other academic domains (Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2012). The proposal of the generalizability of effects has been put forward in previous research when testing the trans-contextual model across samples from multiple national groups, suggesting that the motivational and social cognitive variables and their proposed relations are universal ).…”

“…Previous research has typically relied on self-reports of behavior, which is likely to inflate error variance (Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2012). Given that homework grades are dependent on a student's motivation, effort, and persistence it will serve as an accurate indicator of the quality of students' homework behavior, a key outcome of the present study.…”

“…Students who perceive their teachers to be autonomy-supportive are more likely to report autonomous motivation and adaptive educational outcomes (Jang, Kim, & Reeve, 2012). Although one of the assumed pathways by which the promotion of autonomous motivation in the classroom leads to distal adaptive educational outcomes (e.g., better grades) is through greater selfdirected learning outside of the classroom (e.g., increased motivation toward, and effort invested in, completing homework assignments), there is relatively little research testing this pathway relative to research examining in-class autonomous motivation and participation in educational activities (Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2012;Vallerand, 1991;M. T. Wang, 2012).…”

“…Furthermore, students' perceptions that their teacher supported their autonomy were also associated with autonomous motivation in the extra-mural context, mediated by autonomous motivation in the educational context. To date, research adopting the trans-contextual model has tested motivational transfer in physical education and leisure-time physical activity contexts (Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2012). The model has not been applied to the promotion of self-directed learning activities in other academic subjects outside of school, such as doing mathematics homework, but has considerable potential to guide research on the transfer of motivation across classroom and outof-school contexts.…”

“…The majority of tests of the model have been confined to the physical education and extra-mural physical activity participation contexts. The model processes, however, have been proposed to generalize to multiple educational and out-of-school contexts, including motivation toward academic subjects (Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2012). In the present study, we aimed to adopt the model as a basis to predict the transfer of students' motivation toward mathematics activities across school and out-of-school contexts.…”