Motivation in the history classroom : a Maltese case study

Abstract

A major concern in education is students’ decline in motivation over the school years. Focusing on the subject of history, this paper reports on a case study involving students, aged 15/16, analysing moving-image sources in a Maltese Year 11 history option classroom. Moving images are defined in terms of footage broadcast in news and documentaries and used as sources of evidence in history lessons. Data analysis revealed how moving images supported students’ motivational dimensions of interest, competence and relatedness. However, they do not seem to have provided students with a level of autonomy, defined in terms of students’ self-directed initiative to find out things for themselves outside the classroom context. It is argued that a possible reason for this could lie in the stakes students attached to the end-of-secondary examinations and in the necessary preparations for them. In this light, it is hoped that the paper offers reflections for discussing further motivation in terms of summative assessment.