Relationships between learning motivation, study time, and regular test scores elucidated using self-determination theory—a study of first-year students in their first semester—

Abstract

[Purpose] We examined the relationships between learning motivation, study time, and regular test scores of first-year, first-semester students. [Participants and Methods] This study included 78 first-year students undergoing physiotherapy training at a four-year college. Research participants were given an online questionnaire after being informed that information was sought on their current learning motivation and study time. We used the students’ grade point average (GPA) calculated from their first semester’s specialized basic courses as a surrogate for their regular test scores. [Results] Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between all subscales of learning motivation. Introjected and Intrinsic Regulations were identified as subscales of learning motivation that impact students’ study time and regular test scores, respectively. [Conclusion] Teachers need to be aware of relationships that can enhance students’ learning motivation.

INTRODUCTION

Historically, motivation has been a major field of research in educational psychology¹⁾, and research continues to this day. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology²⁾ lists “motivation to engage in learning” as one of the “three elements of academic ability” with great educational significance. Additionally, psychological findings have consistently suggested that learning motivation predicts learning outcomes^{3, 4)}, and the importance of learning motivation as the foundation of activities such as knowledge and skill acquisition cannot be questioned.

Students’ learning motivation has likely decreased in recent years owing to the decline in the 18-year-old population and the increase in the total number of universities in Japan^5,6,7). However, learning motivation is believed to be related to students’ study time and regular test scores⁸⁾. Discovering a relationship between learning motivation and study time and regular test scores will enable teachers to respond in a way that increases the learning motivation affecting students. Wilkinson et al.⁸⁾ found a correlation between medical students’ learning motivation and their study time. Further, through a survey of nursing students, Mori et al.⁹⁾ clarified the relationship between learning motivation and study time. Almalki¹⁰⁾ reported that learning motivation may affect academic performance in dental students.

Learning motivation was originally broadly categorized into Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Motivation¹¹⁾. However, Ryan and Deci proposed the Self-Determination Theory in 1985, classifying Extrinsic Motivation into four subclasses based on the degree of autonomy, from External Regulation (low autonomy), through Introjected Regulation, and Identified Regulation, to Integrated Regulation (high autonomy) (Fig. 1)^{12, 13)}. In the present study, Integrated Regulation and Intrinsic Regulation were the same because they have the common causal relationship.

Fig. 1.

The self-determination continuum showing types of motivation.

No research has been conducted so far on the relationship between learning motivation, study time, and regular test scores based on Self-Determination Theory in physiotherapy vocational schools. Therefore, this study aims to examine the relationship between learning motivation, study time, and regular test scores of first-year first-semester students.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

The participants were 78 first-year students (48 males, average age of 18.4 ± 0.5 years, and 30 females, average age of 18.2 ± 0.4 years) at a four-year college for physiotherapist training. Responses to the questionnaire were obtained from 78 of the 83 students, with a response rate of 94.0%. The students were fully explained, in advance, the purpose of the research, methods of processing the results, places where the results were presented, and the fact that they would not be identifiable with their names in the results. Then, those who agreed to participate in the study and responded to the questionnaire were selected as the participants of research. The study was conducted with the approval of the Reiwa Health Sciences University Research Ethics Committee (approval no. 22-005).

In the school to which the research participants belong, one year is broadly divided into two semesters. The first semester is further divided into two terms: first (early April to mid-June) and second (mid-June to late July), and the second semester is divided into the third (late September to mid-November) and fourth (late November to late January) terms. In July of the first year, the research participants were given the questionnaire over the Internet (Google Forms) after being told that their responses on their current learning motivation and study time were expected.

The questionnaire on learning motivation based on Self-Determination Theory was created by Ando¹⁴⁾. It consisted of 14 questions (Q1–Q14) as shown in Table 1. As the sub-scales of learning motivation, Q1–Q3 pertained to External Regulation, Q4–Q6 to Introjected Regulation, Q7–Q11 to Identified Regulation, and Q12–Q14 to Intrinsic Regulation (Table 1). Here, External Regulation is characterized by external desires such as gaining rewards or social rules; Introjected Regulation is characterized by maintaining self-assessment through comparison with others and avoiding feelings of shame; Identified Regulation is characterized by recognizing and understanding the importance of activities, and Intrinsic Regulation is characterized by an interest in and satisfaction with the activity itself¹²⁾. The participants were asked to respond to each item on the questionnaire on a 5-point scale, with 1=“not applicable at all” and 5=“very applicable”. The higher the score, the higher the learning motivation.

Table 1. Learning motivation questionnaire.

Subscale	Contents	Not applicable at all				Strongly applicable
External regulation	Q1. Because parents scold me if I don’t study	1	2	3	4	5
	Q2. Because my teacher gets angry if I don’t study	1	2	3	4	5
	Q3. Because others tell me to study	1	2	3	4	5
Introjected regulation	Q4. Because I get anxious if I don’t study	1	2	3	4	5
	Q5. Because I want to get good grades	1	2	3	4	5
	Q6. Because I’m a student, and it’s natural for me to study	1	2	3	4	5
Identified regulation	Q7. Because if I don’t study now, I will be in trouble later	1	2	3	4	5
	Q8. Because I think studying will be beneficial to me	1	2	3	4	5
	Q9. Because I think studying is important	1	2	3	4	5
	Q10. Because I think what I study will be useful to me in the future	1	2	3	4	5
	Q11. Because it’s necessary for my desired career	1	2	3	4	5
Intrinsic regulation	Q12. Because I enjoy the content of the class	1	2	3	4	5
	Q13. Because I enjoy gaining new knowledge	1	2	3	4	5
	Q14. Because I like studying	1	2	3	4	5

For study time, students were asked to choose, from five options, the average study time per day on weekdays and on Saturdays and Sundays immediately before the examination (Table 2). The items and levels for the study time were set by us. Students were asked to respond to the questions on study time based on the first regular test that had conducted in June.

Table 2. Study time immediately before the examination.

Contents	Grading
The average study time per day on weekdays	1: Within 30 minutes 2: 30 to 60 minutes 3: 60 to 90 minutes 4: 90 to 120 minutes 5: 120 minutes or more
The average study time per day on Saturdays and Sundays	1: Within 1 hour 2: 1–3 hours 3: 3–5 hours 4: 5–7 hours 5: 7 hours or more

For the regular test scores, we adopted the students’ grade point average (GPA) for the first semester’s specialized basic courses (five subjects). The representative subjects under specialized basic courses include Anatomy I (musculoskeletal system, nervous system), Physiology I (animal function), and Kinematics I (head and neck, upper limbs). In the first semester of the first year, students study the basic courses, specialized basic courses, and specialized courses. Only grades in the specialized basic courses were taken because results in basic courses are affected by students’ knowledge before admission into the institution and because the subject under specialized courses was only one.

The results of the questionnaire were taken to calculate the median, first quartile, and third quartile for each sub-scales of learning motivation, study time, and regular test scores. For statistical analysis, the results of each sub-scales of learning motivation were compared using the Kruskal–Wallis test, and multiple comparisons were conducted using the Bonferroni test. Further, multiple regression analysis using the Stepwise (BIC) method was performed to examine the relationship between each sub-scales of learning motivation as the explanatory variable and study time and regular test scores as the response variable. Furthermore, a preliminary investigation into the correlation between study time and regular test scores revealed no particular correlation. EZR (version 1.68) was used for statistical analysis, and the significance level was 5%.

RESULTS

The results of learning motivation for each sub-scales (External Regulation, Introjected Regulation, Identified Regulation, and Intrinsic Regulation) were 2, 4, 5, and 3 (median), respectively. Further, the results for study time (average per day study time on weekdays and Saturdays and Sundays immediately before the exam) were 5 and 4, respectively. Finally, the GPA for the specialized basic courses was 2.3.

Statistical analysis revealed significant differences between all sub-scales of learning motivation (Table 3). The learning motivation sub-scales that affected study time and regular test scores were Introjected and Intrinsic Regulation, respectively (Table 4).

Table 3. Results of statistical analyses for Kruskal–Wallis test.

Sub-scales of learning motivation	Results	Significance
External regulation	2 (1–2)	*
Introjected regulation	4 (3–5)	*
Identified regulation	5 (4–5)	*
Intrinsic regulation	3 (3–4)	*

Median (1st quartile–3rd quartile), *p<0.01.

Table 4. Results of statistical analyses for multiple regression analysis.

Sub-scales of learning motivation		Study time per day on weekdays	Study time per day on Saturdays and Sundays	Grade point average
		5 (5–5)	4 (3–4)	2.3 (1.8–2.8)
External regulation	2 (1–2)
Introjected regulation	4 (3–5)	*	*
Identified regulation	5 (4–5)
Intrinsic regulation	3 (3–4)			†

Median (1st quartile–3rd quartile), *p<0.01, ^†p<0.05.

DISCUSSION

This study investigated the relationship between learning motivation, study time, and regular test scores based on the Self-Determination Theory. The result showed significant differences between all the sub-scales of learning motivation. Additionally, Introjected and Intrinsic Regulations were identified as sub-scales of learning motivation affecting students’ study time and regular test scores, respectively. These results suggest differences among the sub-scales of learning motivation based on the Self-Determination Theory and indicate that learning motivation may influence students’ behavior and learning outcomes.

This study examined first-year students, and questionnaires were administered about four months after enrollment. While this is not commonly observed in high school, students in college may not earn credits owing to a poor result or may have to repeat a grade¹⁵⁾. Teachers fully explain the importance and difficulty of studying to become a physiotherapist at the orientation at the time of admission in April. Additionally, anatomy and physiology, which are specialized basic courses, are fundamental and essential in the future context. However, at the beginning of these courses, students likely encounter difficulties learning owing to the difficulty of medical terminology and vast amount of memorization required¹⁶⁾. Therefore, although students understand the importance of learning, they may be significantly anxious about tests. To this point, Bischofsberger et al.¹⁷⁾ reported that about 50% of all first-year medical students showed test anxiety. Further, Criado-Álvarez et al.¹⁸⁾ stated that first-year students in medical professional training schools showed interest in learning anatomy and thought it would be useful in the future. Against this background, compared to the other sub-scales, Introjected and Identified Regulations have higher results. Moreover, the learning motivation of students in medical professional training schools changes as the year progresses¹⁹⁾; thus, we believe that this issue should be further investigated.

Introjected Regulation was identified as a learning motivation that affects study time in students. The specialized basic courses (e.g., Anatomy, Physiology)—the scores of which were referenced in this study—become easier to understand for students in relation to the specialized courses as they progress in grades and become more aware of how these subjects are essential to the profession to which they aspire. However, even if their class teachers are creative, a large percentage of the students will inevitably spend time memorizing rather than taking time to understand the contents of the subject in the first semester of their first year²⁰⁾. Furthermore, thinking that students desire to get better grades than others is natural. Josephson and Moore²¹⁾ stated students need time to systematically learn anatomy. Students’ desire to maintain their self-assessment and avoid impairing their self-esteem as compared to others leads to more study time, which results in a greater association with Introjected Regulation. Furthermore, Intrinsic Regulation was identified as a learning motivation that affects regular test scores. When Intrinsic Regulation is high, the possibility that the individual finds joy and satisfaction in performing tasks and can learn driven by their inner desires is high. Although some learning activities are facilitated by External influences, the ideal is for students to be interested and proactive on their own. This will naturally improve their degree of concentration and understanding during learning, which can contribute to reducing study time and increasing learning efficiency. Dubuc et al.²²⁾ stated that the involvement of Intrinsic Motivation was a predictor of academic performance. These results suggest that teachers should be aware of the relationship between Introjected Regulation and Intrinsic Regulation to increase students’ study time and regular test scores. Specifically, teachers need to convey the difficulties and importance of learning as well as the joys and rewards of the work of physiotherapists through classes.

One limitation of this study is that it is the result of a questionnaire survey for half a year. In addition, while memorization-based education is used in Japan, emphasis is placed on dialogue and discussion overseas, and students are trained to think for themselves²³⁾. Therefore, it is possible that these differences in educational methods may have influenced the results of this study. This study targeted first-year students in order to begin a longitudinal survey of learning motivation based on Self-Determination Theory. We aim to conduct a similar survey longitudinally as we believe that both the subjects and contents of the study, as well as the students’ awareness, will change as they progress through the years. Additionally, we would like to examine the relationship between Intrinsic Regulation and study time as well as changes in learning motivation with the progression through the years.

Conflicts of interest

None.