This resource is Chapter 11 in the 2010 book, Handbook of Research on Learning and Instruction, 2nd Edition: a compilation of 30 years of educational research into how students learn and evidence-based instructional strategies for teachers. In this chapter, authors discuss how the study of academic motivation has blossomed during the past 30 years. Although motivation has been recognized as an important construct in both the fields of psychology and education for many years, it has recently become a major focus of research on academic learning. There is a vast array of empirical data and theory that readily inform both learning and instruction. In this chapter, we examine some of the most prominent current research on academic motivation. In particular, we discuss the major theoretical perspectives, as well as the empirical research that supports these perspectives. We also demonstrate that motivation theory and research can be applied to instructional contexts at all levels (i.e., kindergarten through adult learning) in order to improve student learning.

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