AN ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENT IN MOTIVATING SCHOOL LEARNING

Abstract

Motivation itself is a hodge-podge- a term of very complex dimensions. It is known to include the rewards and punishmentsamong many other interacting drives, forces and incentives which affect or influence student’s learning. ‘Extrinsic’ forms ofmotivation like rewards and punishments have always been used by lectures/ teachers educators to correct or stimulatecertain forms of behaviors. Yet, what their effects and consequences are, whether they facilitate or hinder learning and towhat extent, how they operate to increase, if at all, the efficiency of learning and many such allied questions have remainedlargely unanswered. Or, their answers have generally been improvised, for the most part, from intuition, conjecture or justintelligent guess- work rather than on research findings. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine these questions inorder to discover (uncover, to be more specific) the role which rewards and punishment seem to play in motivating schoollearning. For purposes of analysis, rewards will include material and symbolic rewards like praise and marks, andpunishment will include physical punishments, blame, sarcasm and ridicule..Keywords: Rewards, Motivation, Classroom, School, Learning & Learners.