Self-determination theory: An approach to motivation in music education

By P. Evans. 2015

190 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article provides a conceptual overview of a self-determination theory approach to motivation in music education. Research on motivation in music learning is active and has influenced the field considerably, but it remains theoretically patchy, with a vast array of theoretical perspectives that are relatively disconnected. Reflecting motivation research more generally, music education still lacks a parsimonious, unified theoretical approach to motivation. Self-determination theory offers a way to address this issue, because it is a broad theory of motivation that examines the nature and sources of motivational quality. This article describes two key components of self-determination theory. First, the tendency towards personal growth and a more unified sense of self is supported through the fulfilment of the basic psychological needs of competence, relatedness, and autonomy. Second, behaviour is more enjoyable and contributes more to personal wellbeing when motivation is internalized and more closely aligned with the self. These two features of self-determination theory are related, such that motivation is internalized to the extent that basic psychological needs are fulfilled. These processes are supported by recent self-determination theory research in music education. Previous research on motivation from other theoretical perspectives also lends support to the self-determination theory approach. The approach therefore provides a means of theoretically unifying previous research. An integrated model is presented as the basis for future research on motivation for music learning in the context of psychological wellbeing more broadly.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2fc510b7ba363e12d77d3244684b968275432b68

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In Clinical Psychology

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

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Citations in the corpus

Motivation and coping with the stress of assessment: Gender differences in outcomes for university students (2017, background): “training might still be rather controlling (Evans, 2015; Syrjala, Saarela, & Lehtonen, 2005).”
Self-determined motivation for practice in university music students (2016, background): “Understanding the circumstances under which practice may be experienced as enjoyable or not, and the extent to which people understand the instrumental value of practice in improving performance, would help universities, teachers, and students to create optimal practice environments (Evans, 2015).”
Applying self-regulated learning microanalysis to study musicians’ practice (2019, methodology): “Expert consensus and prior research by four researchers across three institutions in Australia and North America was used to develop a pool of potential questions, drawing from their expertise in research and pedagogy using the SRL framework in music practice (see McPherson, Miksza & Evans, in press”
A population-level analysis of associations between school music participation and academic achievement. (2020, background): “The process of music training—which often includes hours of practice, typically in solitude, and a commitment to music training in light of competing curricular and extracurricular activities—may foster motivationrelated characteristics (Evans, 2015; Evans & Liu, 2019).”