| This dissertation is a naturalistic inquiry into perceptions of motivation in developmental mathematics students at a community college. The purpose of this study was to describe motivation in developmental mathematics students with a particular focus on the low achieving students. The data generation began with emergent interviews of developmental mathematics faculty members who were asked to describe the motivation of developmental mathematics students, continued with the primary data generated by student learning journals, and concluded with emergent interviews with developmental mathematics students who were not successfully completing their courses. The findings are reported in view of achievement motivation theories including goal theories, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation theories, and attribution theories. Most low achieving students fell into one or more of the categories that were (1) mathematics anxious, (2) overloaded by job, classes, and/or family and/or (3) lacking perceptions of the relevance of mathematics. Singly and taken together the categories may pose barriers to success for some students. Many students allowed emotions or attitudes to influence their motivation to learn mathematics. However, with early success in their mathematics classes or instilled beliefs that mathematics was useful or interesting, many students began to move beyond the barriers by constructing new motivations. The primary finding connects cognition with motivation. It was found that motivation was not necessarily a precursor to understanding. Rather, understanding mathematics seemed to enhance students' motivation to learn mathematics. |
