Improving students' motivation to study - Tim Duffy

Consisting of an in-depth introduction providing the theory and practice of improving students' motivation, together with a photocopiable resource, this book provides a low cost and easily administered intervention for improving students' motivation. The photocopiable resource can be used by students on their own to improve their approaches to study in colleges and universities. It may also be used by lecturers, tutors and teachers to help their students to understand and improve their own study performance. The resource has already been evaluated in the higher education setting and found to have positive effects on study habits and on academic performance.

The photocopiable resource is known as the SAMI (Self-AdministeredMotivational Instrument). The SAMI is one of the first brief instruments that draw on the principles of motivational interviewing to provide a means for college and university students to reflect on changing their approaches to study. Further, it is the first such intervention that is provided as a self-completing, self-help guide. The framework of the SAMI draws on the theory of motivational interviewing and incorporates a problem-solving and decision-making approach. The underpinnings are that:

students can be assisted to contemplate the advantages and disadvantages of change;

students can be encouraged to set realistic, achievable goals in relation to the behaviour they seek to improve;

successful modifications can be accomplished with a wellstructured, relatively brief intervention.

This resource is a valuable tool for any college or university lecturer dealing with the challenges of student motivation. The resource also provides a useful guide to student motivation and motivational interviewing for trainee teachers and lecturers.