Autonomy. Relatedness. Competence.
These are the 3 pillars of Self Determination Theory and if you asked Dr Liam Printer, Irish education consultant and host of ‘The Motivated Classroom’ podcast, he’d tell you these are central to igniting and maintaining students’ interest in language learning. He says on his blog:
“There are things we can all do, with very little time and effort, to increase motivation right away amongst our learners. According to Ryan and Deci’s (2000) Self-Determination Theory (SDT), intrinsic motivation (which involves engaging in tasks out of pure joy and interest) is increased when we meet the basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness and competence.”
So what does he mean by autonomy, relatedness and competence?
- Autonomy is related to choice, self-direction, and student ownership of learning.
- Relatedness refers to a sense of belonging, support, inclusion and relationships.
- Competence is concerned with students’ perceptions about their capacity to achieve success.
If we are providing students with enough opportunities to meet these needs, then our classroom is likely to be a happy, engaging place for them.
This is what we are passionate about at Lingopont!
Our print and online resources allow students to experience autonomy through their ability to pick and choose activities through our online platform, relatedness through the sense of joy students experience by learning Italian in a lively, energetic way and competence through our carefully sequenced, scaffolded approach to teaching languages.
