Challenge, Skill and Motivation

This paper reports the results of a study derived from a model of intrinsic motivation that emphasizes the balance between the degree of challenge inherent in a particular activity and the skills that one brings to the activity. Using a method successfully utilized with North American and European populations, the motivational states of Thai learners of English were assessed in language class, at work, at leisure and during maintenance activities. Few relationships were found between the levels of challenge and skill involved in an activity and the reported level of motivation or other affective states. Several reasons why the predictions of the theory were not supported are considered. The most likely explanation is that Thai culture emphasizes different values, with challenge playing a less important a role in motivation than in the other cultures studied using the model.