=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1446/amadl_pap6
|storemode=property
|title=Cultural aspects related to motivation to learn in a Mexican context
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1446/amadl_pap6.pdf
|volume=Vol-1446
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/edm/Martinez-MironR15
}}
==Cultural aspects related to motivation to learn in a Mexican context==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1446/amadl_pap6.pdf
Cultural
aspects
related
to
motivation
to
learn
in
a
Mexican
context
1,* 2
Erika-‐Annabel
Martínez-‐Mirón ,
Genaro
Rebolledo-‐Méndez
1
Universidad
Politécnica
de
Puebla,
Puebla,
México
*Corresponding
Author:
erika.martinez@uppuebla.edu.mx
2
Universidad
Veracruzana,
Xalapa,
México
g.rebolledo@gmail.com
Abstract.
The
development
of
motivationally
intelligent
tutoring
systems
has
been
based
on
a
variety
of
motivational
models
from
the
psychology
field.
These
models
mainly
consider
characteristics
from
de
areas
of
values,
expectancies
and
feelings
[1].
However,
this
paper
proposes
to
take
into
account
some
cultural
aspects
when
operationalizing
such
models.
The
basis
of
this
proposal
is
presented
from
the
perspective
of
some
cultural
aspects
that
effect
career
choice,
in
particular
for
a
Mexican
context.
Keywords:
Motivation,
career
choice,
Mexican
cultural
context
1 Introduction
Research
in
motivation
to
learn
when
using
educational
technology
has
operationalized
different
motivational
models
found
in
the
psychological
literature
in
order
to
develop
motivationally
intelligent
tutoring
systems.
According
to
these
models,
motivationally
aware
tutoring
systems
should
combine
expertise
and
knowledge
about
user’s
cognitive,
affective,
meta-‐cognitive
and
meta-‐affective
levels
in
order
to
appropriately
react
and
be
able
to
favor
user’s
learning
[2,
3].
That
is,
these
models
should
mainly
consider
characteristics
from
the
areas
of
values,
expectancies
and
feelings
[1].
However,
this
paper
argues
also
for
the
inclusion
of
other
aspects
that
have
been
seldom
taken
into
account
so
far.
We
refer
to
cultural
aspects
inherent
to
each
group
of
individuals
from
a
certain
background.
Since
there
is
evidence
that
students
from
different
cultural
origin
react
to
the
same
motivational
strategy
in
a
different
way
[4,
5,
6]
or
have
different
attitudes
for
online
assessment
[7],
the
cultural
aspect
of
learning
with
technology
becomes
an
important
issue.
For
instance,
if
a
female
student
from
a
highly
gender-‐stereotyped
cultural
background
is
asked
to
attend
a
course
considered
to
be
strongly
oriented
to
men,
then
she
might
perceived
to
be
in
the
wrong
course
and
probably
will
not
exert
her
maximum
effort.
Or
even
she
might
believe
that
her
role
in
society
is
to
be
protected
by
someone,
and
she
attends
courses
just
to
be
in
the
possibility
to
meet
that
expectation.
It
will
not
matter
what
motivational
strategy
the
teacher
uses,
since
the
female
student’s
cultural
belief
is
in
an
apparently
superior
level
and
she
will
only
be
concerned
to
learn
at
the
minimum,
just
to
continue
studying
until
meeting
her
protector
[8].
In
order
to
develop
the
arguments
to
support
the
inclusion
of
cultural
aspects
in
the
design
of
motivationally-‐aware
tutoring
systems,
the
following
sections
describe
some
of
these
elements
within
a
Mexican
context
from
the
perspective
of
career
choice,
based
on
the
findings
that
instrumental
motivation
is
an
important
predictor
for
course
selection,
career
choice,
and
performance
[9,
10].
That
is,
students
may
pursue
to
perform
well
in
some
tasks
because
they
are
important
for
future
goals,
even
if
the
student
is
not
interested
on
the
task.
2 Motivation,
career
guidance
and
cultural
context
Motivation
is
related
to
the
student’s
desire
to
participate
in
the
learning
process.
Current
research
findings
suggest
that
motivational
constructs
do
change
over
time
[11,
12,
13]
and/or
contexts
[14,
15,
16].
In
particular,
it
is
well
documented
that
cultural
differences
affect
achievement
motivation
[4,
5,
6].
We
believe
that
if
teachers
truly
want
to
promote
the
success
of
all
students,
they
must
recognize
how
achievement
motivation
varies
culturally
within
the
population
it
serves.
Similarly,
career
counseling
must
incorporate
different
variables
and
different
processes
to
be
effective
for
students
from
different
cultural
contexts.
Career
counseling
is
defined
as
"the
process
of
assisting
individuals
in
the
development
of
a
life-‐career
with
focus
on
the
definition
of
the
worker
role
and
how
that
role
interacts
with
other
life
roles"
[17].
According
to
Rivera
[18],
there
are
characteristics
that
prevail
among
Hispanic/Latino
American
children
and
adolescents,
such
as:
A)
Restraint
of
feelings,
particularly
anger
and
frustration;
B)
Limited
verbal
expressions
toward
authority
figures;
C)
Preference
for
closer
personal
space;
avoidance
of
eye
contact
when
listening
or
speaking
to
authority
figures;
D)
Relaxation
about
time
and
punctuality;
and
immediate
short-‐term
goals;
E)
Collective,
group
identity;
interdependence;
cooperative
rather
than
competitive;
emphasis
on
interpersonal
relations.
To
certain
extent,
these
characteristics
can
be
considered
part
of
one
of
the
four
sources
of
information,
social
persuasion,
included
in
the
model
of
the
Socio
Cognitive
Career
Theory
[19],
(see
Table
1).
This
framework
conceptualizes
career
choice
as
a
process
with
multiple
stages
and
different
sources
of
information.
We
propose
that
cultural
aspects
of
the
Mexican
context
might
have
an
impact
not
just
the
process
of
choosing
a
career,
but
on
the
way
students
undertake
their
learning
activities
as
described
in
the
following
paragraphs.
Table
1.
Sources
of
information
proposed
in
the
model
of
social
cognitive
influences
on
career
choice
behavior
[19]
Source
of
Description
information
Performance
Success
in
performing
the
target
task
or
behavior
accomplishment
Vicarious
learning
or
To
watch
others
who
could
perform
the
target
behavior
modeling
successfully.
Emotional
arousal
Anxiety
when
performing
the
target
behavior
Social
persuasion
Support
and
encouragement
from
others
in
the
process
of
performing
the
target
behavior.
2.1 Machismo
There
is
growing
research
supporting
that
achievement
differences
between
genders
are
smaller
during
early
years
of
school
or
being
reduced
[20].
The
succession
of
career
behaviors
for
women
is
far
more
complex
than
for
men.
In
particular,
in
Mexican
students,
the
complexities
might
lay
in
the
cultural
aspect
of
machismo.
In
Mendoza’s
review
[21],
machismo
is
defined
as
a
strong
sense
of
masculine
pride,
and
it
is
suggested
that
machismo
should
be
considered
in
any
Latino
study,
but
it
is
often
forgotten.
The
social
behavior
pattern
associated
to
machismo
includes
the
expectation
of
men
being
caring,
responsible,
decisive,
strong
of
character,
and
the
protector
of
probably
extended
family.
At
the
same
time,
negative
aspects
of
machismo
include
aggressiveness,
physical
strength,
emotional
insensitivity,
and
a
womanizing
attitude
towards
the
opposite
sex.
Galanti
[22],
cited
in
[21],
surveyed
a
group
of
Latino
students
who
reported
that
the
relationship
between
male
and
female
would
be
of
protector
and
protected.
More
specifically,
according
to
them,
the
role
of
the
traditional
Hispanic
woman
is
to
look
after
the
family;
her
job
is
to
cook,
clean,
and
care
for
the
children.
Other
characteristics
of
a
good
wife
include
submission
and
obedience
to
her
husband’s
orders
without
questioning
him
but
rather
standing
behind
whatever
he
decides,
even
if
she
disagrees.
She
must
also
be
tolerant
of
his
behavior.
Taking
into
account
these
views
it
is
understandable
that
women´s
career
choice
might
be
influenced
by
the
fulfillment
of
this
profile
rather
than
freely
choosing
a
career
that
may
imply
a
great
amount
of
dedication.
In
some
Mexican
contexts,
women
may
prefer
to
undertake
studies
that
are
less
demanding.
Women
also
must
strive
to
overcome
obstacles
such
as
gender
discrimination
and
sex
stereotyping.
For
instance,
Gallardo-‐Hernández
et.
al.
reported
the
results
of
a
questionnaire
applied
to
637
first-‐year
medical
nutrition,
dentistry
and
nursing
students
[23].
The
findings
suggest
that
among
women
of
low
socioeconomic
strata,
more
traditional
gender
stereotypes
prevail
which
lead
them
to
seek
career
choices
considered
feminine.
Among
men,
there
is
a
clear
relationship
between
career
choice,
socioeconomic
level
and
internalization
of
gender
stereotypes.
2.2 Social
orientation
Cooperative
learning
is
very
important
for
Mexicans
[24].
They
do
not
seem
to
openly
want
to
show
what
they
know
for
fear
of
embarrassing
those
who
do
not
know
[25].
It
is
not
common
in
a
Hispanic
family
to
encourage
children
to
excel
over
siblings
or
peers
but
rather,
it
is
considered
bad
manners.
It
is
worth
noting
that
most
of
the
studies
reported
have
taken
into
account
the
Mexican
context
around
Mexican
American
students
but
no
studies
so
far
focus
on
comparison
between
this
population
and
a
Mexican
population
living
in
Mexico.
Nevertheless,
their
findings
can,
to
some
extent,
be
considered
valid
for
Mexican
population.
For
instance,
Ojeda
and
Flores
[26]
considered
the
educational
aspirations
of
186
Mexican
American
high
school
students
to
test
a
portion
of
social-‐cognitive
career
theory
[19].
Their
results
indicated
that
perceived
educational
barriers
significantly
predicted
students'
educational
aspirations
above
and
beyond
the
influence
of
gender,
generation
level,
and
parents'
education
level.
Similarly,
Flores,
Romero
and
Arbona
[27]
found
that
Mexican
American
men
and
women
with
high
measures
of
ethnic
loyalty
might
be
at
risk
for
perceiving
social
costs
of
pursuing
a
higher
education.
2.3 Perception
of
time
and
career
guidance
Mexicans
are
oriented
toward
present
time;
they
are
focused
on
“right
now”
rather
than
on
the
past
or
on
future
events
or
outcomes.
They
often
live
the
phrase
“Dios
dirá”
or
"God
will
tell,"
that
is,
time
is
relative.
To
arrive
late
for
an
engagement
is
called
in
the
southwest
"Mexican
time."
This
perception
permeates
career-‐counseling
programs
in
the
Mexican
context,
since
its
interventions
start
in
the
educational
level
just
behind
the
university
program
[28].
Therefore,
students
have
to
decide
in
a
relatively
short
period
of
time
which
career
suits
them
best.
Sometimes
the
students
might
have
a
great
amount
of
career
information,
making
it
difficult
to
make
a
good
analysis
of
each
of
the
options.
But
it
also
might
occur
that
there
is
little
availability
of
information
and
students
might
end
up
making
an
inadequate
career
choice.
3 Discussion
Increasingly,
researchers
are
calling
for
studies
of
change
in
motivation,
rather
than
treating
motivation
as
a
static
trait-‐like
factor
[1],
[4].
However,
those
studies
mainly
consider
motivation
to
be
influenced
by
characteristics
from
the
areas
of
values,
expectancies
and
feelings
[1],
without
taking
into
account
that
some
cultural
aspects
like
machismo,
social
orientation
or
perception
of
time
might
also
be
influencing
how
students
approach
to
a
learning
activity.
For
instance,
women
could
be
avoiding
pursuing
a
career
that
would
not
allow
them
to
easily
integrate
their
expected
roles
as
mother
and
spouse
with
their
future
professional
activity.
Also,
the
perception
of
educational
barriers,
such
as
gender
and
ethnicity,
nurtured
by
the
social
context
could
reinforce
the
idea
of
choosing
a
career
according
to
the
students’
sex,
which
in
turn
might
influence
students’
motivation
to
learn
a
particular
area
of
study.
Although
there
is
little
research
evidence
that
establishes
a
direct
connection
between
career
choice
and
motivation
to
learn
a
particular
topic,
this
paper
reviewed
some
cultural
aspects
in
the
Mexican
context
that
have
an
impact
on
students’
learning
behavior.
Based
on
this,
we
consider
plausible
to
do
some
research
that
consider
these
aspects
when
designing
a
motivationally
tutoring
system.
For
example,
in
a
Mexican
context,
a
tutoring
system
for
Mathematics
could
emphasize
women’s
capacity
to
solve
problems
regardless
of
their
gender,
like
providing
feedback
including
mentions
to
important
contributions
from
female
scientists,
or
listing
the
advantages
of
achieving
personal
professional
success
as
a
woman,
or
maybe
using
a
very
strong
female
character
showing
high
IQ
as
the
main
avatar.
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