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School Libraries Worldwide Volume 12, Number 1, January 2006, 22-34
22
What Motivates a Lifelong Learner?
Sherry R. Crow
School of Library and Information Management,
Emporia State University, USA
Lifelong learners are people who display an attitude and ability that prompts them to
learn across their life spans. Even in the testing environment of United States schools
today, a goal of library media specialists is to help children become lifelong learners. The
Self-Determination Theory (SDT, Deci & Ryan, 1985) provides a framework for exam-
ining a positive disposition toward learning, or the motivation to learn: the key attribute
of a lifelong learner. Additional areas explored include contributions of school library
research toward an understanding of student motivation, suggestions for further areas
of study, and implications for school libraries.
Introduction
On April 28-29, 2005, the Center for International Scholarship in School
Libraries (CISSL, 2005a) conducted a symposium in New York City entitled
“The Impact of School Libraries on Student Learning.” In the closing ses-
sions of this worldwide assembly of school researchers, one of the key
themes determined for future research was lifelong learning (CISSL, 2005b).
School librarians in the United States have also been given the commission
of helping students become lifelong learners (American Association of
School Librarians and Association for Educational Communications and
Technology, 1998). Yet the goal of fostering lifelong learners seems antithet-
ical to the current emphasis in US schools on high-stakes testing, which has
increased dramatically in recent years (Clarke, Madaus, Horn, & Ramos,
2000). A systematic review of current research studies (Harlen & Crick,
2003) reveals the negative effect this testing environment has on students’
motivation, a key attribute of lifelong learners (Dunlap & Grabinger, 2003).
Although it is difficult enough to address the seemingly dichotomous goals
of fostering lifelong learners and helping schools increase test scores, school
librarians also have the task of understanding what exactly lifelong learner
means. No clear definition of the term in the field of library science has yet
been developed. In this article, I offer a definition of the term lifelong learn-
er, describe the attributes of lifelong learners, examine the key attribute of
motivation in school library literature, and examine motivation in the light
of Self-Determination Theory (SDT, Deci & Ryan, 1985). By making strides
to understand the attributes of a lifelong learner, then allowing that under-
standing to guide the implementation of change, we as librarians can better
affect students for life, even in the testing environment of US schools today.
23
Sherry R. Crow What Motivates a Lifelong Learner?
Definition of Lifelong Learner versus Lifelong Learning
Library media specialists generally use the term lifelong learner to mean a
person who practices using skills and attitudes to be a learner for life. These
skills generally mean information literacy skills or the ability to “recognize
when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and
use effectively the needed information” (American Library Association,
1989, p. 1). Information Power, the guidebook used by many US library
media specialists (AASL & AECT, 1998) states that students who are “active
and creative locators, evaluators, and users of information to solve prob-
lems and to satisfy their own curiosity” (p. 2) have the ability to become
lifelong learners. The term lifelong learning, however, usually refers to “post-
compulsory learning episodes,” often work-related (Gorard & Selwyn,
2005, p. 1194) and beyond the years of formal schooling. To those in the
adult-education arena, lifelong learning has been defined as “[beginning]
when compulsory education ends, when students are 16, and sometimes at
the end of later full-time education such as graduation at a university”
(Hargreaves, 2004, p. 1). The two terms are not entirely separate, however.
Indeed, educators have begun to stress that for people to engage in lifelong
learning, they must early in life develop the skills and attitudes necessary to
continue further training or schooling. Also, part of the mission of early
compulsory school must be to prepare people to continue learning beyond
their school years. “Whether people are motivated to learn beyond the end
of compulsory education, and have the capacity to do so, depends very
much on what happens to them during school years” (p. 1). Lifelong learners
are the focus of this article and are defined as people who display an atti-
tude and ability that prompts them to learn across their life spans.
Attributes of a Lifelong Learner
Although the attributes of a lifelong learner have not been fully researched,
Dunlap and Grabinger (2003), researchers in the field of adult education,
describe the lifelong learner as having the “capacity for self-direction, meta-
cognitive awareness, and disposition toward lifelong learning” (p. 7).
McCombs (1991), in clarifying the relationship between motivation and the
lifelong learner, states, “the motivated person is a lifelong learner, and the
lifelong learner is a motivated person” (p. 117). These, as well as nearly all
descriptions of a lifelong learner, include the importance of the learner’s
motivation. It is considered the key attribute, for the other attributes are
“insufficient if learners are not disposed to engage in lifelong learning”
(Dunlap & Grabinger, p. 9). Conventional wisdom would dictate that
although they possess the skills needed to learn, people would not use
those skills if they were not motivated to do so. Motivation, then, is the key
to lifelong learning.
School Libraries Worldwide Volume 12, Number 1
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The Lifelong Learner and Motivation
The key attribute of a lifelong learner is motivation, but what kind of moti-
vation does a lifelong learner possess? The daily grind of life finds
everyone, lifelong learners included, engaged in activities that are required
of them such as cooking, cleaning, working, and so forth, all activities that
for most people are extrinsically motivated. Certainly people have intrinsic
motivation (caused by inherent satisfaction) when engaging in activities
such as solving puzzles, doing art, or playing games for enjoyment.
Lifelong learners read and learn about subjects that simply interest them.
“When a person engages in an intrinsically motivated activity he becomes
fully absorbed in the activity and committed to it. Further, he can tolerate
substantial fatigue and suppress primary drives such as hunger” (Koch,
1956). A lifelong learner by definition has an internal disposition toward
learning and is, therefore, intrinsically motivated to learn.
Do children naturally possess the intrinsic motivation to learn?
Apparently, yes. “Developmentalists acknowledge that from the time of
birth, children, in their healthiest states, are active, inquisitive, curious, and
playful, even in the absence of specific rewards (e.g., Harter, 1978)” (Ryan
& Deci, 2000, p. 70). Unfortunately, it seems that this early predisposition
toward intrinsic motivation wanes significantly during the elementary and
middle-school years (Harter, 1981; Harter & Jackson, 1992; Newman, 1990;
Tzuriel, 1989). Recently, Lepper, Corpus, and Iyengar (2005) confirmed
these results, finding that intrinsic motivation of students declined steadily
from grade 3 (age 8) to grade 8 (age 13).
The decline in intrinsic motivation, however, although an established
reality in the research, is not a simple issue and is dependent on several
variables. For example, Gottfried, Fleming, and Gottfried (2001), in their
recent study of academic intrinsic motivation (motivation specifically
focused on school learning), found that although students’ intrinsic moti-
vation for learning mathematics, science, and reading declined over the
years, this trend was not shown for social studies. Another case in point is
the work by Lepper et al.(2005), which found differences in intrinsic moti-
vation between Asian American and European American children,
although these differences were not striking. Still, regardless of the vari-
ables, the consistent conclusion traversing studies is that “motivation and
attitudes tend to decline across the years” (Gottfried et al., 2001, p. 10).
Although we may be relatively certain that intrinsic motivation in fact
declines throughout childhood, we cannot as easily identify the cause(s) of
this decline. One theory holds that extrinsic motivation somehow degrades
intrinsic motivation. A meta-analysis of 128 studies by Deci, Koestner, and
Ryan (1999) concluded that the use of extrinsic, “tangible rewards had a sig-
nificant negative effect on intrinsic motivation for interesting tasks, and this
effect showed up with participants ranging from preschool to college” (p.
653). A second idea, espoused by Lepper et al. (2005), is that school itself sti-
fles children’s intrinsic motivation to learn because “positive academic
25
Sherry R. Crow What Motivates a Lifelong Learner?
beliefs and behaviors gradually erode as children progress through the
school system” (p. 192). In other words, students’ intrinsic motivation may
not be diminished by or replaced by extrinsic motivational factors such as
grades, rewards, and avoidance of punishment. Rather, students may just
be becoming more and more demotivated (both intrinsically and extrinsi-
cally) in school throughout the elementary years.
The research on student motivation has been primarily about motiva-
tion in school, not students’ overall motivation to learn (Harter, 1978; Lepper
et al, 2005). Although the presumption is that schooling is the pivotal fac-
tor, this may not be so. Studies of the participation of British adults in
formal learning episodes, although not focused on the lifelong learners’
attributes, do identify social determinants of the participants (Gorard, Rees, &
Fevre, 1999; Gorard & Selwyn, 2005). The studies point to “parents’ social
class and educational experience [as] perhaps the most important determi-
nants of participation in lifelong learning” (p. 1212), also indicating that if
parents are participants in lifelong learning, their children are also more
likely to participate (Gorard et al.). Rathunde (2001) also found a strong
family influence on the development of adolescents’ undivided interests.
Undivided interest, according to Rathunde, refers to the “combination of pas-
sive-immediate (i.e., playful) and active-voluntary (i.e., worklike) modes
functioning in concert” (p. 160). Balance between the two modes is essen-
tial for providing the intrinsic motivation for learning or the capacity for
flow, as described by Csikszentmihalyi (1990). Although further analysis is
needed, one reason for the importance of family influence on the lifelong
learner could be the creation of “learner identities” in the family (Rees,
Fevre, Furlong, & Gorard, 1997).
Although most children experience a decline in intrinsic motivation,
others maintain it and go on to become lifelong learners. Are the children
who remain intrinsically motivated somehow able to overcome the influ-
ences of an extrinsically oriented school system and society, or have certain
educational and societal experiences moved them from extrinsic to intrin-
sic motivational behaviors? A look at student motivation in the light of the
SDT may lead to the answer.
Self-Determination Theory
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) is an approach to human motivation that
examines why a person chooses to act. The theory categorizes motivation
into three basic types spread across a spectrum: amotivation, or non-action;
extrinsic motivation, or action caused by an external force; and intrinsic
motivation, or action caused by the inherent satisfaction of the action itself.
Social context is also considered in SDT as a determinant of a person’s moti-
vational locus (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Types of Motivation
The two extremes on the self-determination continuum are amotivation
and intrinsic motivation. In amotivation, people either do not act at all or
act without intent. Non-action is caused by a lack of value for the activity,
a perceived lack of competence to complete the activity, or lack of confi-
dence that the outcome of the activity is desirable. Intrinsic motivation, on
the other hand, stems from the self and causes actions that are stimulated
by interest, enjoyment, curiosity, or pleasure (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
The remaining category, extrinsic motivation, as defined in SDT, is
divided into four types based on the degree of a person’s autonomy in
determining an action. The first type, external regulation, is action caused by
an external demand or reward. The second type, introjected regulation, is
action caused by an avoidance of guilt or anxiety. People exercise introject-
ed regulation in order to maintain their feelings of self-worth. The third
type, identified regulation, is action caused by identifying one’s values with
those of another person. The fourth type, integrated regulation, occurs when
action based on the values of another person are fully assimilated into the
self. This type of extrinsic motivation is the most autonomous, but is still
considered extrinsic because the activity is not done for its inherent satis-
faction (Ryan & Deci, 2000, see Figure 1).
Social Context
In addition to the categories of motivation outlined by SDT, the social context
of motivation is explored. People have psychological needs for competence
(Harter, 1978; White, 1963), for relatedness (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Reis,
1994), and for autonomy (deCharms, 1968; Deci, 1975). People are more
likely to be intrinsically motivated, or at least have a more autonomous
level of extrinsic motivation, if they know they can do the task (sense of
Figure 1. The self-determination continuum.
Adapted from Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of
intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.
American Psychologist, 55 (1), p. 72.
School Libraries Worldwide Volume 12, Number 1
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Sherry R. Crow What Motivates a Lifelong Learner?
competence); have a positive relationship with a support person with
whom they feel secure such as a mentor (relatedness); and feel that they
have a choice in performing the task (autonomy, Ryan & Deci, 2000).
In the framework of motivational levels and social context, then, SDT
theorizes that people who are not intrinsically motivated to do a task can,
with time and a healthy social context, begin to assimilate behaviors to
themselves so as to become more autonomous and eventually develop
intrinsic motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000). “There is some suggestion in the
literature that internalized reasons do gradually supplant extrinsic reasons
for engaging in disliked behaviors [such as doing homework] (Chandler &
Connell, 1987) and that specific teaching practices do facilitate internaliza-
tion (Deci, Eghrari, Patrick, & Leone, 1994)” (Lepper et al., 2005, p. 193).
By examining the motivational factors and the societal context in the
lives of students who exhibit the attributes of lifelong learners (self-direc-
tion, metacognitive awareness, and a disposition toward lifelong learning,
Dunlap & Grabinger, 2003), we may be able to discover the experiences,
both in and outside school, that either help children maintain their intrinsic
motivation toward learning or help them internalize extrinsic motivation.
The Motivation of the Lifelong Learner
in School Library Research
As in other fields, the use of the expression lifelong learner varies in
school library literature, ranging in meaning from an emotionally appeal-
ing goal (St. Lifer, 2003) to the broad description given in Information Power
(AASL & AECT, 1998) that mirrors the first three information literacy stan-
dards. School library research on the motivation of the lifelong learner
focuses on the student during the information-searching process, on the
library media specialist’s leadership role in implementing Accelerated
Reader (AR), and on the library media specialists’ (LMS) use of motivation-
al strategies during instruction.
Kuhlthau (2004), in her extensive research into the information search
process, acknowledges the effects of uncertainty on the intrinsic motivation
of the seeker. She theorizes that with the mediation of library media
specialists and teachers, students can overcome the natural anxiety caused
by the searching process and develop a personal interest in the topic being
explored. This interest is the foundation of an intrinsic motivation to learn
about the topic. Burdick (1996) explored differences by gender in the
information-seeking experiences of high school students. In her study, she
developed an Information Search Styles Matrix based on the focus and
involvement of the learner. The more focused and involved the learner was,
the more successful was his or her project. Success was defined by the
learning that took place, the level of involvement, and the sense of
competence experienced by the student.
School Libraries Worldwide Volume 12, Number 1
28
Several studies have examined the motivation of students while using
technology during the search process. Broch (2000) acknowledges motiva-
tional issues in students’ use of the Internet and the Online Public Access
Catalog (OPAC), particularly about the frustration of sorting through the
abundance of materials available. “In this atmosphere of ‘abundance’ it
seems particularly challenging for a library media specialist (LMS) or
teacher to convince an unmotivated student to distinguish between an ade-
quate and a better-than-adequate source” (p. 3). Studies on the effectiveness
of various OPACs with children include one by Solomon (1993), who stud-
ied the information retrieval behavior of 679 students during the 1989-1990
school year at Bonnie Brae Elementary School in Fairfax, Virginia. His
study involved tracking the children’s natural use of the OPAC, observing
their successes and failures, and monitoring their frustration levels.
Borgman, Hirsh, Walter, and Gallagher (1995) also studied the browsing
and keyword-searching behavior of children using the Science Library
Catalog in the Pasadena Unified School District. Their research was fueled
by the belief that “if children were to pursue discovery-based learning
effectively, they needed the skills to search for information that would
expand their knowledge beyond the specific classroom lessons” (p. 663).
Reducing frustration by providing well-designed OPACs removes one
roadblock to students’ intrinsic motivation.
Many studies have examined the motivational aspects of Accelerated
Reader (AR, Krashen, 2003; McLoyd, 1979; Robbins & Thompson, 1991).
Everhart (2005), however, studied the relationship between the implemen-
tation of AR and students’ motivation, and then applied her findings to the
leadership role LMSs can play in implementing AR. Three schools in
Scotland and England, all with differing levels of AR implementation, were
the focus of Everhart’s study. The level of implementation was determined
by such factors as “intensity of the monitoring of student reading progress
and intervention when needed; volume of AR reports; range of book selec-
tion” (p. 5), and so forth. Everhart found that “motivational style interacts
with gender in relation to the competitive and social aspects of the AR pro-
gram” (p. 12), that the level of implementation in the schools did not
correlate with the extent of students’ reading, and that the management
aspects of the program were not being effectively utilized. Based on these
findings, she recommends that library media specialists who already work
in AR schools can be instrumental in its implementation, “particularly in
the area of book selection, reading guidance and motivation, organization
of materials, and teacher professional development” (p. 12). She recom-
mends that LMSs in non-AR schools use her study to support
“collaborat[ing] with teachers to set individual reading goals for students
and develop a responsive collection” (p. 13) outside the AR program.
Small (1999) focused on the LMSs’ use of motivational strategies in her
study of library skills instruction and the effects on the on- and off-task
behaviors of students. She observed nine exemplary LMSs teaching library
29
Sherry R. Crow What Motivates a Lifelong Learner?
skills to students in grades 3 to 8, then categorized the motivational strate-
gies using the ARCS Model of Motivational Design. ARCS is founded on
expectancy-value theory (Small, 1998) and consists of four components of
instructional motivation: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and
Satisfaction (Keller, 1987). Small found that the LMSs used a significant
number of motivational strategies during lessons (an average of 24 strate-
gies per 30-minute lesson) and that middle-school librarians used more
motivational strategies than elementary school librarians. She also reported
that only 2% of the motivational strategies used were considered to
stimulate behavior based on intrinsic motivation. It is interesting to note
that the ARCS Model analyzes the strategies of the teacher, whereas SDT
looks at the motivation of the student. Small’s study examined the on- and
off- task behaviors of students during instruction, but it would also have
been enlightening to identify and classify students’ thoughts and feelings
using the SDT Continuum to identify the strategies that caused each type
of motivational response.
The study of students’ motivation during the information-seeking
process—whether it be researching the cognitive process of seeking or track-
ing the frustration level exhibited during OPAC and Internet searching
behavior—looks at a small but important part of the picture of the lifelong
learner. Although the study of the motivational effect of AR and librarians’
motivational strategies during library skills instruction is important in
helping the library media specialist to understand how better to implement
programs and design lessons, it does not provide an entire portrayal of
what motivates a lifelong learner. The experiences that motivate an emer-
gent lifelong learner (a child aged 5-13 who exhibits the attributes of a
lifelong learner) go beyond the research projects and reading programs
conducted in school, indeed beyond the school walls.
Areas for Further Study and Implications for School Libraries
Areas for Further Study
The definition of lifelong learner as described in this article—people who dis-
play an attitude and ability that prompts them to learn across their life
spans—could be made more robust by conducting a Delphi study. Leaders
in elementary and secondary (K-12) education, as well as in adult education
and library science, could be surveyed so that a comprehensive, cross-dis-
ciplinary definition could be developed and contrasted with the experience
and perceptions of children identified as emergent lifelong learners.
One of the difficulties of serving children is understanding what will
affect them for life. Longitudinal studies on the development of adoles-
cents’ undivided interests (Rathunde, 2001); about the changes in academic
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Bronstein, Ginsburg, & Herrera, 2005;
Gottfried et al., 2001; Otis, Grouzet, & Pelletier, 2005); and about the
changes in elementary students’ self-perceptions of competence and intrin-
sic motivation (Bouffard, Marcoux, Vezeau, & Bordeleau, 2003) have all
School Libraries Worldwide Volume 12, Number 1
30
helped build understanding of how children’s motivational loci develop.
Longitudinal studies could also be conducted of children who exhibit the
attributes of lifelong learners to see if they fulfill the promise of their early
grades in their adult lives. Another interesting study would be to authenti-
cate the attributes of identified adult lifelong learners (as described by
Dunlap & Grabinger, 2003) and to investigate their motivational types.
In order to discover the motivations of the emergent lifelong learner,
more study is needed of the personal experiences of the learners them-
selves. “It seems strange that researchers on motivation have generally
sought to improve student motivation without asking students what º
make sense to them” (Nicholls, 1992, p. 282). Using the framework of the
SDT (Deci, 1975; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000), the types of moti-
vational experiences of emergent lifelong learners could be examined,
along with the social contexts that influence them. It is critical to explore the
experiences and social contexts both in and out of school if we are to under-
stand fully the entire motivational picture of the emergent lifelong learner,
and to explore them through a sound, psychologically based lens such as
SDT. “Library researchers cannot be expected to restructure their approach-
es without turning outward and º joining the other professions that have
teamed up with psychologists to enhance their own understanding of their
own profession in new and vigorous ways” (Fine, 1984, p. 458). It is the
intent of this author to pursue such an undertaking.
Implications for School Libraries
Although it is presumptuous to assume that implementation of change in
school libraries will fully counter the effects of home, society, and school
environments on fostering lifelong learners, the implications of under-
standing the motivational experiences of the emergent lifelong learner on
practice in school libraries could be significant. The implications could
include defining the basis of our mission, directing our services, and structur-
ing our environments. Our widely accepted mission to help students become
lifelong learners could then be based on a clearer description of what a life-
long learner is, or at least on beginning to understand a definition. The
services we provide could reflect those activities that either foster intrinsic
motivation or help students integrate extrinsic motivational behaviors.
Classroom techniques for motivating children are becoming increasingly
extrinsic in the light of the pressure put on teachers in the US to emphasize
the type of instruction that will raise test scores, and not necessarily foster
motivation to learn. By collaborating with teachers to design projects that
will meet classroom goals, teach information literacy skills, and motivate
students, library media specialists can help students “begin transferring
[those skills] into fulfilling their personal needs for information” (Crow,
2005, p. 24), making learning more personal and thus more intrinsically
motivated. Collaboration with teachers in instructional design is particular-
ly important at the elementary level because the research shows a
31
Sherry R. Crow What Motivates a Lifelong Learner?
significant decline in intrinsic motivation between grades 3 and 8 (Harter,
1981; Harter & Jackson, 1992; Lepper et al., 2005; Newman, 1990; Tzuriel,
1989). However, it is also important for library media specialists at the sec-
ondary level as intrinsic motivation continues to drop during adolescence
(Gottfried et al., 2001; Otis et al., 2005). Although it should be acknowl-
edged that collaboration with every teacher is more difficult in high schools
due to sheer numbers of teachers, library media specialists at all levels can
influence instruction by participating on subject teams and in curriculum
mapping. With regard to library environments, a better understanding of
the emergent lifelong learner could help library media specialists enhance
and promote stimulation of thought and interest. In other words, we could
base what we do on sound theoretical principles of human motivation.
Conclusion
US schools today are under tremendous pressure to produce high scores on
standardized tests. The teaching strategies that often result from this pres-
sure, although sometimes motivating students to do well on tests, often do
not motivate them to learn. This paradox arises because “although reforms
that stress standards, accountability, and sanctions may (or may not) suc-
ceed in raising test scores, they are also likely to sabotage a key goal of
education—creating a flexible population of life-long learners who can
adjust to the changing needs of society and the workplace” (Sheldon &
Biddle, 1998, p. 164). In the language of SDT, the climate in schools created
by a testing approach encourages teaching strategies that emphasize exter-
nal regulation and a controlling social context. “In other words, reliance on
tangible rewards or punishments in the classroom not only depresses
important forms of learning but also thwarts the goal of creating self-moti-
vated, lifelong learners” (p. 170).
The accountability movement in US schools is probably here to stay.
However, by studying and understanding what motivates students to learn
and continue to learn outside school, school librarians can work with teach-
ers and schools to design instruction and create an atmosphere that will go
beyond standards and test scores to build on identified and intrinsic inter-
ests. By example, we can show teaching strategies and conceive learning
environments that will help students not only to learn in school and
increase test scores, but to become people who display an attitude and abil-
ity that prompts them to learn across their life spans.
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School Libraries Worldwide Volume 12, Number 1
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Author Note
Sherry R. Crow is the Library Technology Educator at Midland
International Elementary School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Currently
an adjunct professor for Emporia State University and the University of
Colorado at Denver, she teaches courses in children’s and adolescents’ lit-
erature and information literacy. Sherry has worked in several school
libraries and public libraries in children’s, young adult, reference, and
media services departments. Her most recent publication is Information
Literacy: A Guide for the Library Media Specialist (Pieces of Learning,
2005). She was named Colorado Librarian of the Year in 2004 and is current-
ly pursuing a doctorate in library and information management at Emporia
State University.
