Motivational Strategies in the Teaching of Primary School Mathematics in Zimbabwe

This study explored the concept of motivational strategies and how it applies to the teaching of primary school mathematics. A number of motivational theories were discussed in the study with regards to how primary school learners can be motivated to want to learn mathematics and such theories included the goal theory, achievement theory, the competency theory, the self-efficacy theory and the general interest theory among others. A number of motivational strategies were also discussed and these included the following: conveying confidence, conveying high aspirations, giving comments, and valuing learners' tasks. The results of this study indicate that while most teachers concurred that it is important to motivate learners to learn mathematics through the use of motivational teaching strategies, the majority of the same teachers do not seem to be regularly using motivational strategies in the teaching of mathematics. This study also showed that two of the major reasons why primary school mathematics teachers do not regularly use motivational strategies in their teaching are high workloads and large class sizes in their schools. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection.