The use of a motivational interviewing instrument to enhance academic self-efficacy and academic motivation of undergraduate students at Assumption University

Abstract

The efficacy of the Brief Academic Motivational Instrument (BAMI) as an intervention in enhancing the academic self-efficacy and academic motivation of university students was tested. The BAMI is a paper based semi-structural Motivational Interviewing (MI) tool that aims to increase student motivation to change studying habits. Participants consisted of 40 undergraduate students, their age ranged from 18 to 32 years old (mean age 21.23), recruited through convenience sampling at Assumption University, Thailand. Participants were randomly assigned to the BAMI experimental group (n=20) and the non-intervention control group (n=20). All participants completed pre and post questionnaires, which the participants self-reported their academic self-efficacy and academic motivation. The investigator went through the BAMI with the experimental group participants after the pretest. All posttests were collected via internet survey 10 days after the pretest. MANOVA for repeated measures analysis was conducted to test the efficacy of the BAMI intervention against a no intervention control group. The results indicated there were no significant differences in academic self-efficacy and academic motivation between the experimental and control group at the posttest, suggesting that the BAMI intervention was ineffective. The insignificant results could be influenced by the timing of the data collection, nature of the sample population, cultural differences, prescreening ineffectiveness, the small sample size and possible language concerns. Further research needs to be conducted in order to further evaluate the effectiveness of the BAMI or similar devices for increasing academic self-efficacy and academic motivation.