What makes us do the things we do? It is such a fundamentally simple and yet complex question. Motivation is as intricate and abstract a concept as exists in the study of human behavior and psychology. In the field of Adult Education and Training, the idea of learner motivation is an important and extremely extensive one. What trainer has not experienced the vaguely painful feeling of standing before a mute group of slack-jawed adults silently asking, "Why are you looking at me like that? This is good stuff! Why aren't you excited about it?" I believe it is the goal of every training professional to tap into that mystical vat of motivation that surely must exist in every trainee. It is, therefore, in our field, of utmost importance to understand what motivation is, where it comes from, and what exerts an influence on it. Only through this knowledge may we as training professionals develop and deliver programs that locate, nourish, and capitalize on the motivation of each training participant in every training session.

Many factors can exert an influence on and interact with the motivational level of an adult learner. As educators, we are charged with the responsibility of identifying those factors affecting learners in our classrooms and manipulating them to produce positive results - learning and retention. Successfully pinpointing and working with these factors requires a unique understanding of their nature and effects. Culture is one such factor.

A thorough review of academic writings and a household dictionary turns up a plethora of definitions for the word "motivation:"

Common to each definition is the reference to a purposeful behavior or act. The concept of motivation seems to provide an answer to our question, "What makes us do the things we do?" Motivation is what has us to behave or act in specific, purposeful ways.

Applying this definition specifically to adult education, in Enhancing Adult Motivation to Learn, Wlodkowski defines motivation to learn as "a person's tendency to find learning activities meaningful and to benefit from them" (Wlodkowski, 1999, p. 4.)

The concept of culture is a huge one. Separating human beings from their culture is impossible. The most obvious cultural characteristics are physical, including gender, skin color, race, and physical disability. But culture is much more deeply rooted than those surface factors. In Diversity and Motivation, Wlodkowki and Ginsberg describe culture as "the deeply learned confluence of language, values, beliefs, and behaviors that pervade every aspect of a person's life, and ...is continually undergoing minor changes" (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995, p. 7.) Because culture encompasses such a huge part of people, it plays a large and important role in the motivation of those same individuals.

Only recently I clearly recall providing Career Development training to a class of 9, each participant representing a different country: the United States, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, South Africa, South Vietnam, and Kenya. Each student was clearly unique in the way that he/she interacted with the group, reacted to discussion, perceived and processed information, and expressed interest in the material. The culture of each student is an inseparable part of who he/she is, as a person and as a learner. That culture and motivation are related seems plain.

How that energy is directed and at what level may be a direct result of the culture of each individual learner. Due to constraints of time and space, this report will focus on two major relationships between culture and learner motivation and on the implications for the training of adult learners: social motivation and culture, and work motivation and culture.

"The overriding principle of social motivation is order" (Edwards, 1999, p. 292.) Humans as a species want to maintain their place in social order and do so by adjusting their behavior accordingly. Social motivation refers to the activation of these adjustments as a result of contact with other individuals. Research in social motivation has led to the development of theories regarding the behavior of individuals in a group. Essentially, when placed in group settings, individuals will perform certain behaviors to maintain their place within the group. When an audience is present, individuals experience evaluation apprehension - the feeling that he/she is being judged by the rest of the group as to whether he/she "fits in." The typical result of this phenomenon is to either cause the individual to take action to form a good impression on the group, or to refrain from behaviors that might embarrass or otherwise ostracize the individual from the group. When the presence of a group motivates an individual to pursue a behavior for the purpose of impression, it is called social facilitation. Social loafing is the phenomenon of apparent motivation loss of individuals in groups.

In general, research has found that the nature of the task or discussion within the group will determine whether an individual will experience social facilitation or social loafing. When the task is interesting, interactive or otherwise involving, an individual is more prone to experience social facilitation. This is especially true if the individual feels a personal affinity or particular talent for the task. Tiring, uninteresting, or meaningless tasks usually elicit social loafing as a normal response. Social loafing appears to be more of a motivated avoidance behavior than a specific loss of motivation (Munro, Schumaker, & Carr, 1997.)

Some simple personal reflection regarding classroom dynamics lends credibility to the theory. It would seem clear that, when placed in a new class of strangers, learners take actions to be accepted by the group. When the task or topic at hand is difficult, or something about which the learner feels insecure, he/she tends to refrain from asking questions, or performing other behavior that might demonstrate his/her ignorance and subsequent possible inappropriate placement in the class. On the other hand, when the topic or task at hand is something about which he/she knows much or is highly skilled, he/she tends to want to "show off" his/her ability by contributing to the discussion, demonstrating his/her skill or otherwise impress his/her expertise on the classroom group for approval.

The study of social motivation leads to the question, why do people need to belong to social groups? What is it about groups that motivate individuals to engage in social facilitation and social loafing? One answer may be culture.

A huge part of culture is belonging. When we speak of a Jewish culture, an African-American culture, or an inner-city culture, we are referring to membership in a group. One's cultural group is a place in which one finds one's niche in the general social order, a basic human need. This basic need translates nicely into the classroom, providing a basis for why students may experience social motivation among peers in a learning group.

Synonyms of "work," according to the American Heritage Dictionary include, "toil, drudgery, labor, travail. These nouns refer to the exertion of physical or mental faculties in order to accomplish something, contrasted with play or recreation" (Morris, 1970.) The implication of this idea of work that we seem to have in Western society is that people are inherently unmotivated to work.

Motivating employees in Western society is based on this understanding of work motivation. Managers seem to believe that work itself is not and cannot be intrinsically motivating and so seek methods of improving workers' personal satisfaction through incentives. Likewise in classrooms everywhere, instructors scramble to locate means to motivate learners through incentives such as grades, certificates and degrees.

And yet, work is such a large part of most adult's lives. People seem to measure their worth in what they do. When meeting someone for the first time, a common conversation starter is, "and what do you do?" In Eastern cultures, the concepts of work and work motivation are viewed somewhat differently and motivating employees is not the same issue that it is in Western civilizations. In these societies, motivating people comes not from extrinsic incentives, but from "such nonmaterialistic properties as trust, altruistic sentiments, norms of reciprocity, and a moral duty obliging them to act and perform out of a spirit of spontaneous consensus" (Munroe, Schumaker & Carr, 1997, p. 121.)

In China, the focus of motivating individuals in the workplace is on moralistic duty. Beginning in adolescence, young learners are instilled with a consciousness of moral obligation and familial role. Individuals are encouraged to recognize their moral duties to perform, whether in the workplace, the classroom, or at home. In this culture, all people work together for the good of the many, versus the Western approach of working primarily for the self. In Chinese culture, workers are fulfilling their expected roles in the workplace and are motivated from an inner acceptance of their place in society (Munroe, Schumaker & Carr, 1997.)

The anchor of the Japanese motivational approach is trust. In a study by Dore, workers in the Japanese factory Hitachi were found to be highly motivated and committed to their jobs and their company in spite of low work satisfaction (cited in Munro, Schumaker & Carr, 1997.) The workers seemed to experience a devotion to their company because of the belief in a future reward for all as a result of their commitment. The belief seemed to be that Hitachi was a family to them and it was logical to support that family for the benefit of all included.

The impact of the success of this approach to worker motivation seems clear. Eastern industry has developed a reputation for excellence and longevity. A stereotype has developed in our culture that the oriental student has a predisposition to excel at science and mathematics. Interestingly, the approach is not so different from Western cultural expectations from years past. A few short generations ago, men worked because it was their moral obligation to themselves and their families. Companies took care of their own and loyalties between employers and employees were strong. Employees earned gold watches after 40 years of service. Companies retained employees by providing lifetime career opportunities for workers much like the commitment demonstrated by Japanese Hitachi.

One thing is certain. Culture in the classroom is not going anywhere. As the world and the workplace changes, trainers and instructors are going to find themselves faced with classes full of diverse individuals. To ignore or deny such a trend is folly for any adult educator. Rather, those of us entrusted with the education and training of adults can and should take several steps to ensure that every student in every classroom has full and equal access to the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that we have to teach.

In order to effectively do anything to create a culturally sensitive and responsive classroom, an adult educator should begin with him/herself. By examining his/her feelings regarding sensitive and difficult issues such as racism, discrimination, sexism, prejudice and bias, an instructor is forced to confront issues that may cause him/her to resist embracing such a classroom environment. Often, it is fear of these personal feelings that may prevent an instructor from moving in that direction. All of these issues evoke intense emotion and an instructor who is not prepared to deal with that personally and as a mediator in a class of many individuals faces disaster.

A temptation and tendency that many educators encounter is that of wanting to be the All-Knowing Master of the classroom. Certainly, the title of instructor bestows upon its subject the leadership and overall control of a class. However, too many instructors, I believe, forget that they have perhaps as much to learn from their students as the students do from them. By maintaining an open mind and a willingness to accept new ideas, an educator may model that quality for students and begin to facilitate an important ingredient in incubating motivation in the classroom - inclusion.

It has already been established that part of culture is belonging to a group. By creating an inclusive environment, the instructor sets the stage for students to become part of a learning community. Providing stimulating, interactive and various activities, the instructor can encourage social facilitation among the members of the group. Avoiding uninteresting, irrelevant activities, the instructor may avoid promoting social loafing and subsequent isolation of any student in the classroom. By taking steps to ensure a respectful, open atmosphere, "intrinsic motivation can emerge because people can be authentic and spontaneous and can accept full responsibility for their actions" (Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995, p.62.)

Eliciting intrinsic motivation is the key to creating a classroom environment that is sensitive and responsive to culture. By looking at the Hitachi example and extrapolating its lesson to the classroom, it becomes clear why many of the efforts instructors exert to motivate students extrinsically do not work. Taking a cue from Eastern Culture, adult educators and their students can benefit from going about the business of generating intrinsic motivation in students by fostering trust, connection, acceptance and a sense of place in the classroom. Establishing inclusion is the first step in that process.

Guiding students in developing a positive attitude about the learning experience is the next step. Adults need to believe that there is relevance in what they are learning. By setting clear goals and objectives and utilizing techniques such as learning contracts, students can develop positive self-concepts and dispositions toward the learning process and the classroom experience in general. If adult learners do not feel invested in their education, the likelihood that they will be motivated intrinsically to pursue excellence plummets.

Another key element in establishing a "culturally responsive" classroom (Wlodkowski & Ginsburg, 1995, p. 17) is enhancing meaning by challenging learners to think and participate in the learning experience. By encouraging adult students to inject their own values, opinions and viewpoints into discussions and activities, the instructor helps learners to put themselves "out there" and to play an active role in their own learning processes. In this way, learners discover within themselves reasons to pursue learning, the essence of intrinsic motivation.

Finally, the culturally responsive classroom engenders competence in adult learners. Students must feel that they have met with some success in their efforts to learn something that they value. Providing varied and specific feedback and other methods of assessment, the instructor can lead students toward a positive self-evaluation of their own learning.

It seems as though, at first analysis, the process of engendering intrinsic motivation in students places tremendous responsibility on the instructor. And surely, he/she is the catalyst for all of the steps outlined above. It is through the instructor's guidance, methods of instruction, and responses that learners move toward this goal. But the issue is not one of control. It is the role of the instructor to act as the conduit through which this change takes place. It certainly could not occur without the instructor, but the role and effort of the student, the activities, the interactions, and the environment all play a vital part in the development of intrinsic motivation in adult learners.

Motivation is an elusive and mysterious thing. I once told a group of trainees that, could I bottle and sell this thing called "Motivation," I would not need to be a trainer and could, instead, happily pursue my innate love of shopping. We may never learn what makes people do the things they do. But by paying attention to the factors over which they have control, adult educators have the unique opportunity to affect the quality of the learning experience for students in their classrooms. Diversity is a wonderful, perplexing thing. Responding to the ever-changing adult learning audience with culturally sensitive and responsive teaching methods, instructors ensure that the effect is a good one.

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