A great deal of classroom research is now available to inform teachers' decision making
about promoting student learning and motivation.  Students who are highly motivated are
usually successful in achieving their goals. It is important to look at what a child believes
and how this influences their behavior. There are different cognitive theories of motivation.  
Attribution theory has made important contributions to the development of  a
systematic approach to motivating students in the classroom. Goal theory and self-
efficacy have emerged as an extension of attribution theory. Our goal, as educators, is to
promote positive learning opportunities. To achieve this goal we must understand how
children attribute success or failure and what factors they attribute to their success or
failures.  In knowing this we can change our instruction to motivate students to learn. 
Students need to believe that their effort and strategy has an impact on the outcomes of
their learning experiences.

Much of the research found on children's beliefs of reading achievement center on past
experiences, circle of success or failure, attributions and self-concept.  Langer and Dweck
(1973) explain the effects of circle of success and failure on the development of self-concept. 
They believe that some of us were trained at an early age to see ourselves in a positive
light.  Children with a high regard for their assets and abilities and an expectation of
success will act in ways consistent with their expectations.  Langer and Dweck (1973)
discuss four stages of  success or failure. 

1. The first stage, expectation, is when an individual defines a goal.  For success a  persons'
   goals must reflect how certain they are that they will reach the goal. For failure the goal is
   set but the individual is fairly certain that the goal will not be obtained.

2. The second stage is the behavior in the situation. Individuals with negative expectations avoid 
   these situations or approach halfheartedly. On the other hand, for success, people tend to
   work harder, thus increasing their chance of success.

3. The third stage is the view of the outcome.  This stage involves deciding whether one
   succeeded or failed.

4. The last stage is called attribution.  This refers to the reason one finds to explain the outcome
   that has occurred.  One may attribute success or failure to some characteristic of  yourself,
   or to some aspect of your behavior in the situation, or one may attribute the outcome to
   something external, such as luck.