Attributions of Successful Professors in Promoting Academic Motivation in Birjand University Students

Learning is a gift from God. Among all the factors influencing learning, motivation is very important and professor’s role is one of the determinant factors of student’s academic motivation. The main purpose of this research is to identify attributions of successful professors in promoting students’ academic motivation. A survey method was used for this study. For this purpose, 15 prominent professors from Birjand University that had obtained the highest scores in quality of teaching in student assessments during past five year period, were selected from different colleges using targeted sampling method. The data was collected through interviews. Based on research results attributions of successful professors in promoting students’ academic motivation classified in four main following categories: “human relations, teaching skills, personality traits and assessment skills”. In this research considering attributions of professors regarding diminution of students’ academic motivation in the recent years, professor’s role was the most important factor. Also artistic and scientific aspects of teaching and the influence level of instruction and development on teaching was discussed and analyzed.