Abstract
Motivation allows students to get interested in learning, serving as a “bridge” to academic achievement. However, mathematics is deemed as a complex one and involves a lot of thinking to understand its concepts which leads students to get discouraged which transforms motivation into a “broken bridge” due to several aspects. The study traverses and elucidates the lived experiences of students in terms of their motivation in learning mathematics lessons. The study, with a qualitative approach, uses Heideggerian Phenomenology and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) anchored on the modified Van Kaam Approach popularized by Moustakas. The selection of the participants was done with a purposive strategy aligning with the inclusion criteria set in this study. The process of gathering the data was done through conducting interviews with ten student participants from BSEd-Math 1 in Cebu Technological University – Moalboal Campus. The themes of the study are Theme 1: The Broken Drive, Theme 2: The Rebuilding, and Theme 3: The Hope collectively represent the lived experiences of the students in terms of their motivational aspect in learning the mathematics subject. Results of this study show that there are varieties of reasons why students have low motivation in learning mathematics, and at the same time have a different way of coping with such difficulties encountered. It is recommended that parents should encourage their children to cope with their learning difficulties, and teachers should encourage students academically in a way of employing the interest of their students in discussing the mathematics lessons.
