Big Theories Revisted (Research on Sociocultural Influences on Motivation and Learning)

This volume also seeks to investigate whether and how each theory should be revised to reflect the sociocultural forces that might mediate or moderate the effects of such motivational and learning dynamics on achievement outcomes in real-life educational environments. To this end we approached renowned authors of theories, or authors who have critiqued theories, to write for us chapters that address the mission of this volume. The challenge was for authors to address the issue of whether or not their theoretical perspective was developed in a sociocultural vacuum. In some cases, we approached several people involved in developing specific theories, as they might provide different insights into the sociocultural implications of the theory. We believe that revisiting "big theories" from this perspective will make a significant contribution to the motivation and learning literature and provide the ‘launch pad’ for future theory development, research, and integration.