Abstract:

Academic motivation is crucial for improving learning outcomes, particularly in resource-constrained contexts. The MUSIC® Model of Motivation—eMpowerment, Usefulness, Success, Interest, and Caring—is an empirically supported framework for understanding and enhancing students’ classroom motivation. However, in Ethiopian middle schools there is a lack of brief, culturally adapted instruments to assess students’ perceptions of these motivational components. This study aimed to adapt the MUSIC® Model of Academic Motivation Inventory into Amharic and to examine its psychometric properties and practical applicability among Ethiopian middle school students. Participants were 165 Grade 7 students (89 boys, 76 girls) from two government primary schools in Dessie City Administration, Amhara Region. The 21-item MUSIC inventory was translated into Amharic using a translation–back-translation procedure and completed together with seven demographic questions. The Amharic version showed high overall reliability (α = .91). Subscale reliabilities were acceptable for Empowerment (α = .60) and good for Usefulness (α = .70), Success (α = .71), Interest (α = .70), and Caring (α = .79). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate the underlying structure. Confirmatory factor analysis did not fully support the original five-factor model, but the emerging factor pattern indicates promising potential with some item-level refinements to improve factorial validity. One-way ANOVAs were used to examine differences in MUSIC perceptions across parental education, family income, and academic achievement. Total MUSIC scores did not differ significantly by parental education or family income, suggesting that students’ perceived motivational climate in these schools is relatively robust across. socioeconomic groups. Variation across achievement levels approached significance, pointing to a possible tendency for more motivated students to achieve higher results. Practically, the findings highlight the value of having a brief, locally validated Amharic MUSIC inventory that teachers, school leaders, and researchers can use to diagnose motivational strengths and weaknesses in classrooms, monitor the effects of motivation-focused interventions, and design targeted strategies to enhance empowerment, perceived usefulness, success, interest, and caring in Ethiopian middle schools.

Keywords:

MUSIC® Model of Motivation, academic motivation, Amharic adaptation, middle school students, Ethiopian education, classroom practice.