The majority of computer science education research to date has focused on purely cognitive student outcomes. Understanding the "motivational" states experienced by students may enhance our understanding of the computer science learning process, and may reveal important instructional interventions that could benefit student engagement and retention. This article investigates issues of student motivation as they arise during one-on-one human tutoring in introductory computer science. The findings suggest that the choices made during instructional discourse are associated with cognitive and motivational outcomes, and that particular strategies can be leveraged based on an understanding of the student motivational state. (Contains 2 notes, 2 tables, and 1 figure.)