Classroom goal structure, student motivation, and academic achievement.

Over the past 25 years, achievement goal theory has emerged as one of the most prominent theories of achievement motivation. This chapter uses an achievement goal framework to examine the influence of classroom and school environments on students' academic motivation and achievement. Considerable evidence suggests that elementary and secondary students show the most positive motivation and learning patterns when their school settings emphasize mastery, understanding, and improving skills and knowledge. Whereas school environments that are focused on demonstrating high ability and competing for grades can increase the academic performance of some students, research suggests that many young people experience diminished motivation under these conditions. The implications of achievement goal theory for examining the impact of school reform are discussed.

[1]  Andrew J. Elliot,et al.  Short-term and long-term consequences of achievement goals: Predicting interest and performance over time. , 2000 .

[2]  S. Ball.  Motivation in Education , 1977 .

[3]  J. Eccles,et al.  Expectancy-Value Theory of Achievement Motivation. , 2000, Contemporary educational psychology.

[4]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Motivation and Cheating During Early Adolescence , 1998 .

[5]  Learned Helplessness in Task-Orienting versus Performance-Orienting Testing Conditions. , 1989 .

[6]  R. Ryan,et al.  PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Origins and Pawns in the Classroom: Self-Report and Projective Assessments of Individual Differences in Children's Perceptions , 1986 .

[7]  C. Dweck,et al.  Goals: an approach to motivation and achievement. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[8]  J. Harackiewicz,et al.  Approach and avoidance achievement goals and intrinsic motivation: A mediational analysis. , 1996 .

[9]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Motivation and strategy use in science: Individual differences and classroom effects , 1994 .

[10]  Lynley H. Anderman.  Classroom goal orientation, school belonging and social goals as predictors of students' positive and negative affect following the transition to middle school. , 1999 .

[11]  Barbara A. Greene,et al.  Influences on achievement : Goals, perceived ability, and cognitive engagement , 1996 .

[12]  J. Nicholls.  Achievement motivation: Conceptions of ability, subjective experience, task choice, and performance. , 1984 .

[13]  Mimi Engel,et al.  The Grasshopper and the Ant: Motivational Responses of Low-Achieving Students to High-Stakes Testing , 2001 .

[14]  J. Meece,et al.  Relations of learner-centered teaching practices to adolescents’ achievement goals , 2003 .

[15]  Michael J. Middleton,et al.  Performance-Approach Goals: Good for What, for Whom, under What Circumstances, and at What Cost?. , 2001 .

[16]  J. Eccles.  Expectancies, values and academic behaviors , 1983 .

[17]  C. Midgley,et al.  Transitions during early adolescence: Changes in children's domain-specific self-perceptions and general self-esteem across the transition to junior high school. , 1991 .

[18]  J. Nicholls,et al.  Fifth graders' achievement orientations and beliefs: Individual and classroom differences. , 1998 .

[19]  Helen Patrick,et al.  Observing classroom goal structures to clarify and expand goal theory. , 2002 .

[20]  C. Dweck,et al.  Clarifying achievement goals and their impact. , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[21]  A. Elliot,et al.  A 2 X 2 achievement goal framework. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[22]  Margaret H. Gheen,et al.  Classroom goal structure and student disruptive behaviour. , 2002, The British journal of educational psychology.

[23]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Differences between Elementary and Middle School Teachers and Students: A Goal Theory Approach , 1995 .

[24]  D. Schunk,et al.  Risk Taking: Theoretical, Empirical, and Educational Considerations , 1991 .

[25]  Susan Bobbitt Nolen,et al.  Learning environment, motivation, and achievement in high school science , 2003 .

[26]  Sandra Graham,et al.  Motivational influences on cognition : task involvement, ego involvement, and depth of information processing , 1991 .

[27]  John G. Nicholls,et al.  The Competitive Ethos and Democratic Education , 1989 .

[28]  S. B. Nolen,et al.  Reasons for studying: Motivational orientations and study strategies. , 1988 .

[29]  Carol Midgley,et al.  Teachers' Communication of Goal Orientations in Four Fifth-Grade Classrooms , 2001, The Elementary School Journal.

[30]  A. Bandura.  Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory , 1985 .

[31]  Thomas M. Haladyna,et al.  Personal and environmental influences on students' beliefs about effective study strategies , 1990 .

[32]  E. Skaalvik.  Self-enhancing and self-defeating ego orientation: Relations with task and avoidance orientation, achievement, self-perceptions, and anxiety. , 1997 .

[33]  J. Eccles,et al.  The development of achievement task values: A theoretical analysis , 1992 .

[34]  Kathleen Holt,et al.  A pattern analysis of students' achievement goals. , 1993 .

[35]  K. E. Barron,et al.  Revision of achievement goal theory: Necessary and illuminating. , 2002 .

[36]  J. Meece,et al.  Students' goal orientations and cognitive engagement in classroom activities , 1988 .

[37]  Shirley L. Yu,et al.  The relation between goal orientation and students' motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning , 1996 .

[38]  Andrew J. Elliot,et al.  Perceptions of Classroom Environment, Achievement Goals, and Achievement Outcomes. , 2001 .

[39]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  The classroom environment and students' reports of avoidance strategies in mathematics: A multimethod study. , 2002 .

[40]  Thérèse Bouffard,et al.  The impact of goal orientation on self‐regulation and performance among college students , 1995 .

[41]  C. Wolters.  Advancing Achievement Goal Theory: Using Goal Structures and Goal Orientations to Predict Students' Motivation, Cognition, and Achievement. , 2004 .

[42]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  The Role of Classroom Goal Structure in Students’ Use of Self-Handicapping Strategies , 1998 .

[43]  Carol Midgley,et al.  Enhancing Student Motivation: A Schoolwide Approach , 1991 .

[44]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  The Development and Validation of Scales Assessing Students' Achievement Goal Orientations , 1998, Contemporary educational psychology.

[45]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Changes in Achievement Goal Orientations, Perceived Academic Competence, and Grades across the Transition to Middle-Level Schools , 1997, Contemporary educational psychology.

[46]  Kenneth E. Barron,et al.  Achievement goals and optimal motivation: testing multiple goal models. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[47]  Carol Midgley,et al.  Transforming school cultures , 1996 .

[48]  Andrew J. Elliot,et al.  Rethinking achievement goals: When are they adaptive for college students and why? , 1998 .

[49]  Carole A. Ames.  Classrooms: Goals, structures, and student motivation. , 1992 .

[50]  B. Weiner.  History of motivational research in education , 1990 .

[51]  Barbara A. Greene,et al.  Engagement in Academic Work: The Role of Learning Goals, Future Consequences, Pleasing Others, and Perceived Ability , 1996, Contemporary educational psychology.

[52]  Shelly L. Gable,et al.  Achievement goals, study strategies, and exam performance: A mediational analysis. , 1999 .

[53]  C. Dweck,et al.  Goals: an approach to motivation and achievement. , 1988, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[54]  A. Elliot,et al.  A HIERARCHICAL MODEL OF APPROACH AND AVOIDANCE ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION , 1997 .

[55]  J. Eccles,et al.  Adolescents' Perceptions of Middle School: Relation to Longitudinal Changes in Academic and Psychological Adjustment , 1998 .

[56]  Tim Urdan,et al.  Predictors of Academic Self-Handicapping and Achievement: Examining Achievement Goals, Classroom Goal Structures, and Culture. , 2004 .

[57]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Learning to Value Mathematics and Reading: Relations to Mastery and Performance-Oriented Instructional Practices. , 2001, Contemporary educational psychology.

[58]  B. Weiner,et al.  A theory of motivation for some classroom experiences. , 1979, Journal of educational psychology.

[59]  Carol Midgley,et al.  Perceptions of the school psychological environment and early adolescents' psychological and behavioral functioning in school: The mediating role of goals and belonging. , 1996 .

[60]  Carole A. Ames,et al.  Achievement Goals in the Classroom: Students' Learning Strategies and Motivation Processes , 1988 .

[61]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Social Predictors of Changes in Students' Achievement Goal Orientations. , 1999, Contemporary educational psychology.

[62]  Michael J. Middleton,et al.  Achievement goals and goal structures. , 2002 .

[63]  Carol Midgley,et al.  Goals, goal structures, and patterns of adaptive learning , 2014 .

[64]  P. Pintrich.  Multiple Goals, Multiple Pathways: The Role of Goal Orientation in Learning and Achievement. , 2000 .

[65]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  Declining Motivation After the Transition to Middle School: Schools Can Make a Difference. , 1999 .

[66]  Barbara A. Greene,et al.  Predicting high school students' cognitive engagement and achievement: Contributions of classroom perceptions and motivation , 2004 .

[67]  Samuel D. Miller,et al.  A Longitudinal Analysis of Elementary School Students' Achievement Goals in Literacy Activities. , 2001, Contemporary educational psychology.