Motivation, cognitive processing and achievement in higher education

Abstract This study investigated the question of whether a student's expectancy, values and negative affect influenced their deep information processing approach and achievement at the end of the first and second academic year. Five hundred and sixty-five first-year students completed a self-report questionnaire on three different occasions. The departmental administrations provided data on the students' achievement. Covariance analysis indicated that student's expectancy and values positively affected the total number of credits. However, the expected relationship through the deep information processing approach was not found. Even though the analysis showed a relationship between students' expectancy, values and the deep information processing approach, this approach did not affect academic achievement.

[1]  John P. Bean.  Dropouts and turnover: The synthesis and test of a causal model of student attrition , 1980 .

[2]  Barbara S. Metzner,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Nontraditional Undergraduate Student Attrition , 1985 .

[3]  Vincent Tinto.  Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research , 1975 .

[4]  H. Kuyper,et al.  Motivation, Meta-Cognition and Self-Regulation as Predictors of Long Term Educational Attainment , 2000 .

[5]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Leaving College: Rethinking the Causes and Cures of Student Attrition , 1987 .

[6]  Wendelien van Eerde,et al.  A meta-analytically derived nomological network of procrastination , 2003 .

[7]  J. T. Austin,et al.  Goal constructs in psychology: Structure, process, and content. , 1996 .

[8]  L. Tucker,et al.  A reliability coefficient for maximum likelihood factor analysis , 1973 .

[9]  J. Eccles,et al.  Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. , 2002, Annual review of psychology.

[10]  Paul R. Pintrich,et al.  Contextual differences in student motivation and self-regulated learning in mathematics, English, and social studies classrooms , 1998 .

[11]  P. Blumenfeld.  Classroom Learning and Motivation: Clarifying and Expanding Goal Theory , 1992 .

[12]  D. Rubin,et al.  Maximum likelihood from incomplete data via the EM - algorithm plus discussions on the paper , 1977 .

[13]  P. Pintrich,et al.  Motivational and self-regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. , 1990 .

[14]  Debra K. Meyer,et al.  Discovering Emotion in Classroom Motivation Research , 2002 .

[15]  Marion A. Eppler,et al.  Achievement Motivation Goals in Relation to Academic Performance in Traditional and Nontraditional College Students , 1997 .

[16]  D. Schunk.  Goal Setting and Self-Efficacy During Self-Regulated Learning , 1990 .

[17]  P. Bentler,et al.  Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives , 1999 .

[18]  R. Clifton.  The Effects of Social Psychological Variables and Gender on the Grade Point Averages and Educational Expectations of University Students: A Case Study , 1997 .

[19]  J. Biggs.  Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment , 1996 .

[20]  Robert Sylwester.  How Emotions Affect Learning. , 1994 .

[21]  Ernest T. Pascarella.  Student-Faculty Informal Contact and College Outcomes , 1980 .

[22]  B. Tuckman.  Motivating college students: A model based on empirical evidence , 1991 .

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

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

[25]  K. A. Renninger,et al.  Individual interest as context in expository text and mathematical word problems , 2002 .

[26]  M. Covington.  Goal theory, motivation, and school achievement: an integrative review. , 2000, Annual review of psychology.

[27]  Alfred Joseph Lizzio,et al.  University Students' Perceptions of the Learning Environment and Academic Outcomes: Implications for theory and practice , 2002 .

[28]  T. Goetz,et al.  Academic Emotions in Students' Self-Regulated Learning and Achievement: A Program of Qualitative and Quantitative Research , 2002 .

[29]  Regina Vollmeyer,et al.  Does motivation affect performance via persistence , 2000 .

[30]  Janet Shibley Hyde,et al.  Women, Motivation, and Achievement , 2001 .

[31]  Michael B. Paulsen,et al.  Student Motivation and Epistemological Beliefs , 1999 .

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

[33]  S. Newstead,et al.  The nature and development of student motivation. , 2000, The British journal of educational psychology.