Do performance goals promote learning? A pattern analysis of Singapore students achievement goals

Abstract This study investigated how achievement goals are combined to affect students’ learning. We used a multiple goals perspective, based on mastery (i.e., mastery approach) and performance (including both approach and avoidance components) goals, to examine the achievement goal patterns of 1697 Singapore Secondary 3 students in their math study. Four types of goal clusters emerged from latent class cluster analyses: Diffuse (moderate multiple), Moderate Mastery (moderate mastery/low performance approach and avoidance), Success Oriented (moderate mastery/high performance approach and avoidance), and Approach (high mastery and performance approach/low performance avoidance). Analyses of covariance were conducted to compare these four clusters on eleven cognitive, behavioral, and affective learning outcomes. In general, students in the Success Oriented and Approach groups were higher on self-efficacy, subjective task values, class engagement, homework engagement, time management, and meta-cognitive self-regulation than those in the other two groups. In addition, students in the Approach and Moderate Mastery groups were more likely to make effort when encountering difficulties in learning math, showed lower test anxiety, lower negative affect, and achieved higher scores in math than students in the other two groups. These findings suggest that the goal profile with high mastery and performance approach goals combined with low performance avoidance goals is most beneficial for learning, whereas high performance approach goals, when associated with performance avoidance goals, have some negative effects on affective outcomes. The patterns help to refine distinctions in performance goals, and are discussed in the context of academic achievement in Singapore.

[1]  Phyllis C. Blumenfeld,et al.  Change in Children's Competence Beliefs and Subjective Task Values across the Elementary School Years: A 3-Year Study. , 1997 .

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

[3]  W. Tu,et al.  The Confucian World Observed: A Contemporary Discussion of Confucian Humanism in East Asia , 1992 .

[4]  J. Biggs.  Student Approaches to Learning and Studying , 1987 .

[5]  Jacob Cohen.  Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences , 1969, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Research Design.

[6]  Reinhard Pekrun,et al.  Individual Differences in Achievement Goals: A Longitudinal Study of Cognitive, Emotional, and Achievement Outcomes. , 2008 .

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

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

[9]  Carol S. Dweck,et al.  Motivational processes affecting learning. , 1986 .

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

[11]  Jihyun Lee,et al.  Universals and Specifics of Math Self-Concept, Math Self-Efficacy, and Math Anxiety across 41 PISA 2003 Participating Countries. , 2009 .

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

[13]  Michael J. Middleton,et al.  Avoiding the demonstration of lack of ability: An underexplored aspect of goal theory. , 1997 .

[14]  Patrick Onghena,et al.  A New Study on Educational Effectiveness in Secondary Schools in Flanders: An Introduction , 2002 .

[15]  Robert S. Barcikowski,et al.  Statistical Power with Group Mean as the Unit of Analysis , 1981 .

[16]  S. Paris,et al.  Predicting Singapore students' achievement goals in their English study: Self-construal and classroom goal structure , 2011 .

[17]  J. Eccles,et al.  In the Mind of the Actor: The Structure of Adolescents' Achievement Task Values and Expectancy-Related Beliefs , 1995 .

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

[19]  J. Eccles,et al.  The Development of Competence Beliefs, Expectancies for Success, and Achievement Values from Childhood through Adolescence , 2002 .

[20]  Jesse L. M. Wilkins,et al.  Mathematics and Science Self-Concept: An International Investigation , 2004 .

[21]  Jay Magidson,et al.  Latent class models for clustering : a comparison with K-means , 2002 .

[22]  P. Pintrich,et al.  "Should I ask for help?" The role of motivation and attitudes in adolescents' help seeking in math class. , 1997 .

[23]  Mary Ainley,et al.  Styles of engagement with learning: multidimensional assessment of their relationship with strategy use and school achievement , 1993 .

[24]  Mimi Bong,et al.  Between- and Within-Domain Relations of Academic Motivation Among Middle and High School Students: Self-Efficacy, Task-Value, and Achievement Goals , 2001 .

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

[26]  C. Midgley,et al.  If I don't do well tomorrow, there's a reason : Predictors of adolescents' use of academic self-handicapping strategies , 1996 .

[27]  K. E. Barron,et al.  Predictors and Consequences of Achievement Goals in the College Classroom: Maintaining Interest and Making the Grade , 1997 .

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

[29]  Toni M. Kempler,et al.  Current issues in achievement goal theory and research , 2003 .

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

[31]  Weining Chang,et al.  Socially oriented achievement goals of Chinese university students in Singapore: structure and relationships with achievement motives, goals and affective outcomes. , 2008, International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie.

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

[33]  J. Vermunt.  Latent Class Models , 2004 .

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

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

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

[37]  Carol Midgley,et al.  Social Goals, Academic Goals, and Avoiding Seeking Help in the Classroom , 1997 .

[38]  R. Ang,et al.  Impact of Domain-Specific Locus of Control on Need for Achievement and Affiliation , 1999 .

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

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

[41]  Allan Wigfield,et al.  Expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation: A developmental perspective , 1994 .

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

[43]  James Lani,et al.  Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS) , 2010 .

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

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

[46]  Anthony S. Bryk,et al.  Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods , 1992 .

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

[48]  Michael J. Middleton,et al.  Should childhood be a journey of a race? Response to Harackiewicz et al. (2002). , 2002 .

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

[50]  T. Bouffard,et al.  A developmental study of the relation between combined learning and performance goals and students' self-regulated learning. , 1998, The British journal of educational psychology.

[51]  P. Pintrich,et al.  Motivation in Education: Theory, Research, and Applications , 1995 .

[52]  P. Pintrich,et al.  Reliability and Predictive Validity of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Mslq) , 1993 .

[53]  Markku Niemivirta,et al.  The role of achievement goal orientations in students' perceptions of and preferences for classroom environment. , 2008, The British journal of educational psychology.

[54]  Kathryn R. Wentzel,et al.  Motivation and Achievement in Early Adolescence , 1993 .

[55]  C. Dweck,et al.  A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality , 1988 .

[56]  P. Pintrich,et al.  An Achievement Goal Theory Perspective on Issues in Motivation Terminology, Theory, and Research. , 2000, Contemporary educational psychology.

[57]  Ronald Fischer,et al.  Cultural Differences in Academic Motivation Goals: A Meta-Analysis Across 13 Societies , 2008 .

[58]  D. F. Lopez,et al.  Social cognitive influences on self-regulated learning: The impact of action-control beliefs and academic goals on achievement-related outcomes , 1999 .

[59]  Markus A. Maier,et al.  Achievement goals and discrete achievement emotions : A theoretical model and prospective test , 2006 .

[60]  Andrew J. Martin.  Enhancing student motivation and engagement: The effects of a multidimensional intervention ☆ , 2008 .

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

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

[63]  Pajares,et al.  Relation between Achievement Goals and Self-Beliefs of Middle School Students in Writing and Science. , 2000, Contemporary educational psychology.