In-the-Moment Profiles of Expectancies, Task Values, and Costs.

Julia Dietrich,Jiesi Guo,Bärbel Kracke,Julia Moeller,Jaana Viljaranta

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01662

Julia Dietrich, Jiesi Guo + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01662

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Abstract

This study focuses on the situational heterogeneity of motivation by investigating in-the-moment profiles of expectancies, task values, and costs within learning situations during a university lecture. In a sample of 155 undergraduate students followed across one semester we examined the occurrence of six hypothesized profiles, situational profile change, and the associations of situational motivation profiles with students’ dispositional motivation. Results of multilevel latent profile analysis revealed three profiles with symmetric levels of expectancies, values, and costs (reflecting high, medium, and low motivation situations), and one profile reflecting motivating but costly situations. Furthermore, situational profiles were associated with students’ motivational dispositions at beginning and end of the semester, and partly related to changes in these dispositions during the semester.

Highlights

As school, college- or university teacher, one often notices fluctuations in attention or engagement across a lesson and across a course
This study focuses on such situational heterogeneity in motivational states and investigates its interplay with individual motivational dispositions of students
We base our study in the theoretical frame of expectancy-value theory because task-related value beliefs (“Why should I learn this?”) and expectancies students hold about their success in a task (“Can I learn this?”) are central antecedents of student engagement and their behavior in class (Eccles and Wigfield, 2002)

Summary

Introduction

As school-, college- or university teacher, one often notices fluctuations in attention or engagement across a lesson and across a course. Information about the variety among students’ motivational states during a lesson and the heterogeneity of their development across a course would be helpful to provide differentiated instruction (Tomlinson et al, 2003) that adapts to the needs of different students (Corno, 2008). This study focuses on such situational heterogeneity in motivational states and investigates its interplay with individual motivational dispositions of students. The term task value indicates that the construct was developed to describe the motivation of a person to engage in a specific task. Despite this emphasis on specific tasks and situations, most studies using the term

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