Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effect of goal setting on self-directed learning, achievement motivation, and academic achievement in students. All secondary school students at eighth grade in Semnan city in 2015 constituted the population of the study. From among this population, the number of 40 students with the lowest scores in self-directed learning and achievement motivation was randomly selected as the sample. Then, these students were equally placed in two experimental and control groups. In the next stage, the pretest was administered to both groups and the experimental group received nine training sessions of self-directed learning. It is noteworthy that the control group received no intervention. In this study, pretest-posttest along with control group design was used. Fisher, King & Tague's Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale and Herman's Questionnaire Measure of Achievement Motivation along with students' grade point average scores (first semester as the pretest and second semester as the posttest) were used for data collection purposes. Next, data analysis was performed using multivariate MANCOVA and univariate ANCOVA. The results showed that teaching of goal setting had a significant effect on the improvement of self-directed learning and achievement motivation; however, it had no significant effect on students' academic achievement. According to the obtained results, it is recommended that goal setting be taught to promote self-directed learning and achievement motivation.
Highlights
1.1 Introduce the ProblemKnowledge and its acquisition play such an important role in the contemporary society that one can claim that people are living in the knowledge era at the present time
The results indicate that there is no significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of academic achievement whereas there is a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the other two variables, i.e., self-directed learning and achievement motivation
Towards the improvement of self-directed learning, achievement motivation, and academic achievement, this study was conducted on these three variables with the aim of developing the goal setting training package; amalgamating goal analysis based on Mager & Granlund’s approach, Individual Development Planning (IDP), Idealized Vision (IIV), SMART model, HARD model, and SWOT model together, exploring the effect of goal setting training on the three above-mentioned variables
Summary
1.1 Introduce the ProblemKnowledge and its acquisition play such an important role in the contemporary society that one can claim that people are living in the knowledge era at the present time. Political, social, and economic changes have converted self-directed learning to an essential requirement nowadays (Alotaibi, 2016). This issue has made self-directed learning one of the most attractive topics in the field of learning and teaching (Roberson, 2005; Teo, et al, 2010). Factors affecting learning and academic achievement are very broad and the identification of these factors is of great importance in solving the problems and deficiencies available in the educational system. One of the factors contributing to academic achievement and the enhancement of educational output is to create motivation in people for learning.
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