Singapore Primary Students’ Pursuit of Multiple Achievement Goals: A Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Based on measures of approach and avoidance mastery and performance goals delineated in the 2 × 2 achievement goal framework, this study utilized a person-centered approach to examine Singapore primary students’ ( N = 819) multiple goals pursuit in the general school context. Latent profile analysis identified six types of students with distinct patterns of achievement goal motivation: high goal-oriented (strong multiple goals), average goal-oriented (moderate multiple goals), low goal-oriented (weak multiple goals), performance and approach-oriented (high mastery- and performance-approach, high performance-avoidance, low mastery-avoidance), approach-oriented (high mastery- and performance-approach, low mastery- and performance-avoidance), and mastery-oriented (moderate mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance, low performance-approach and performance-avoidance). Significant profile differences were detected in various measures of deep and surface learning strategies, metacognitive strategies, and mathematics test performance. The high goal-oriented profile appeared to be the most adaptive in relation to these learning outcomes, followed by the performance and approach-oriented, the mastery-oriented, and the approach-oriented profiles.