Achievement Goal Structures Research Articles

MIAMI: development and validation of a revised measure of academic misconduct

Academic misconduct remains a perennial concern in tertiary education around the globe. Research intended to explain this phenomenon has been conducted for almost 100 years. One of the most cited researchers is Donald McCabe, whose work was rooted in a survey instrument he developed in the late 1980s and distributed to 100,000 + students over the following two decades. Recognizing the need to continue to understand academic misconduct in the 21st century context, the present study updated and validated the original McCabe instrument as an inventory of academic misconduct behaviors, and derived psychometrically sound factors of the same to enable researchers to examine the predictors of these behaviors. Specifically, our updated instrument (named MIAMI: McCabe/ICAI Academic Misconduct Inventory) was shown to have construct validity through associations with the following predictors in a survey of tertiary students (n = 2329): academic integrity climate, peer norms, moral attitudes, and achievement goal structures. The updated survey will facilitate further research that will advance our understanding of academic misconduct and test the efficacy of interventions designed to promote academic integrity.

Role of College Environment on Students’ Soft Skills: Achievement Goal Structure

The development of undergraduate students’ soft skills is crucial because their chances to satisfactorily deal with the demands of various environments and interlocutors increases with the development of their soft skills. Based on the achievement goal theory, this study aimed to examine the role of the school environment in fostering students’ soft skills. Structural equation modeling was conducted to examine the relationships between five environmental factors—learning task, teacher support, extracurricular activities, interaction with teachers and peers, and soft skills. These findings positively predicted soft skills in college environments with development and competence growth, for both in-class and out-of-class contexts. In addition, the findings revealed that the most effective methods to facilitate students’ soft skills development included supporting extracurricular activities, engaging students in high-order learning tasks, facilitating peer learning, and providing structured guidance.

Psychometric Properties of Achievement Goal Constructs for Chinese Students.

In Chinese schools, classes are organized with special monitors and teachers contributing to the achievement goal structure for students. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of perception of teachers’ achievement goal structure constructs with 3,149 Chinese students from grades 3–8. The results showed that the internal consistencies of the whole scale and subscales were low to marginal. Eight models were examined to check the constructs of the achievement goal structure (mastery, performance, and performance avoidance). Two-factor structures proved to be the best fit. Additionally, a multilevel confirmatory factor analysis proved that the achievement goal structure existed at the same time in the class student levels. Our findings supported the hypothesis that achievement goal structures are different for students with different cultures, which implies that teaching approaches should be adapted in consideration of culturally distinct learning.

Achievement goals and classroom goal structures: Do they need to match?

It is often assumed that students’ personal achievement goals are most beneficial when they match the goal structures of the classroom, but interaction between achievement goals and goal structures is not well researched. In this study, we aim at providing a nuanced picture of the direct, interaction, and nonlinear effects of achievement goals and goal structures on test performance and autonomous motivation. We used multiple linear regressions, including interaction and quadratic terms, in combination with response surface methodology to analyze questionnaire data from students in Grades 6-10. We found no evidence for a general match effect, and only weak indications of interactions between achievement goals and goal structures. Thus, the match between classroom goal structures and students’ personal goals may be less important for students’ motivation and achievement than previously assumed. Still, based on our results we recommend a focus on mastery structures in the classroom.

Achievement Goal Structure and Type of Assistance Sought in an Undergraduate Classroom

Achievement Goal Structure and Type of Assistance Sought in an Undergraduate Classroom

Factor Structure and Criterion Validity of Potential-Based Achievement Goals: Evidence for a Bifactor Model

Elliot, Murayama, Kobeisy, and Lichtenfeld recently developed a measure to assess students’ self-based potential-approach and potential-avoidance achievement goals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the factor structure and criterion validity of this measure based on data obtained from a sample of Hong Kong university students. Results from confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the bifactor model which comprises a general definition of competence factor and two uncorrelated valence of competence group factors yielded the best fit to the data. All three factors accounted for a significant proportion of the common variance and were found to have high internal consistencies. Structural equation modeling also revealed that the general definition factor and the two valence group factors have differential associations with various criterion outcomes examined.

College Students’ Social Goals and Psychological Adjustment: Mediation via Emotion Regulation

University life can be stressful and students may struggle to adjust socially. We examined students’ social achievement goals—their orientations towards their relationships with their peers—as one important factor underlying students’ social and psychological adjustment in college. When investigating the direct and indirect effects of social achievement goals on psychological adjustment (i.e., life satisfaction, depression, stress, and worry), the mediating role of emotion regulation was examined. Data were collected from students attending a university in China (N = 1,242, 35% male). The widely adopted three-factor structure of social achievement goals (i.e., social development goals, social demonstration-approach goals, social demonstration-avoidance goals) was confirmed to fit the data among Chinese college students. The results show the direct and indirect benefits of endorsing a social development goal. Augmented emotion regulation mediated the effect of social development goals. The total effects of a social demonstration-approach goal were weak, but the goal indirectly impaired students’ psychological adjustment via reduced emotion regulation. Endorsing a social demonstration-avoidance goal tended to compromise psychological adjustment and the effects were mediated through reduced emotion regulation. Implications for supporting students’ adjustment to college are discussed.

Reading Achievement, Mastery, and Performance Goal Structures Among Students With Learning Disabilities

The purpose of the present study was to examine the hypothesis that a nonlinear relationship exists between a performance-classroom climate and the reading achievement of adolescent students with learning disabilities (LD). Participants were 62 students with LD (Grades 5–9) from public elementary schools in northern Greece. Classroom climate was assessed using the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Styles. Achievement in reading was assessed using a normative reading assessment. Data were analyzed by means of catastrophe theory in which the behavior is predicted as a function of two control variables, the asymmetry factor and the bifurcation factor. Reading achievement (word identification) was predicted by students’ ability to decode pseudowords (asymmetry variable) and by a mastery or performance motivational discourse (bifurcation factor). Results indicated that in classrooms with a performance goal structure, the cusp model fit the data and accounted for 54% of the variance in real word identification. In this condition, the association between pseudoword reading and real word reading was nonlinear. When a mastery climate was tested as a bifurcation variable, results indicated that its effect was nonsignificant and that instead the linear model fitted the data more adequately. Thus, increases in a classroom’s performance motivational discourse are associated with sudden, unpredictable, and discontinued changes in students’ reading performance.

Student perceptions of classroom achievement goal structure: Is it appropriate to aggregate?

Student reports are a common approach to characterizing how students experience their classrooms. We used a recently developed method—multilevel confirmatory factor analysis—to determine whether commonly employed measures of achievement goal structure constructs (mastery and performance) typically verified at the student level can be verified at the classroom level as well, using a sample of 1,406 7th- and 1,822 8th-grade students in 188 mathematics classrooms. Nine multilevel confirmatory factor analyses were examined: (a) modeling each classroom goal structure dimension separately (mastery, performance–approach, performance–avoidance, combined performance), (b) 4 models allowing 2 latent factors to covary (mastery + performance–approach, mastery + performance–avoidance, performance–approach + performance–avoidance, mastery + combined performance), and (c) a model reflecting the trichotomous goals framework (mastery + performance–approach + performance–avoidance). Consistent with prior research, the theorized models of classroom goal structure adequately represented students within the same classroom at Level 1. Although all models were acceptable at the individual level, only the performance–avoidance model represented the expected goal structure at the classroom level. Future research and replication are necessary to examine whether self-reports of classroom goal structure, and by implication other measures of classroom climate, reflect an individual-level phenomenon rather than a classroom-level construct, which has important theoretical and applied implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Classroom Achievement Goal Structure, School Engagement, and Substance Use Among 10th Grade Students in Norway

The present study was aimed at investigating the relationships between students’ perceived classroom achievement goals, school engagement and substance use in terms of smoking and drinking, and at investigating gender differences regarding these issues in a sample of 1,239 Norwegian 10th grade students. A multivariate analysis showed that motivational and affective school engagement was predicted primarily by the students’ perception of a mastery goal structure. However, motivational engagement was significantly more strongly predicted by achievement goal structures among boys than girls, in particular by mastery goal structure. The results also showed that school engagement, particularly motivational engagement, was negatively related to substance use. In conclusion, school engagement seems to be an important multi-dimensional indicator of motivation which is related both to perceived classroom goal structure and to students’ substance use in terms of smoking and drinking. Despite the correlational design of the present study, it is reasonable to advise the promotion of a mastery goal structure in the classroom.

Examining the dimensional structure and nomological network of achievement goals in the Philippines

The aim of this study was to test the cross-cultural validity of the 2 × 2 achievement goal model in the Philippine context. The dimensional structure of the four achievement goals (mastery-approach, performance-approach, mastery-avoidance, and performance-avoidance) and their associations with key learning outcomes were investigated. In Study 1, support for the dimensional structure of the 2 × 2 model was found. In Study 2, associations between achievement goals and learning outcomes such as engagement, disaffection, and achievement were investigated. Contrary to Western research, performance-avoidance was positively associated with adaptive outcomes and performance-approach goals were only weakly related to achievement. Cross-cultural implications are discussed.

Adolescents' help seeking in mathematics classrooms: Relations between achievement and perceived classroom environmental influences over one school year

We examined the relation between self reported help-seeking tendencies and standardized mathematics achievement as well as the contribution of shared perceptions of the classroom climate – achievement goal structure and emotional support – to the types of help (instrumental, expedient) middle and high school U.S. students seek and from whom (teacher and peers) over the school year. Hierarchical linear modeling (N = 3897 students grades 7–11 in 306 classrooms) revealed that the more students reported seeking help from their teacher and seeking instrumental help, the greater their over-the-year gains in standardized achievement. In general, shared perceptions of the classroom climate predicted changes in students' reported help seeking from the beginning of the school year (T1) to the end (T2). Students in classrooms collectively perceived to be more mastery-oriented at T1 predicted increases in instrumental help seeking and seeking help from peers at T2. Perceived T1 emotional support predicted increases in seeking help from teachers and peers at T2. By contrast, perceived T1 performance-approach goal structure predicted decreases in reported help seeking from teachers at T2 and positively predicted expedient help seeking at T2. Furthermore: (a) adolescent females reported seeking more instrumental help and seeking more help from peers and teachers, whereas, adolescent males reported seeking more expedient help; and (b) high school students sought more instrumental help than did middle school students. We discuss results with regard to the importance of help seeking to mathematics achievement as well as considering emotional support and classroom achievement goals together when examining students' help-seeking behaviors.

The Effect of Study Process Approaches and Learning Modalities on the Achievement Goal Structures in Physical Education Teacher Candidates

This study aims to research the effects on the Achievement Goal Orientations of the Study Process Approaches and Learning Modalities for students attending the department for physical education teaching. At the total of 677 students from six different universities volunteered to participant in this study. The study process, learning modality and achievement goal levels of students were determined. The presence of relationship between Study Process and Achievement goal and mediation effect in the Study Process Approaches for the relationships between the Learning Modalities and the Achievement Goal Orientation are the two main findings of this study. According to these findings the teacher candidates should know well the Study Process Approaches and Learning Modalities that provide for the students to learn in a more comprehensible manner, for them to avoid factors that pave the way to mental confusion and that will facilitate attaining success. © 2014 IOJES. All rights reserved

Goal Structures: The Role of Teachers’ Achievement Goals and Theories of Intelligence

This study investigated how teachers’ achievement goals for teaching and implicit theories of their students’ intelligence are associated with the goal structures that they create in their classrooms. Teachers (N = 209) reported their achievement goals for teaching (mastery, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoidance goals), implicit theories of intelligence (belief that their students’ intellectual ability is malleable or fixed), and achievement goal structures that they created within their classroom (mastery vs. performance goal structures). In general, mastery goals for teaching positively predicted classroom mastery goal structure while performance-approach goals for teaching positively predicted classroom performance goal structure. However, there were significant interactions between mastery and performance-approach goals and between performance-avoidance goals and implicit theory of students’ intelligence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Achievement Goal Structures and Self-Regulated Learning

Practicing physicians have a societal obligation to maintain their competence. Unfortunately, the self-regulated learning skills likely required for lifelong learning are not explicitly addressed in most medical schools. The authors examined how medical students' perceptions of the learning environment relate to their self-regulated learning behaviors. They also explored how students' perceptions and behaviors correlate with performance and change across medical school. The authors collected survey data from 304 students at different phases of medical school training. The survey items assessed students' perceptions of the learning environment, as well as their metacognition, procrastination, and avoidance-of-help-seeking behaviors. The authors operationalized achievement as cumulative medical school grade point average (GPA) and, for third- and fourth-year students, collected clerkship outcomes. Students' perceptions of the learning environment were associated with their metacognition, procrastination, and help-avoidance behaviors. These behaviors were also related to academic outcomes. Specifically, avoidance of help seeking was negatively correlated with cumulative medical school GPA (r=-0.23, P<.01) as well as exam (r=-0.22, P<.05) and clinical performance (r=-0.34, P<.01) in the internal medical clerkship; these help-avoidance behaviors were also positively correlated with students' presentation at a grade adjudication committee (r=0.20, P<.05). Additionally, students' perceptions of the learning environment varied as a function of their phase of training. Medical students' perceptions of the learning environment are related, in predictable ways, to their use of self-regulated learning behaviors; these perceptions seem to change across medical school.

Testing Structural Invariance of the Achievement Goal Questionnaire in American, Chinese, and Dutch College Students

This study investigates the structural invariance of the Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ) in American, Chinese, and Dutch college students. Using confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), the authors found evidence for the four-factor structure of achievement goals in all three samples. Subsequent multigroup CFAs supported structural invariance of the AGQ across the samples.

A 3 × 2 achievement goal model.

In the present research, a 3 × 2 model of achievement goals is proposed and tested. The model is rooted in the definition and valence components of competence, and encompasses 6 goal constructs: task-approach, task-avoidance, self-approach, self-avoidance, other-approach, and other-avoidance. The results from 2 studies provided strong support for the proposed model, most notably the need to separate task-based and self-based goals. Studies 1 and 2 yielded data establishing the 3 × 2 structure of achievement goals, and Study 2 documented the antecedents and consequences of each of the goals in the 3 × 2 model. Terminological, conceptual, and applied issues pertaining to the 3 × 2 model are discussed

Student perceptions of classroom achievement goals as predictors of belonging and content instrumentality

The goal of the current study was to examine the predictive relationships among a set of cognitive-motivational variables that have been found in previous studies to support academic achievement. Student perception of a classroom’s achievement goal structure (classroom mastery, classroom performance-approach, classroom performance-avoidance) was used as the primary set of predictor variables, while student perceptions of belonging and subject matter instrumentality were used as dependent variables. There were 227 participants in the current study each of whom were enrolled in a rural high school in the Midwestern United States. Results indicated that the classroom level goal orientation was, in fact, predictive of belonging and perceived instrumentality. Specifically, classroom mastery goals and classroom performance-approach goals were found to positively relate to both belonging and perceived instrumentality. Implications of the aforementioned relationships are discussed.

The Effect of Achievement Goal Structures in Cram Schools on Academic Motivation:

The Effect of Achievement Goal Structures in Cram Schools on Academic Motivation:

Cognitive validity of students’ self-reports of classroom mastery goal structure: What students are thinking and why it matters

Cognitive interviews were employed to systematically examine the cognitive validity of self-report survey items extensively used to assess classroom mastery goal structure. In a sample of elementary and middle school students, items were identified that functioned according to their intended meaning and those eliciting less accurate interpretations as conceptually defined by mastery goal structure cognitive validity criteria. Evidence suggested that items framed to focus on students’ teachers (i.e., teacher goals) were more cognitively valid than were items that focused students on their classroom context. Items with abstract terms yielded less accurate interpretations. We discuss implications of determining the cognitive validity of scales used to assess achievement goal structure and related self-report instruments.