Achievement Motivation Literature Research Articles

FIVE DECADES OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION RESEARCH IN ELT: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Purpose – There is an absence of systematic review papers in the achievement motivation theories literature. In terms of currentresearch trends, English learning motivation is gaining attention as a determiner of success in FLA. Hence, this review aims to trace thetrends in the empirical studies on achievement motivation theories and tools, ranging from 1970 to 2022. Methodology – With a focus on theories, diversity of research participants, and practical ELT-related issues addressed by previousresearchers, this paper applied the PRISMA Systematic Review Protocol to offer a comprehensive synthesis of 91 empirical studieson theories of achievement motivation. Findings – The majority of the published studies were from China and Iran. There was also a large number of studies conducted on tertiary-level learners. Structural equation modelling was found to be the most widely used analysis. In addition, technology-assisted learning is the current trend in achievement motivation research. Significance – This paper offers new insights into the existing achievement motivation literature and identifies the research gaps.This study recommends more studies on expectancy-value theory including in-depth qualitative studies involving culturally diversepopulations and experimental research to develop more effective pedagogical approaches and expand the current understanding ofachievement motivation.

Integration in the Achievement Motivation Literature and the Hierarchical Model of Achievement Motivation

Integration in the Achievement Motivation Literature and the Hierarchical Model of Achievement Motivation

Dispositional predictors of perceived academic competitiveness: Evidence from multiple countries

Perceiving learning environments as competitive shapes how students think, feel, and behave. We conducted two preregistered studies designed to examine three central constructs in the achievement motivation literature as predictors of perceived academic competitiveness: Trait competitiveness, fear of failure, and general self-efficacy. In Study 1, we (a) replicated and (b) extended prior work using a sample of nearly 700 undergraduates (41.9 % Male; Mage = 19.57 ± 1.43). In Study 2, we (c) examined how these findings generalized using a sample of approximately half a million secondary school students from 73 countries (49.0 % Male; Mage = 15.79 ± 0.29). Students higher in trait competitiveness, fear of failure, and general self-efficacy perceived more competitiveness; this was observed across cultural contexts. Cross-cultural generalizability and the joint influence of dispositional and situational predictors on perceived academic competitiveness are discussed.

How effort towards challenge is depicted in stories for young children: an Indonesian study

This study examined the nature of effort towards challenge in stories recommended for young children in Indonesian schools. One hundred and nine stories with challenge information, recommended by the Indonesian government for Years 1 and 2 were analyzed, using a combination of content and structural analyses. When exploring the characters’ efforts towards challenge, the findings revealed that the most prominent type of effort depicted in the stories was exerted by characters other than the protagonist (other-initiated effort). Furthermore, while all stories with this type of effort had a successful outcome, self-initiated individual effort (exerted by the main character) was the most prevalent type of effort in stories with an unsuccessful outcome. These findings can be interpreted in more than one way. From the perspective of the achievement motivation literature, the responses to challenges depicted in the stories do not seem to promote a proactive approach towards difficulties. From the perspective of prevalent local values, however, the examples of effort presented in the stories may represent societal expectations concerning the acceptance of life events (in Indonesian: nrimo) and the promotion of caring values towards individuals in need. By integrating findings of the extant literature on achievement motivation with a contextually sensitive approach to the interpretation of the stories’ content, this study raises important questions for future research in this area.

High school students’ feelings: Discoveries from a large national survey and an experience sampling study

We investigated students' feelings at high school in a nation-wide survey of 21,678 US students (study 1), and in a four-week study using experience sampling methodology (ESM) with 472 students across 5 high schools (study 2). Both studies combined mixed methods, including open-ended questions and rating scales (e.g., PANAS). In study 1, seventy-five percent of the feelings students reported in their responses to open-ended questions were negative. The three most frequently mentioned feelings were tired, stressed, and bored. Similar findings emerged with rated items, The prevalence of negative feelings was largely similar across demographic groups. Study 2 largely corroborated the findings from study 1. Although the retrospective measures showed similar results to study 1, the in-the-moment measures also showed frequent positive feelings. We discuss the findings in light of the ‘sleep deprivation epidemic’, the achievement motivation literature, and implications for the validity of state- and trait measures of academic emotions.

Construct validity of measures of goal orientation in the approach–avoidance network

The current research examined the reflective, hierarchical measurement structure of approach–avoidance motivation using self-report measures drawn from multiple conceptualizations of approach–avoidance, with a specific focus on the validity of measures of goal orientation. Accordingly, the dominant conceptual status currently afforded goal orientation in the achievement motivation literature relative to competing approach–avoidance constructs can be evaluated. In a psychometric study of 1497 participants, only the approach constructs of Mastery Goal Orientation, Performance-Prove Goal Orientation and BAS Drive, and the avoidance constructs of Performance-Avoid Goal Orientation and Negative Affect, emerged as distinct factors, showed appropriate first order correlations, and were reflective of their predicted second order factor. Results demonstrate that goal orientation constructs are meaningful to individuals and distinct from other approach–avoidance constructs.

Learning orientation as a predictor of positive intergroup contact

Adapting the goal orientation framework from the achievement motivation literature, the present research tests whether learning orientation, as compared to performance orientation, predicts greater comfort and interest in intergroup contact. These links are examined in a cross-sectional survey of European American and African American middle school students (Study 1), and in a longitudinal survey with European American high school students (Study 2). Both studies yielded converging evidence that while performance orientation generally had a negative association with comfort and interest, a stronger orientation toward learning predicted greater comfort and interest in intergroup contact. The links between the learning orientation and comfort and interest in intergroup contact were consistent across both racial groups in Study 1, and in longitudinal analyses in Study 2. Together, these findings point to learning orientation as a potentially important means for promoting positive intergroup contact.

The relation between achievement goal and expectancy-value theories in predicting achievement-related outcomes: A test of four theoretical conceptions

Although achievement goal and expectancy-value theories are both dominant in the achievement motivation literature, the relation between goals and expectancy-value variables in predicting achievement-related behaviors remains unclear. The present study evaluated the empirical validity of four contrasting theoretical conceptions which posit that (1) goals and expectancy-value variables are independent predictors of achievement-related outcomes (2) goals predict expectancy-values, (3) goals mediate the relation between expectancies and task-values, and (4) goals partially mediate the relation between expectancy-values and achievement outcomes, in predicting course performance, career intentions and academic aspirations. Path models evaluating these conceptions were tested separately in mathematics and language arts domains among 697 6th and 8th grade students. Results supported the fourth theoretical approach suggesting that expectancy-value variables predict achievement-related outcomes both directly and indirectly through achievement goals. These findings provide insight about the relation between expectancy-value and achievement goal theories and highlight their complementary role in predicting achievement behaviors.

The joint influence of personal achievement goals and classroom goal structures on achievement-relevant outcomes.

Researchers and theorists in the achievement motivation literature have long recognized the importance of attending to both person- and situation-based factors in predicting affect, cognition, and behavior in achievement settings (Lewin, Dembo, Festinger, & Sears, 1944; Murray, 1938). In the contemporary literature on achievement goals, this recognition has primarily been manifest in empirical work on the relations among achievement goals, classroom goal structures, and achievement-relevant outcomes. Achievement goals are conceptualized as the purpose or cognitive–dynamic focus of the individual’s competence-relevant engagement (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Elliot, 1997; Maehr, 1984; Nicholls, 1989). Herein, we use the term personal achievement goals when referring to this individual-level construct. Classroom goal structures are conceptualized as competence-relevant environmental emphases made salient through general classroom practices and the specific messages that teachers communicate to their students (Ames, 1992; Covington & Omelich, 1984; Epstein, 1988; Maehr & Midgley, 1996). Both personal achievement goals and classroom goal structures are thought to exert an important influence on students’ achievement-relevant outcomes in the classroom, but the precise nature of this joint influence remains unclear. We attend to this surprisingly understudied issue in the present research.

Positive Psychology and the Distinction Between Positive and Negative Reinforcement

The authors make a reasonable point, that behavior analysis should be concerned with effective behavior in its own right and not only as a replacement for ineffective behavior. But positive psychology is then described as “a science of positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions …” based largely on correlations among self-report inventories; a science which has the goal of identifying traits that function as the explanations of the behavior of interest. An effort is made to justify this move in a nonbehavioral direction by reference to the distinction between positive and negative reinforcement and an exhortation that OBM practitioners emphasize the former. But this rationale is seriously flawed by either a clearly erroneous or a drastically oversimplified understanding of this distinction. Furthermore, all of the more specific recommendations can be easily justified in terms of ordinary behavioral advantages without recourse to the achievement motivation literature or such concepts as self-efficacy.

Attachment and exploration in adulthood.

In the present work, the relationship between attachment and exploration in adulthood is examined from both theoretical and empirical standpoints. Theoretically, attachment theory's exploration system is linked to R. W. White's (1959) concept of effectance motivation, and to the motive and goals constructs that are central to the achievement motivation literature. Empirically, 4 studies are presented that document a link between adult attachment (operationalized using categorical, continuous, and dimensional measures) and achievement motives (need for achievement and fear of failure) and achievement goals (mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, performance-approach, performance-avoidance, and approach relative to avoidance personal strivings). Mediational analyses establish the role of challenge construal, threat construal, and competence valuation in accounting for the observed relationships.

The Power and Vulnerability of a Dream Deferred: High-achieving Minority Adolescent Girls’ Narratives of Success

This study chronicles the “ordinary success” of 20 highly motivated, working-class minority adolescent girls. Within achievement motivation literature, success generally has been conceived as measurable performance and studied with quantitative methods. The current study instead uses narrative inquiry to investigate success as a process. The girls in this study speak of pursuing rather than achieving success, moving towards a target beyond their line of vision. Constrained by realities of their daily lives, the girls capitalize on the openness of the future to craft narratives of assured success. Paradoxically, this approach sustains their motivation but jeopardizes their prospects, since they are invested in keeping the future at a distance. Knowledge about the requirements of success is often a “dream killer,” forcing imaginative thinking to collide with realistic planning. This research suggests that ambitious but underprivileged adolescents would benefit from targeted support to help them negotiate tensions intrinsic to their understanding and pursuit of success.

ACHIEVEMENT GOALS AND THE HIERARCHICAL MODEL OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION

The achievement goal approach has attained prominence in the achievement motivation literature and has produced a valuable empirical yield. However, the precise nature of the achievement goal construct is in need of scrutiny, as is the issue of how achievement goals and their antecedents combine to produce competence-based self-regulation. In this article, we address these important conceptual issues in the context of the hierarchical model of achievement motivation. The approach–avoidance distinction, which has been an integral part of the achievement motivation literature since its inception, is highlighted throughout.

Process versus Product Task Interpretation and Parental Teaching Practice

Research on parental teaching strategies indicates that task interpretation mediates the amount and type of assistance provided by parents for their children. Leont'ev's (1981) three-tiered analytical framework has been employed to examine the relationship between task interpretation and teaching strategies, but task interpretation has been inferred rather than probed directly. Twenty-three preschoolers and their parents (10 mothers and 13 fathers) participated in the present study, the purpose of which was to assess directly parents' task interpretation of a teaching context, and to establish the pattern of relationships between task interpretation and teaching strategies. Task interpretation was coded using the process (learning goals) vs. product (performance goals) distinction suggested in the achievement motivation literature, and teaching strategies were coded in response to children's errors as either direct or indirect. The hypothesis, that process-oriented parents employ indirect error correction strategies and product-oriented parents employ direct error correction strategies, was confirmed. These findings suggest that parents may approach teaching tasks with quite different interpretations, and these interpretations are revealed by, and are consistent with, the teaching strategies they employ.