Intrinsic Task Value Research Articles

Adolescent-perceived parent and teacher overestimation of mathematics ability: Developmental implications for students' mathematics task values.

This study examines whether and how student-perceived parents' and teachers' overestimation of students' own perceived mathematical ability can explain trajectories for adolescents' mathematical task values (intrinsic and utility) controlling for measured achievement, following expectancy-value and self-determination theories. Longitudinal data come from a 3-cohort (mean ages 13.25, 12.36, and 14.41 years; Grades 7-10), 4-wave data set of 1,271 Australian secondary school students. Longitudinal structural equation models revealed positive effects of student-perceived overestimation of math ability by parents and teachers on students' intrinsic and utility math task values development. Perceived parental overestimations predicted intrinsic task value changes between all measurement occasions, whereas utility task value changes only were predicted between Grades 9 and 10. Parental influences were stronger for intrinsic than utility task values. Teacher influences were similar for both forms of task values and commenced after the curricular school transition in Grade 8. Results support the assumptions that the perceived encouragement conveyed by student-perceived mathematical ability beliefs of parents and teachers, promote positive mathematics task values development. Moreover, results point to different mechanisms underlying parents' and teachers' support. Finally, the longitudinal changes indicate transition-related increases in the effects of student-perceived overestimations and stronger effects for intrinsic than utility values. (PsycINFO Database Record

Motivational processes from expectancy–value theory are associated with variability in the error positivity in young children

Motivational beliefs and values influence how children approach challenging activities. The current study explored motivational processes from an expectancy–value theory framework by studying children’s mistakes and their responses to them by focusing on two event-related potential (ERP) components: the error-related negativity (ERN) and the error positivity (Pe). Motivation was assessed using a child-friendly challenge puzzle task and a brief interview measure prior to ERP testing. Data from 50 4- to 6-year-old children revealed that greater perceived competence beliefs were related to a larger Pe, whereas stronger intrinsic task value beliefs were associated with a smaller Pe. Motivation was unrelated to the ERN. Individual differences in early motivational processes may reflect electrophysiological activity related to conscious error awareness.

Sounds enjoyable—Intrinsic task value regarding novel academic tasks

After graduation from high school, individuals may face novel academic tasks for which they have to estimate their motivation (i.e., intrinsic task value [ITV] and academic self-concept [ASC]) prior to task choice. The present study tests the hypothesis that learners draw on—and generalize—established school-based ITV to anticipate ITV of novel academic tasks that are perceived to be similar to known school-related learning contents. First-year students (N=354) rated their ITV and ASC of ability regarding four school subjects and four unknown fields of study, which were differentially related in content to the school subjects. Structural equation modeling revealed that school-subject ITV predicted field-of-study ITV that had been rated to be similar. Analyses including ASC show differential generalization effects for either ITV or ASC for most school-subject/field-of-study combinations. Crossed effects were not significant. Results demonstrate that school-based learning experience contributes to motivation when facing novel academic tasks.

Factores influyentes en motivación y estrategias de aprendizaje en los alumnos de grado

Analyzing the different mental processes that occur during learning from different paradigms, where the teacher happens to be the protagonist and responsible for student learning to be who plans and organizes teaching for their students make significant learning. It should motivate, highlighting the importance of the matter and its implications for acredentar interest in it. Self-regulated learning learners are those who choose and decide on their conduct, being the architects and promoters of their learning.. Through this study on a sample of university students using the CEAM II (Learning Strategies Questionnaire and Motivation) instrument, consisting of questions about motivation and learning strategies we tried to understand the implications of different dimensions that form. The analysis of the different variables leads us to know which values are the most used by students in motivational factors (intrinsic goals, task value and self-efficacy) and learning strategies (preparation, organization and metacognition) as well as those items most and least valued by them. Teachers must convey to students the contents of different subjects through a methodology that is attractive to them, so we will provide the acquisition thereof.

Utility of reading — Predictor of reading achievement?

Utility value as a subcomponent of expectancy-value models of motivation has been confirmed as a predictor of achievement(-related behavior) in the context of mathematics and science. Research on language-related domains, in contrast, has been scarce, and little is known on how utility value affects reading behavior and achievement. Therefore, the present study aimed at researching the interrelations of utility of reading, other reading motivational constructs, reading achievement and reading behavior. The German dataset of PISA 2009, comprising data of 9461 students of grade 9, was used. Structural equation models show that utility of reading is a motivational factor related to but distinct from self-concept and intrinsic task value, that it is related to reading achievement, and that this relation is mediated by reading behavior. While this indicates a starting point for reading motivation interventions, limitations regarding the assessment of utility of reading and regarding the cross-sectional study design are discussed.

The Role of Self-regulation in Doctoral Students’ Status of All But Dissertation (ABD)

Doctoral student enrollment and study require significant resources such as faculty time, student time, and funding. However, doctoral student attrition is a serious problem nationwide, especially at the dissertation level. When doctoral students do not complete their dissertations, their potential contributions to society are substantially diminished, which may impact their own personal career goals and life plans. While it seems plausible that self-regulated learning may be one critical factor in the completion of the doctoral dissertation, there remains a paucity of research into the effects of self-regulated learning on doctoral program completion. In our study the results of a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that self-regulated learning predicted the time needed for the completion of the dissertation and was also correlated with intrinsic task value.

Early Adolescents' Development of Academic Self‐Concept and Intrinsic Task Value: The Role of Contextual Feedback

In this study, we investigate the extent to which achievement‐related feedback in two academic domains (mathematics and language) originating from two contexts (school and family) predicts early adolescents' domain‐specific academic self‐concept and intrinsic task values in Germany (N = 1,190, age range 10–13) and the United States (N = 1,953, age range 10–14). We examined the mediating role of both parents' competence perceptions and the early adolescents' academic self‐concepts linking grades and intrinsic value. Within‐ and cross‐domain effects were tested at each stage of the mediation. As predicted, in both countries the associations of grades with the academic self‐concepts are mediated by the parents' competence perceptions. The association of academic feedback with intrinsic task value is mediated through the students' academic self‐concepts.

The effect of blog use on self-regulatory learning of prospective German language teachers

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of blog use on self-regulatory learning of prospective German language teachers. The study is semi-experimental. Pretest-posttest, experiment control model was used. Blog activities were conducted as extensive beyond classroom activities only for the experiment group. As the data collection tool Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire scale was used. During the data analysis Mann Whitney U-Test for Independent Samples and Wilcoxon Singned Rank Test for Paired Samples were used. Although, at the initial stage of the study both groups were at similar self-regulatory learning level, at the end of the study it was found that blog use influenced self-regulatory learning of the experimental group in terms of intrinsic goal orientation and task value. Moreover, a significantly positive difference was found among pretest-posttest results, intrinsic goal orientation and time and study environment dimensions of prospective German language teachers. The findings of the study revealed that a learning process supported by blog use applications positively influences various self-regulatory learning dimensions of prospective teachers.

The Impacts of Societal Context on Student Motivation and Engagement

ABSTRACTPromoting a sense of societal connectedness is critical in today’s engineering educational environment. The NAE’s Grand Challenges for Engineering point to broad human concerns — sustainability, health, vulnerability, and joy of living — and human connectivity as the future of engineering problem solving. Engineering studies, however, are often presented in a completely decontextualized manner, with an emphasis on technical content that is free of any human meaning. As a result, students may have difficulty identifying either personal or societal value in their learning tasks. Through their course design, instructors can help students situate themselves and their engineering learning experiences within the larger human system. Studying technologies and technological development within the broader societal context may, in turn, offer significant benefits to student motivation and engagement in learning. In this paper, we report findings from a three-year investigation of the effects of disciplinary integration on student motivation and learning engagement in introductory materials science courses. The quantitative results show that integrating materials science with humanities provides for increased student motivation and cognitive engagement in learning. Compared to students in non-integrated project-based courses, students in integrated project-based courses show higher intrinsic motivation and task value. In addition to these motivational gains, students in the integrated materials science-history course report significantly higher use of critical thinking strategies in their project work, indicating that an emphasis on societal context may help students cognitively engage in their engineering studies. Our findings also indicate that women in the integrated materials-history course report higher intrinsic motivation, task value, self-efficacy, and critical thinking strategy use compared to women in the non-integrated materials course. Overall, our research suggests that putting human contexts at the center of engineering learning can help students build a sense of societal relatedness that promotes better learning.

Examining ‘active’ procrastination from a self-regulated learning perspective

This study examined the notion that active procrastinators are a positive type of procrastinators who possess desirable characteristics similar to non-procrastinators, but different from the traditional passive procrastinators. A two-step procedure was followed to categorise university students (N = 125) as active procrastinators, passive procrastinators and non-procrastinators. The results show that active procrastination was related mostly with the maladaptive motivational and behavioural characteristics described in the self-regulated learning literature. Active procrastinators reported low mastery-approach goal, high performance-avoidance and work-avoidance goal, and low intrinsic motivation and task value. They selected less effective strategies and performed the lowest on tests among the three groups. The results challenged the notion that active procrastination is conducive to learning. Future research directions and implications to teaching and learning are discussed.

The Role of Peer Groups in Male and Female Adolescents' Task Values and Physical Activity

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the role of peer groups and sex in adolescents' task values and physical activity. The participants were 330 Finnish Grade 6 students (173 girls, 157 boys), who responded to questionnaires that assessed physical education task values during the spring semester (Time 1). Students' physical activity was assessed one year later (Time 2). The results indicated that adolescent peer groups were moderately homogeneous in terms of task values toward physical education and physical activity. Girls' peer groups were more homogeneous than those of boys in regards to utility and attainment values. Furthermore, the results for both girls and boys showed that particularly intrinsic task value typical for the peer group predicted group members' physical activity. The findings highlight the important role of peer group membership as a determinant of future physical activity.

Value And Resource Management Strategies Among Students Of Arabic As A Third Language Course

This study investigates the value level in learning oral Arabic among students at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia and its correlation with the use of resource management strategies. The concept of value and resource management strategies is derived from the self-regulated learning framework. Value consists of three main components, namely intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and task value. Meanwhile, resource management strategies consist of four components, namely time and study management, effort regulation, peer learning and help seeking. The purposes of this study are to investigate (1) the value level among overall students, (2) the correlation between students’ value and their use of resource management strategies, and (3) the differences in the use of resource management strategies between students with different level of value. The sample of this study comprised of 455 students and the data were collected through a questionnaire adapted from The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). The study reveals that (1) the value level of students is high; (2) there are significant correlations between value and the use of resource management strategies among students; and (3) the high value group of student uses significantly higher in all components of resource management strategies than the moderate group. This study has some classroom implications. It suggests that value components should be nurtured among students by selecting appropriate learning activities. Collaborative learning activities should also involve students of mixed value level which can be assessed through their prior learning experience and gender.

Neural basis of the undermining effect of monetary reward on intrinsic motivation

Contrary to the widespread belief that people are positively motivated by reward incentives, some studies have shown that performance-based extrinsic reward can actually undermine a person's intrinsic motivation to engage in a task. This "undermining effect" has timely practical implications, given the burgeoning of performance-based incentive systems in contemporary society. It also presents a theoretical challenge for economic and reinforcement learning theories, which tend to assume that monetary incentives monotonically increase motivation. Despite the practical and theoretical importance of this provocative phenomenon, however, little is known about its neural basis. Herein we induced the behavioral undermining effect using a newly developed task, and we tracked its neural correlates using functional MRI. Our results show that performance-based monetary reward indeed undermines intrinsic motivation, as assessed by the number of voluntary engagements in the task. We found that activity in the anterior striatum and the prefrontal areas decreased along with this behavioral undermining effect. These findings suggest that the corticobasal ganglia valuation system underlies the undermining effect through the integration of extrinsic reward value and intrinsic task value.

Primary school students' metacognitive beliefs about religious education

So far scholars have researched beliefs about knowledge, knowing, and learning mainly in the areas of science and mathematics and among secondary school students. In this article, we explore primary school students' metacognitive beliefs about religious education. The article reports on a study involving 656 fifth- and sixth-grade students. We investigated their metacognitive beliefs, how these beliefs interrelate, and which students agree with which beliefs. In the minds of young students 7 categories are discernible: realistic learning, the transformative power of religion, social learning, intrinsic task value motivation, learning satisfaction motivation, the teacher's empathic orientation to learning, and the teacher's respect for students' contributions. These categories and their interrelationships open up new perspectives for the construction of a metacognitive beliefs system and for an interconnected network of beliefs across domains. We also outline implications for religious education in schools.

Instrumentality, task value, and intrinsic motivation: Making sense of their independent interdependence

The relationships among instrumentality, task value, and intrinsic orientation were investigated among undergraduate students. The sample comprised 207 undergraduates who were participating in a lower-division human development course. Results confirm that endogenous instrumentality is an independent construct, which—although related to task value and intrinsic motivation—is empirically and theoretically distinguishable. Results suggest that the present orientation of intrinsic motivation and task value (as measured by the MSLQ) may serve a different motivational function than the more future oriented endogenous instrumentality.

The Effects of Autonomy on Motivation and Performance in the College Classroom

The goals of this study were to extend the literature about classroom autonomy in several ways. First, since previous research on autonomy has tended to focus on younger learners, we examined whether the positive effects of autonomy on motivation and performance would be replicated in a college sample. Second, we tested to see whether the well-established links between intrinsic motivation and autonomy would also be found using motivational constructs that play key roles in learning (specifically, task value, self-efficacy, and test anxiety). Third, we sought to trace the effect of autonomy on changes in student motivation over the course of a semester. Finally, we examined the role of autonomy on course performance. We found that experiences of classroom autonomy in the college classroom were more closely related to motivational factors than to performance. While the immediate experience of autonomy may not be directly facilitative of high course grades, autonomy does seem to foster intrinsic goal orientation, task value, and self-efficacy, all of which are critical components of “continuing motivation.” The data presented here lend further support for the benefits of fostering autonomy within academic settings.